Payday loans could cease in South Dakota, By David Montgomery, December 14, 2014, Argus Leader: “An unexpected coalition is backing a campaign to ban payday lending in South Dakota, prompting the industry to warn of far-reaching consequences if it succeeds. Payday loans and an array of similar businesses — ‘signature loans,’ ‘title loans’ and others — target small-dollar loans at people with poor credit and savings. Supporters say they help low-income people borrow much-needed money, but an array of critics say the fees are far too high and trap borrowers in a spiral of debt…”
Tag: Payday lending
Payday Lending
New York Prosecutors Charge Payday Loan Firms With Usury, By Jessica Silver-Greenberg, August 11, 2014, New York Times: “A trail of money that began with triple-digit loans to troubled New Yorkers and wound through companies owned by a former used-car salesman in Tennessee led New York prosecutors on a yearlong hunt through the shadowy world of payday lending. On Monday, that investigation culminated with state prosecutors in Manhattan bringing criminal charges against a dozen companies and their owner, Carey Vaughn Brown, accusing them of enabling payday loans that flouted the state’s limits on interest rates in loans to New Yorkers…”
Payday Lending
States look to crack down on payday lenders, By Elaine S. Povich, May 2, 2014, Stateline: “The demise this week of a Louisiana bill that would have reined in payday lending demonstrates how hard it is for states to regulate the quick loan industry, which consumer groups criticize as a trap for the working poor. Supporters say payday lenders, which emerged in the 1990s, provide a valuable service to lower income borrowers when they need small amounts of money to tide them over from one paycheck to the next. But critics say payday lenders lock desperate people into repeat loan cycles with annual interest rates that can approach 600 percent. An estimated 12 million borrowers use payday loans each year…”