It’s do or die time.
That’s what it looks like at the SC General Assembly this week, as the payday industry gears up for a Thursday hearing before a House subcommittee on a Senate bill that would come very close to putting a stop to the payday industry’s free ride thus far.
The bill (which, […]

From Fortune comes this short but fascinating video, featuring a former Ameriquest worker talking about just how his coworkers and he were instructed to talk borrowers into loans they couldn’t afford.

In what I can only call a mild effort to limit the damage wreaked on South Carolina lives by payday lenders, the South Carolina General Assembly is apparently considering action to limit payday loans to $500 or 20% of the borrower’s annual income, whichever is less. The suggested legislation would also require lenders to offer […]

Here’s a scary article (free registration required - NY Times). It’s especially scary, because it could happen to anyone who’s ever experienced dire financial straits but still needs a particular product, be it for educational or business purposes. And the most ubiquitous such product? The computer. It seems an entire industry has sprung up dedicated […]

I’m disappointed. It’s not often I copy and paste wholesale from other articles or posts but this is one time I’m going to do just that. From AP via The Sun News:
A national payday lending group announced Monday it is hiring a former
Democratic gubernatorial candidate to be its executive vice president.
Community
Financial Services Association of […]

From Consumer Law & Policy Blog by Public Citizen:
 Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski yesterday signed into law a package
of bills designed to protect consumers against abuses by the payday
lending industry and other short-term lenders that target vulnerable
borrowers with high-interest loans.  Together, the new laws will, among
other things, cap interest rates, limit rollovers of short-term loans,
and attempt […]

Far be it from me to suggestively place doubts inside a consumer’s head. So instead I’ll leave it to CNNMoney.com staff writer Les Christie, who gives us “Wow, I Could’ve Had A Prime Mortgage” - a heartbreaking tale of consumers being taken advantage of by mortgage lenders. (What?! Outrage! It would never happen …. oh. […]

Update: Fixed the link to Ms. Wilkinson’s website - my apologies, Dana! (And to the sculptor in Vermont - though, must say, nice work.)
Did you type in a phrase in Google to get here? This post, the first in what I hope to be a regular series (perhaps monthly, maybe more often if I get […]

Mazyar Hedayat’s Bankruptcy Blog published an update on the foreclosure crisis complete with visual aids. Filings increased 62% over this time last year. But South Carolina foreclosure rates continue to be lower than the US average.
Technorati Tags: foreclosure crisis
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“If you have a family of four or five, it’s going to add up to thousands of dollars, and I just can’t imagine anyone having that amount of money stored in a shoebox — so someone will come up with a lending scheme that will be close to usury,” said Robert Moser, deputy director of […]