As states try to get rid of payday loans, other types of loans pop up in their place. Photo Credit: AR McLin/Flickr.com/CC-BY

Virginians frequenting pawn shops and title lenders more

Many states have passed laws intended to closely regulate, if not outright eliminate, payday loan lending. However, such laws don’t eliminate the need or demand for a short term credit product. The state of Virginia passed laws several years ago capping the interest rate on payday loans, which has reduced use of that particular product but not demand for financial help. Up to 10 percent of all Virginia households were estimated to have used some sort of alternative financial service, according to BusinessWeek, in a recent study done by the University of Virginia. Four percent of Virginians reported using payday loans at some point and 3 percent frequent pawn shops. Between 2004 and 2008, 70,000 Virginian households used refund anticipation loans and between 2005 and 2009, almost 150,000 Virginians used car title loans.

New class of lenders

Some of the most frequent laws passed against payday lending mandate loan repayment be done over a period of more than two weeks. The state of Colorado passed a law a year ago making the repayment period six months instead of a couple of weeks, according to the Greeley Gazette. As a result, former payday loan lenders are offering six month installment loans. When Arizona let the law allowing payday lenders to lapse in 2010, many thought that payday lending would disappear. Instead, according to the Arizona Republic, many stores simply started offering car title loans instead. In February of this year, a bill was introduced to the Arizona legislature that would authorize installment loans at higher-than-normal interest, as many consumers still need a source of short term credit. North Carolina, according to BusinessWeek, just approved a bill authorizing installment loan lenders to charge more than 36 percent interest on loans up to $1,500.

Supply and demand still rule

Though there are many products that a lot of people find less than palatable, such as payday loans, there is obviously still a demand for these products. A lot of people who don’t have access to bank credit find themselves short in between paydays or have an emergency come up that they didn’t plan for. Then they have to seek out alternative financial service providers in order to get the credit they need. Because many of these lenders don’t benefit from the kind of protections banks enjoy, they have to charge higher interest rates in order to stay open. It is undeniable that there is a demand for these types of short term credit.

Sources

BusinessWeek on VA

Greeley Gazette

Arizona Republic on payday loans leaving

Arizona Republic on new loan bill

BusinessWeek on North Carolina

The state of Virginia still allows payday loans and car title loans, but there is a good deal of legislation concerning both products in the state. Photo Credit: AR McLin/Flickr.com/CC-BY

The state of Virginia has been on the front lines of regulating short term loan lenders like payday loan and car title loan companies in attempt to reduce their use. Both consumer finance products have been subject to stricter legislation that has dramatically reduced the use of such products.

Car title loan lenders operating without license in Virginia

The state of Virginia has recently released its first report about use of car title loans in the state, according to WHSV, an ABC affiliate in Harrisburg, Va. The state of Virginia passed a law that capped the interest rate and fees that could be charged by car title lenders in the state. That law took effect in October of 2010. The law also required that any businesses lending such loans get a license to operate in the state. In the last three months of that year, 25,000 loans have been lent for a total of $21 million in loan capital. There were almost 200 people whose cars were taken away because of default. According to The News Leader, a Gannet newspaper in Staunton, Va., there are 23 title lenders operating in the state but only seven are licensed.

Illegal online lending considered a problem

Consumer advocate groups like the Virginia Poverty Law Center are advising Virginians not to enter into any contracts with any unauthorized parties such as unlicensed title loan lenders and online payday loan lenders. Lending online payday loans is a felony in Virginia. Payday loan lenders themselves are authorized if the businesses are licensed and contained to a brick-and-mortar store. Laws were passed in 2008 that regulated payday loan lenders. There were more than 800 payday lenders in Virginia in 2007, according to the Washington Post. By 2010, there were fewer than 300. Legislation that would institute an interest rate cap of 36 percent has been brought before the Virginia General Assembly but never passed.

Credit carries risk

Payday loan lending and car title lending are seen by some as predatory, while others see them as simply alternative forms of credit. Any and all forms of credit carry risks. Credit cards can keep a person indebted in perpetuity, and the thousands of people who have lost their homes to foreclosure can attest to the risks of mortgage foreclosure. People who have hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt with student loans can’t discharge the debts they accrued for their education, even in bankruptcy. Laws vary by state, and borrowers should always do their homework concerning any financial product they are interested in obtaining.

Sources

WHSV

News Leader

Washington Post

People thought the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau could help get rid of payday lenders, but some in the payday loan industry welcome the attention. Photo: diaper/Flickr/CC-BY-SA

When the Dodd Frank Act passed, it created a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that will regulate consumer financial products from credit cards to payday loans. Some consumer advocates were hopeful that the CFPB was going to help to regulate payday loan firms out of existence. However, at least one major payday lender welcomes the bureau.

Advance America exec says company has nothing to hide

Consumer advocates were enthralled with the prospect of the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau because the government body could help restrain credit products that some people oppose, like payday loans. Opponents have called for the product to be regulated out of existence and the CFPB seemed a good vehicle with which to do that. However, at least one payday loan company executive welcomes the CFPB. William Webster, Chairman of Advance America Cash Advance Centers Inc. has said he welcomes federal scrutiny, according to the Wall Street Journal. He says there’s nothing that the government will dig up that the company doesn’t already disclose.

Praise for Elizabeth Warren

Webster has also gone on record praising Elizabeth Warren, according to the Huffington Post, for setting up the bureau to crack down on overdraft fees. Granted, overdraft loans and payday loans are competing products. Webster and many other loan companies have maintained for years that payday lenders disclose fees at the point of the transaction and avoid the customer abuses that the CFPB is supposed to look into. Payday loan firms have advocated for responsible legislation that works for both consumers and lenders for years, including the already enormous online lending market. Online payday lenders can skirt laws more easily than a brick-and-mortar store can, which is why Webster argues that online lenders and overdraft loan programs should face far more scrutiny than they already do.

Cloudy future for bureau

The CFPB does not have a clear future. Congress is not making it easy for the bureau to begin its work, and three recently introduced bills would change the structure of the agency or delay it from beginning operations. Any payday loan firms dreading the bureau opening its doors can rest easy, as the July 21 deadline to hire a director is a couple of months away, and given that Congress can’t decide if it should have one director or five, according to CNN, it may not start regulating anything for some time to come.

Sources

Wall Street Journal

Huffington Post

CNN

A new study purports that payday loans and crime are conclusively linked. Photo: diaper/Flickr.com/CC-BY

A newly released study links payday loans to rising crime rates and falling property values. It isn’t the first time that the two things have been connected, but the literature on payday lending has varied between a link existing and not existing. The sum total of the effects of payday lenders may be impossible to really calculate.

Social disorganization theory

A new study has re-examined the link between payday loan lenders and crime, according to WalletPop, and it claims that payday loan lenders are a cause for crime to rise. The study, originally a working paper that has been around since at least 2009, is titled “Does Fringe Banking Exacerbate Neighborhood Crime Rates?” and is written by Charis Kubrin and Gregory Squires of George Washington University and Steven Graves of California State University Northridge. The authors use social disorganization theory as a framework, which is a theory in sociology that basically says crime is influenced by environment above anything else. The contention is that payday loan lenders enter environments that are highly disorganized, such as poverty and crime-ridden areas, and cause things to get worse.

Restating the obvious

The study contends that Seattle crime rates are highest in the areas with the highest concentration of payday loan lenders and that the problem has only become worse as time goes on and the number of payday lenders increases. The study is meticulously done, and does make a case for its central premise of payday loan lenders driving up crime rates. However, Heather Luea, in a 2010 study of payday loans and crime rates, observed that this specific study (which has been around for nearly two years) noted a rise in crime of slightly more than 1 percent. It should also be noted that one of the most proximate causes of crime is poverty, and payday loan lenders cater more to people who do not totally rely on banks and credit cards for sources of credit. In other words, there is more crime in areas that are known for having more crime.

Dividing issue

There has been a long back and forth in academia concerning whether payday loans are good, bad or in a moral gray area. Accusations of bias have been made at authors of payday loan-positive and payday loan-negative studies, so it is definitely known that there isn’t a hard-and-fast academic consensus on the issue, and there are a lot of causes and correlations regarding crime. However, household income for the upper 20 percent of income earners has been increasing at a steady clip for the past 30 years but held fairly flat for the lowest 40 percent, according to U.S. Census data available on Wikipedia. That’s demographic that payday lenders cater to. Few policy suggestions are made about what to do about paying people more that aren’t met with hostility.

Sources

WalletPop

Fringe banking and crime study (PDF – Requires Adobe Reader)

2010 study by Heather Luea (PDF – Requires Adobe Reader)

Census tables on Wikipedia

Payday loan lenders are continuing to thrive despite economic conditions. Photo Credit: diaper/Flickr.com/CC-BY

Despite an increasingly hostile regulatory climate, payday lenders are finding ways to thrive. Payday loan legislation is constantly changing as states waffle on banning or allowing the credit product, but the largest firms are still doing well. Overseas expansion and increasingly diverse product offerings are helping publicly traded payday loan businesses to grow.

Largest payday loan companies expanding overseas

Payday loan lenders are often maligned as hyenas that pounce on the poor, but the characterization has not kept the largest payday lending outfits from expanding and posting profits in rougher economic times. Cash America, EZCORP and Dollar Financial Group all posted profitable first quarters for the year, according to Reuters, and have managed to keep growing despite gloom among American consumers and an already harsh regulatory climate. All three are among the largest alternative financial service firms and are publicly traded. Cash America posted a 13 percent increase in revenues, helped by international online short term loans that the company offers to customers in the U.K., Canada and Australia. Dollar Financial Group posted a 21 percent rise in revenues that came mostly from online lending, and EZCORP shares rose by 6 percent. All three are expanding overseas operations.

Regulation battles continue

The regulatory climate for payday lenders constantly changes. Numerous states constantly are trying to either loosen or tighten restrictions. For instance, the New Hampshire House of Representatives recently killed a bill that would have allowed lenders to start operating in New Hampshire, where the loans are currently prohibited, according to the New Hampshire Business Review. The California legislature is currently considering a bill to raise the borrowing cap on payday loans, according to the Silicon Valley Mercury News, amid a lot of controversy and accusations that politicians are being bribed by lobbyists. The state of Missouri, according to the Columbia Daily Tribune, recently killed a bill that would have tightened restrictions.

The future of subprime credit

Any form of credit carries risk for the borrower, including credit cards and mortgages. However, many people want to see payday loans legislated off the face of the earth. It isn’t likely to happen; forms of short term credit have existed since the beginning of civilization, and as long as there are unexpected expenses, there will be a need for something similar to payday loans.

Sources

Reuters on Cash America, Dollar Financial, and EZCORP

New Hampshire Business Review

Columbia Daily Tribune

Silicon Valley Mercury News

Legislators at the Mississippi state capitol have stalled passage of a new payday loan regulation. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

The Mississippi state legislature has stalled a bill that would further regulate payday loan lending in the state. States have increasingly passed legislation regarding payday lenders, usually to reduce interest rates. The new regulatory bill is stalling as legislators cannot agree on terms.

Payday loan regulation bill stalls in Mississippi legislature

The state legislature of Mississippi, in session in Jackson, has stalled in passing a new law that would put further regulations on payday loan lending, according to Bloomberg. The new bill would extend repayment periods and cap interest rates on payday loans in the state. However, the new payday loan law is not going anywhere until both houses can agree. The Mississippi House of Representatives passed a version that would allow borrowers 21 days to repay cash advance loans less than $200 and 28 days to repay loans of $201 to $500. The Mississippi Senate version gives borrowers 21 days to repay loans of $300 or less, and 28 days to repay loans of $301 to $500. The current laws in the state regarding payday lenders expire in 2012.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau may target payday lenders

It has been anticipated for some time that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau may end up going after payday lenders, but that may not be the case. The Bureau was created as part of the Dodd-Frank Act and is headed by Elizabeth Warren, who was appointed to the post by President Obama. The agency has yet to do anything, as it isn’t an active agency yet, but it may not do much with the payday industry, according to the Motley Fool. The CFPB can’t cap interest rates, but it can call for greater disclosure from lenders.

Disclosure works in payday lenders’ favor

Greater amounts of disclosure would likely act more in the interest of payday loan and cash advance firms than banks. Given the number of fees that credit card and other accounts have tied to them, and the scant fees assessed by payday lenders, more people may end up taking out a payday loan. Most payday loan lenders already disclose all fees upfront due to the Truth in Lending Act.

Sources

Bloomberg

Motley Fool

Ignoring mainstream consumer debt while criticizing payday loans as a debt trap is like killing the anchovies to save the sharks. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Even with a down credit market, consumer debt levels make a payday loan debt trap seem like small potatoes. Most studies of the payday lending industry indicate that all payday lenders in America do less than $50 billion a year in business. There is 20 times that amount in outstanding debt on credit cards. Consumer debt, which people are encouraged to take on, is more of a debt trap than any payday loan could be.

$11 trillion debt trap is not from payday loans

According to Fortune, the mortgage industry does far more in business than payday loan lenders do. In fact, there is $10.6 trillion in outstanding mortgage debt. Mortgages, if they are configured with prepayment penalties, are meant to keep people paying.Credit cards are, too. There’s about $822 billion in debt on credit cards. Aside from mortgage loans and credit cards, installment loan debt, or debt from student loans, auto loans, and so forth, totals $1.6 trillion. Even more astounding is that these figures are a reduction from previous years.

The payday loan industry could not compete if it wanted to

The payday loan industry is 20 times smaller than the credit card industry.  The sum total of the all cash advances and payday loans lent out is less than $50 billion per year. Furthermore, most studies of profitability of the short term loan industry indicate profits at the largest of payday lenders are 10 percent or less. With such small margins for profit, according to the research that has been done, there is no way that any loan until payday is nearly as bad as critics contend.

Small fish in a huge pond

Payday loans are such a small portion of the overall credit market, that it seems ridiculous to single them out compared to other sources of debt. However, payday lenders don’t have the benefit of multi-billion dollar ad campaigns. You can read more in the Payday Loan Facts and Statistics Report on Personal Money Market.

Things like recent gains for financial services giant Dollar Financial prove that demand for services like payday loans isn't diminishing. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Recent earnings gains for financial service giant Dollar Financial Group indicate demand for payday loans and other services hasn’t diminished. Alternative financial service providers, or AFSPs as they are called, have a long history in the U.S., and indeed, throughout the world. The company, which offers check cashing, money orders and pawn loans as well as cash advances, is having a banner year.

Dollar Financial among largest payday loan lenders

Dollar Financial Group is one of the largest among corporate payday loans lenders, although that isn’t the largest of the company’s offerings. Payday loans and cash advances only make up 50 percent of how the company makes a pay day, with the other half being from check cashing, pawn loans, military loans and other financial services. Out of the largest global alternative financial services firms that are publicly traded on the market, Dollar Financial realized the greatest gains this quarter. Profits were $28.7 million this quarter with only 15.2 percent of loan revenue being lost, though payday advance loans are only 9 percent of its business in the U.S., according to MSNBC.

Demand for services like payday lenders are constant

There will always be a demand for alternative financial services, like payday loans, short term loans and check cashing outlets. Granted, the demand isn’t as huge as one might think. People who don’t use banks for their every financial service need fall into two categories, according to the FDIC and the Federal Reserve. There are the “under banked,” who use alternative financial services but have bank accounts, and the “unbanked,” who have no bank account whatsoever. The underbanked amount to just under 18 percent of the U.S. population, and the unbanked make up around 10 percent.

The demand will remain

Alternative financial services have a long history. Pawn lenders and short term loan lenders, like payday lenders, have been around in some form since before the Roman Empire existed. Obviously, with evidence like the booming business in companies like Dollar Financial, demand is not going away. You can read more in the Payday Loan Fact and Statistics Report on Personal Money Market.

A person needs a payday to get a payday loan. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

The idea that payday loan lenders want to loan to anyone and everyone to get them hooked is ridiculous. Critics of the industry like to make claims about an awful debt trap and of predatory lending. The story goes that anyone with a pulse can get a loan of they ask. It isn’t true, and if any loan lender did business that way it would soon be out of business.

Pay day is the operative phrase in payday loan

A person has to have upcoming payday cash to get a payday loan. It’s as if the phrase “payday” somehow goes unnoticed, and that is not exactly the best way to build an argument. In order to get a payday advance, a person needs an upcoming payday; it is that simple. There are some glaring contradictions to claims about payday loan lenders, first being that they will let anyone borrow money, regardless of ability to repay. Nothing could be further from the truth. Not only do lenders pay strict attention to ability to repay, but if they ignored it they would soon be bankrupt and looking for a loan until payday themselves.

Ability to repay is the first criterion

The absolute first criterion among payday loan lenders for loaning money to someone is whether they can pay the loan back. Not only that, but the size of a loan is often pegged to income. The claim that lenders disregard income level and just loan to everyone is preposterous. Study of the payday loan industry reveals that profit margins are incredibly tight, leaving little room for error. One study found that a lender has to successfully lend and fully collect six loans to come up with enough money to lend one single small loan.

Only one industry was able to disregard income

There was only one industry that was able to disregard ability to repay, at least for awhile. Pressure on Congress got banks pressured into lending mortgages to people that couldn’t afford them, which led the subprime mortgage crisis, as risky mortgages had to be insured against. You can read more in the Payday Loan Facts and Statistics Report on Personal Money Market.

A credit card ban would be more beneficial than a payday loan ban. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

More than one social crusader has called for a payday loan ban. They paint a scenario in which people get hooked into a horrible loan until payday because they are desperate. Then an awful spiral of debt begins, and eventually the person is left penniless. The problem is that the reason a person had to borrow money in the first place is never addressed. If people were that concerned with burdens on the middle class, a ban on credit cards would be better.

A payday loan is borrowed for a reason

No one gets a payday loan for fun. The decision is never arbitrary. That supply and demand are involved often is left out of arguments over payday lending. A person needs to borrow money, so that person goes to a payday loan lender. The most common reason, according to most studies, is an unexpected expense that has to be covered. A power bill needs to get paid or a payment made on time, and a person can’t cover it. Some wonder whether a person would be better off using a cash advance from their credit cards instead of borrowing money from a payday lender.

Credit usage among payday borrowers

People who borrow payday loans often use other forms of credit as well. A 2009 study of payday loan demand showed 91.6 percent of payday customers used other forms of credit. Borrowers are also found to have income ranges normally between$25,000 to $49,000 per year. People in the middle class, in this age of stagnating wages, often have to rely on credit cards to maintain their lifestyles. Minimum credit card payments can lock a person in for decades without touching the principle on a card.

Why credit cards are less frequent targets

One of the principle differences between the credit card industry and the payday loan industry is that credit cards are seen as an “institution.” Many people have the idea that an institution is good just because it is an institution. That is rarely the case, and a lot of people wouldn’t need a loan until payday if they hadn’t already been stretched thin by credit card payments. You can read more in the Payday Loan Facts and Statistics Report on Personal Money Market.

Accusations of small loans lenders lobbying like Jack Abramoff did are ridiculous, because they can't afford it. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Any industry can make campaign contributions, even small loans lenders like payday advance lenders. However, according to some people any campaign contribution is tantamount to bribery. For instance, any elected official that is opposed to capping or banning payday loans is automatically assumed to have been bought off. The hitch is that as an industry, loan lenders don’t have that kind of clout.

Small loan industry accused of buying officials

Like any trade organization or concern, small loan lenders like payday loan and installment loan lenders can lobby politicians to voice their concerns or make sure they get a fair shake. Members of these organizations make campaign contributions, which they are legally allowed to do. Sometimes they host conferences that officials are invited to, and there are plenty of other organizations that lobby incumbents or candidates. Yet a double standard is often observed. For instance, in a recent New Mexico gubernatorial debate, according to the New Mexico Independent, Democratic candidate Diane Denish practically accused Susana Martinez of being bribed by payday loan lenders because a fundraiser for Martinez was partially run by a lobbyist employed by the alternative financial services industry.

Who makes the rules?

Just because any one industry makes contributions to a candidate doesn’t mean a whole lot. Also, who gets to decide which organizations are morally acceptable enough to make donations? Besides, payday loan and small loan lenders as an industry can’t afford to actually buy off anyone. For instance, Congressional Rep. Heath Shuler of North Carolina received $57,900 from payday lending organizations for his 2010 election fund, and that’s the industry as a whole. Senator Chris Dodd, by comparison received $152,100 from the Royal Bank of Scotland alone in 2010. Anyone can look at lobbying data on OpenSecrets.org, and may be surprised at what they find about their own representatives.

Small fish

The contributions small loan lenders can make as an industry are dwarfed when it comes to other lobbies, such as banks and high finance. The biggest contributor to election campaigns, far and away, is unions. Looking at history, unions are hardly squeaky clean by any stretch of the imagination. Contributions that small hardly makes a bribe. You can read more in Payday Loan Facts and Statistics Report on Personal Money Market.

Urban blight and cash advance loans have as much to do with each other as chocolate and the fall of the Roman Empire. Image from wikimedia commons.

The universe operates on a system of cause and effect, which contradicts one of the claims some make about cash advance loans. For instance, there are people who blame a phenomenon called “urban blight” on cash advance loan lenders. The phenomenon of urban blight, or urban decay, began far before the cash advance industry even existed. That claim uses what is called a logical fallacy.

Cash advance loans blamed for urban blight

Numerous people have pointed to the cash advance loans industry as a culprit of urban blight. In fact, some cities have run cash advance and payday loan stores out of town because they believe that idea. Urban blight or urban decay is a phenomenon that has usually been associated more with a weakened economy, rather than the emergence of a single factor such as payday lending. It often goes without saying that this kind of decay really began decades before payday loans, as a product, even existed. It isn’t known where the first actual payday loan store was opened, but it is believed that among the first was Q.C. Holdings in 1988.

Fallacy of logic

The idea that payday loan lenders cause urban decay is a logical fallacy called “cum hoc ergo propter hoc.” Literally it means “with this, therefore because of this.” Basically, it means that because two things coincide, there must be a cause and effect relationship. If that were true, then a Pepsi commercial could cause a football team to lose the Super Bowl. There’s no evidence that payday lending is a cause of poverty, proximate or otherwise. One has to bear in mind that there was abysmal, wretched poverty in the world, including the United States, long before payday lenders arrived and even before the modern financial system did.

Dubious attrition

Poverty has a multitude of causes. Given that many negative economic conditions have nothing to do with short term consumer lending, crediting payday loans with urban blight it is a dubious attrition. You can read more in the Payday Loan Facts and Statistics report on Personal Money Market.

Mortgages are far more a debt trap than a payday loan could ever be. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

It is almost impossible to prove that such a thing exists as a payday loan debt trap. Like many social issues, the truth is a lot more complex than many would like to admit. For instance, it is true that a lot of people who borrow money from payday lenders take out multiple loans. However, it has not ever been proven that people are taking out new loans to cover their old ones, which is called a rollover.

The debt trap myth

The contention that payday loans trap a person into an endless cycle of debt has never been proved. However, a 2005 study found that many payday borrowers indeed did borrow money multiple times per year. One study found that 29.6 percent of payday borrowers surveyed had 14 or more loans in the previous calendar year and 9.9 percent took out two or fewer, but 28.1 percent had no renewals or rollovers. However, no study has ever ascertained why chronic borrowers, less than half of all payday loan store customers, borrow money with such frequency.

Lender of last resort

The reason why payday loan lenders exist is that they will loan to people that no other loan lender is willing to take a chance on. All a payday lender looks for is the ability to repay, not credit scores. The reason why people go to payday lenders is that they have nowhere else to turn to. A 2009 study of payday loan demand shows the number of people who borrow from multiple sources of credit is 91.6 percent. Johnathan Zinman found that 70 percent of the payday borrowers he surveyed either were not aware of or had no alternative to borrowing from a payday lender.

Credit has risks

Some payday advance customers borrow frequently. However, consider also the debt trap of credit cards and mortgages. Few people ever will own their home outright, as few people stay in the same house or city for long enough. Because more money is lent by banks and credit card companies, those debt traps are legitimate according to social crusaders. That is some severely fuzzy logic. You can read more in the Payday Loan Facts and Statistics report on Personal Money Market.

Payday loan lenders couldn't prey on the poor and desperate. If they did, they'd be out of business. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

It’s been alleged that personal loan lenders, like payday loan lenders, prey on the poor and desperate. The claim is that people that can barely scrape by are enticed to take out loans until payday. The payments are too much, and they get hooked into an endless cycle of debt. The catch, of course, is that payday lenders don’t prey on the poor. In fact, they couldn’t afford to prey on the poor if they tried.

The average payday loan customer

If it were true that payday loan lenders preyed on the poor, that would be reflected in demographic studies. Unfortunately for critics, that isn’t the case. The average short term loan borrower is actually the definition of middle class. The bulk of payday customers make between $25,000 and $50,000 per year, they are more likely to be high school graduates or have completed some college, be married, have children and be younger than 45 years of age. Part of the argument that payday loans are predatory hinge on the borrower being unable to repay. Given that many payday lenders barely make $2 of profit from a single loan, it is hard to believe that instant cash would be lent to anyone that couldn’t repay it.

Cash advance stores cannot lend to just anyone

The presumption would be that cash advance lenders will give money to anyone just to get their hooks in them. That is far from the truth. In fact, it was found that up to 20 percent of first time applicants are rejected by the average payday loan store, and 11 percent of all applications are turned down. This means that even a lender of small loans has some definite criteria. The most usual criteria for getting a payday loan? That’s easy. It’s having some definite payday cash coming in.

Crusaders’ claims do not hold water

The idea that payday lenders lend to anyone is ludicrous. If borrowers were unable to repay, no payday loan store would stay in business long. Furthermore, the profit margin is usually 10 percent or less. That’s far less than Bank of America could tolerate. You can find out more in the Payday Loan Facts and Statistics Report on Personal Money Market.

Payday Loans with instant approval

When you’re short of time and you need a quick, easy fix, getting payday loans with instant approval is vital. You shouldn’t have to waste even more time and money driving around town looking for the right lender that fits you best. That’s what Personal Money Market is here for.

Getting loans with instant approval

You can cut the waiting time out by filling out our short application form. Once you submit your application, it will only be few seconds before you get an answer. Based on the information you provide us, we will sort through our wide network of payday loan lenders and pair you with the best. There’s no need to waste time moving from one lender to another, only to find out you are being denied of the quick help you need. We can help get you payday loans with instant approval and have cash in your pocket in as little as two hours, in most cases.

Loans with instant approval — even on bad credit

Worried you won’t qualify because of bad or poor credit? Then you should be pleased to know that Personal Money Market also works with many lenders that provide bad credit loans — with instant approval.

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Fast cash loans with instant approval

To get started, begin filling out the short form below. It takes approximately 2.5 minutes to complete and, as mentioned earlier, you will get a quick response as to whether or not you have been approved. You don’t have to answer unnecessary questions like why you need the loan, and you don’t have to wait hours on end just to get an answer. Let’s cut to the chase and get your finances back on track — apply for payday loans with instant approval.

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Loans available, even for people with bad credit

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Many of our lenders require no credit checks, so it matters little whether you have good, bad or no credit at all. You will not be turned away or treated any differently because of a tarnished credit. You get the help you need, when you need it, right here with no faxing payday loans online.

Benefits of no faxing payday loans

There are many benefits to applying for no faxing payday loans, especially when life’s unforeseen financial trials call for immediate attention. For one, you save valuable time. On top of saving time, you save money, as well. Besides being able to prevent overdraft fees and other late penalty charges, you can avoid more damage to your credit score. And anyone on the journey to credit repair knows very well to stay clear from more late payments on their credit scores.

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We know that when financial emergencies strike, there’s no time to waste. You need a quick, temporary solution before the situation gets completely out of hand. That’s why we strive to make it a no-hassle experience when you apply for your payday loan online. With just one application, we will help you find the right payday loan lender that fits you best in just seconds of submitting the form.

The best payday loan lenders!

Finding the best payday loan lenders has never been easier! It can take hours, sometimes even days to find the right payday loan lender. And just when you think you have found the right lender, your credit history becomes an issue. Here you won’t even have to worry about a less-than-stellar credit score.

Personal Money Market works with various lenders that provide different types of loan products, from no faxing payday loans to installment loans for bad credit. Whatever your circumstances may be, you can still have access to the immediate help you need today.

It’s a No-hassle Experience!

Most of our lenders here at Personal Money Market require no credit check or faxing of any documents. Like mentioned earlier, these payday loan lenders do their utmost to make it a pleasant experience for anyone in need of an instant payday loan online. Once you complete and submit the short application, you will be paired with a lender within seconds, and you can even have your funds available in as little as two hours upon approval.

You don’t have to spend hours searching for the fast payday loan lenders around; we’ll find the right payday loan lender that fits your every need. So what are you still waiting for?

Find the Right Payday Lender for You | Start HERE!

The newest Blackberry Bold 9650 - without the trackball - is set for a May 23 release. Image from Flickr.

The second-most popular smartphone maker, Blackberry, has announced that the Blackberry Bold 9650 and Blackberry Pearl 3G will both be hitting the market soon. Both the Blackberry Bold 9650 and Pearl 3G are improvements on existing Blackberry models and will include upgrades such as Wi-Fi. The Bold 9650 is set to be released on May 23 for $299.99 – so now is the time to get guaranteed payday loans if you would like the newest Blackberry.

The Blackberry Bold 9650

Set to be released on the Sprint Network on May 23, the Blackberry Bold 9650 is built on the same technical chassis as the Blackberry Tour. The Bold 9650 looks very similar to the Tour. However, the sticky and often replaced trackball has been swapped out for an optical touchpad. Bold 9650 will also include Wi-Fi capability. The Bold 9650 include multi-national phone suppoprt, GPS, Bluetooth, a 3.2 megapixel camera, and a 2.44 inch screen, just like the Blackberry Tour did. For jetsetting payday loan lenders and businesspeople the Blackberry Bold will easily cross national boundaries.

The Blackberry Pearl 3G

The Blackberry Pearl was the first Blackberry phone that got a market share for a wider audience than smartphone users – and the Blackberry Pearl 3G is set to continue that tradition. The first U.S. phone that has 802.11n Wi-Fi, the Pearl 3G is designed to connect with 3G HSPA networks or available Wi-Fi connections. The zippy processor, 3.2 megapixel camera, GPS and Bluetooth mesh with RIM’s Blackberry O.S. to give the Pearl 3G full-featured smartphone support. At the same time, the Pearl 3G is said to be available in 2 models – the 9100 with a 20-button keypad and the 9105 with a “traditional” 14-key pad. This will be the first Blackberry that will use a phone keypad – an attempt to ease the transition for first-time smart phone users.

Blackberry Pearl 3G release delayed

While the Blackberry Pearl 3G has been announced, the release of the phone is sure to be a while. The Wi-Fi alliance has yet to certify the Pearl 3G, so RIM has some testing and technical approvals to be completed before the Pearl 3G can hit shelves. AT&T and T-Mobile are set to debut the Pearl 3G, though neither carrier has provided a release date or price for the Pearl 3G.

RIM Blackberry vs. iPhone vs. Android

Research in Motion – the makers of the Blackberry – and Apple – the makers of the iPhone – have been locked in a cell network battle for years. While Blackberry first created smartphones for general use, iPhone was able to bring app development and “fun” smartphones to the general public. The Blackberry Pearl 3G and Bold 9650 are sure to prove popular, but with so many new entrants into the smartphone market, one has to wonder who will come out on top. What do you think?

A wide network of payday advance lenders

Personal Money Market has combined a wide network of some of the most respectable payday advance lenders in the industry. Everything is done online, which makes this particular set of connections one of the most reliable and convenient ways to obtain payday loans – fast.

How other payday lenders work

Most payday loan lenders are very particular about certain things, like your credit, for instance. If you have bad credit, you are automatically considered a “high risk borrower” that’s incapable of repaying a loan on time. But nowadays, just about everyone suffers from poor or bad credit. It’s difficult to maintain a decent credit history, especially now with the way the economy is going. So who can hardworking people turn to for quick payday loans in situations like this? Are there other options, like installment loans for bad credit? Who will be willing to step up to the plate and provide the help that every single one of us may require from time to time?

Payday advance lenders offering fast, no-hassle payday loans

You can get payday loans online without having to go through the traditional hassles of getting approved for even the smallest loans available. All the payday advance lenders in this network work together diligently to fund your need, regardless of credit problems you may have or your reasons for needing the fastest payday loans there is to offer.

So take advantage of this wide network of payday loan lenders. You don’t need a middleman to determine your eligibility for quick payday loans, nor do you need to worry any more about finding the right lender that fits you best. Just submit your application and let Personal Money Market do the rest. Don’t waste any more time!

Start your quick payday loans online application HERE!

(Image from Wikimedia.org)

Every citizen who pays taxes in the United States should be familiar with the letters F-D-I-C (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation). It’s not uncommon to see these big bold letters on check stubs and various other types of documents, especially when you’re borrowing money.

What has the FDIC been up to lately

The FDIC is an independent agency of the federal government that oversees quite a few critical aspects in banking, including making certain that banks are in compliance with various consumer protection laws. The Fair Credit Billing Act, the Truth-in-Lending Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act are just three Acts designed to oversee activities being conducted by banks.

A survey conducted by the FDIC back in December 2009 revealed that a staggering 17 million citizens of the United States are without bank accounts, while another 43 million are considered to be “under banked” citizens. Those considered under banked citizens have bank accounts, but they rely heavily upon the financial services of payday loan companies for borrowing money.

In February 2008, they initiated a pilot program called the Small-Dollar Loan Pilot Program that was designed to encourage financial institutions like banks to offer low interest rate loans (36% or less) in excess of $1,000. In the first year of the program there were 16,000 loans awarded to consumers from 31 banks that participated in the program for a total of over $18 million in loans.

How this helps you as a borrower

For beginners, you have one of the largest government agencies in the United States (FDIC) making it possible for low-income personnel to acquire loans. Many of these loans fall under the title of low income personal loans. These are loans that consumers may have no idea it’s made available to them. Borrowing money is a privilege, which consumers should take advantage, of but it’s of no help to you if you’re not familiar with the various types of loans out there for you.