DISQUS

paul pokrandt · 1 year ago

This Jeffrey Zax is a genius. Somebody give that man a raise!

Peter Breet · 1 year ago

Just so I understand you. Are you claiming that the higher than you like interest rates are a result of government regulation?

Payday Lender · 1 year ago

As a representative of the payday lending industry, I believe it is critical for people to understand that prohibiting payday lending would only force consumers to use the other, more costly short-term credit products available, such as overdraft protection, late fees on credit cards and other bill payments and off-shore Internet lending.

In Georgia and North Carolina, where payday lending was also effectively banned, a Federal Reserve Bank of New York Staff Report found that bounced checks, personal bankruptcies and complaints about debt collectors jumped significantly when consumers no longer had the payday loan option.

In addition, no one is offering any alternatives to payday loans. To date, almost all of the attempts to create payday loan alternatives have either been charity-based, required government subsidies, unavailable to the general public, unprofitable or unsustainable.

I hope legislators and community members will look carefully at the serious reforms instituted by payday lenders to protect our customers and ask themselves if banning our industry without providing people with any alternatives to short term credit is really the responsible thing to do.

Grant · 1 year ago

We need to stop blaming the payday lenders for everyone else's irresponsibility! If I borrow 100 bucks from a friend, and am not able to pay it back, I don't blame my friend for lending me the money! That is just stupid. So why are we blaming our payday lender friends for providing a great service? In a recent article by ex senator and presidential candidate George McGovern, he says, "[p]ayday lending bans simply push low-income borrowers into less pleasant options, including increased rates of bankruptcy," Mr. McGovern rightly poses the question: "Why do we think we are helping adult consumers by taking away their options?"
Later in the article, he says, "[t]he nature of freedom of choice is that some people will misuse their responsibility and hurt themselves in the process. We should do our best to educate them, but without diminishing choice for everyone else."
This is how we need to look at this topic. Leave the payday loan stores alone and look for other options. Instead of taking away payday lenders, beat them at their own game by giving consumers even more alternatives!