Payday lender settles suit
An online payday loan company must pay all of its Wisconsin customers $329 and forgive all of their loans after a class-action lawsuit was settled out of court. Tremont Financial LLC denies any wrongdoing.
The company also is prohibited from issuing any further loans in the state of Wisconsin. The settlement applies to 137 customers and will cost $60,000.
Details, details
The conflict dates back to 2004 and applies to loans given that year up until Dec. 2007. News reports say the online payday loan company was sued because it violated the Wisconsin Consumer Act.
I searched everywhere I can think of to find out what exactly the payday lender did, but I couldn’t find any details.
Advance America vs. Georgia
Another payday lender found itself in hot water this week, too. Advance America also settled a class action lawsuit out of court.
Advance American Corporate Headquarters in South Carolina
Accusations came from Georgia customers, but Advance America says it did not violate any laws, and that the decision to settle out of court was purely business.
Big Block
These cases are relatively small compared to the settlement H&R Block had to pay for allegations brought against its payday lending practices.
In a national class action suit, H&R had to pay 8 million customers back in 2005. The total came to $31 million.
The online payday loan company that settled today, Tremont, has not yet issued a statement regarding the suit.
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It certainly isn’t good that these companies are getting sued, and the Wisconsin Consumer Act states – on its own website, no less – terms that do not cover payday loans. I guess I don’t understand how they pulled it off, but the law does protect against certain collection methods, so perhaps that was the nature of the violation, but then again, nobody knows, and payday loans don’t seem to be covered. And as for H&R Block…I am shocked. I have had my taxes prepared through them before, and I think I might not do it again after this.
There is too much about this case that I do not know. Some case history would have helped this article.