The light at the end of tunnel doesn’t come soon enough for some people. The economy has been teetering along for some time now and its slowly getting better, but not quick enough for some. There are still lots of people that are out of work, companies that haven’t fully gotten back to normal levels, and people still short on cash when they need it most. For these very reasons, I almost got a payday loan just to get by till my next pay check.

It’s not that I wouldn’t get one, but I try to avoid getting a payday loan if I can because it’s just another form of financing that cost money. However, it is a good alternative to messing up credit and paying more fees to accounts that I’m late on. Given these facts alone I almost got a payday loan, but in the end I tighten my belt even more so that I didn’t need to get one.

The following are some reasons why I almost got a payday loan.
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It seems that a payday loan can be without one important aspect, a payday.  That’s right! A payday loan, which are short term loans given to people without any credit check, also gives people loans based on unemployment checks, social security, or just about any check that comes in on a regular basis.

The special report, conducted by the Action News from KEPR in Washington, showed that the national chain lenders would provide a payday loan based on a unemployment check.  Typically, people who are collecting unemployment are without a job, thus the reason it’s called unemployment.  However, this means that a person doesn’t have to have a job in  order to get a payday loan.
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Despite growing pressure for more regulations, big banks are getting into payday loan type of products to steal a chunk of the $35 billion dollar a year industry.  Banks like Wells Fargo and US Bankcorp are throwing their hats into the ring in hopes of generating additional revenue and will be marketing their triple digit APR products to their own checking account customers.

Some of the consumer watchdog groups are crying foul at this move as they believe the high interest rates and tactics used to market payday loans products would skirt state laws and enable banks to sell these products even though they could be harmful to some people.
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There is so much hype and news going on with the payday loans these days that many people might be confused as to how they really work, where people stand with them, and how to get out of payday loan debt.

Getting payday loans are easy, and many people find it to be even simpler online, as there are no faxes, no credit check, and in most cases, no employment verification required.  People are able to get a payday loans with nothing more than a bank account and id, and the money is deposited in their bank account within hours.  However, since payday loans are so easy to get, what happens if a person isn’t able to pay it back and can payday loans get you in trouble with the law. 
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Better Business Bureau announced last week details about a new payday loan scam that has been targeting people on a national scale. BBB is issuing a warning to those that already have payday loans, those that are thinking about taking out a cash advance, or those have gotten them in the past.  The scam makes an attempt to collect on a payday loan by declaring the loan to be in default and that the caller is a lawyer working for a, non-existent, lender agency and threatens legal action including jail if the loan is not paid back right away.
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Financial history and credit score are very important to most people. It’s the life blood of the economy and having the ability to have credit extended to a person is a good thing and one that many don’t want to give up.  However, there are times when people need to use forms of credit that are not so favorable and have terms that are considered harsh for most people.  Payday loans have gotten a lot of press lately and critics argue that they put people into a cycle of debt that traps them financially.  The following are some tips to help people so that they don’t get caught in a financial trap.
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Defaulting on any loan is bad news and reflects negatively on a person’s ability to re-pay debt, but not all lenders report defaulting loans or local laws prevent them from doing so.  However, people have to know that there are many consequences to defaulting on cash advance payday loans and that these loans should be taken seriously in order to avoid further headaches, fees, and negative credit history.   We’ve had people ask us, “what if I default on my payday loan”, what do I do?
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Cash Advance Reviews has a new forum, and we are looking for questions, comments, and general thoughts about cash advances and payday loans.  The forum is open to all and we are encouraging lenders, borrowers, critics, and others who would like to weigh in on this topic to register for free and join the discussion.  The following are some ways you can use the new Cash Advance Forum.
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The Obama administration announced Thursday April, 23 2009 that they will be looking into credit card companies and trying to put in place some legislation that will help to curb some of the fine print, unannounced interest rate changes, and yes the biggest headache for many Americans, the high late fees that are charge to accounts with a payment due that is 3 times less that the fee charged.  All we can say is that it’s about time.
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It seems everyone is trying to grab headlines these days, but its one thing to promote a point of view, and quite another to outright mislead people about it.  However, that is exactly what the CRL (Center for Responsible Lending) is doing.  In a recent article posted by the Earthtimes (read it here), they provide details and points that are very accurate and reflect the true structure of short term loans as well as provide many detailed points about why the CRL is misleading people with the press releases.
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There is a lot of buzz going around Twitter today about the payday loans industry and particularly a report about Congress allowing the short term loans industry to charge up to almost 400% industry.

This is because many had suspected that the federal government would step in and put a cap on the loans at around 36%, which is what they capped short term loans at for Military families just a few years ago. However, in a complete turn of events they ended up settling on a cap of about 391%, which is about 10 times higher that was thought.
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There have been many new laws and regulations either proposed, passed, in or in debate over short term loans, often called payday loans.  Many of the people that are bringing up the new laws and debate say that these loans lead to a ‘cycle of debt’ that cannot be broken and eventually lead people to bankruptcy.  However, contrary to popular belief, and to those that are trying to bring this debate to light as well as give it merit, short term loans do not lead to a ‘cycle of debt’ and that they don’t lead to bankruptcy.

A recent study that was conducted over a 6 year period from 200o to 2006, using state data from 1990 to 2006, by Clemson University and others, concluded that short term loans are not the cause of bankruptcies. 
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Should States Continue To Increase Loan Regulations

There has been a lot of news out over the past few weeks regarding the loan industry, and in particular the short term loan industry.  These loans cover cash advances, short term loans, personal loans, online payday loans, and other forms of credit that have a short time frame for paying back.

Often these loans have higher interest, but that is because they have less payments and a shorter time frame to pay back. This means that the company that is providing the loan can only make a limited amount of money on lending the credit to individuals. Unlike credit cards and other forms of long term loans where the interest may not be as high, but there are more payments and over the course of the loan a person is paying back much more money than they borrowed.
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Short-term Loans versus Credit Cards

There has been a lot of reports out over the past few weeks about the short-term loan industry and the new laws and regulations that many states have been putting on the books.  In most cases there restrictions are put into place to do two things.  One, is to protect consumers from what is called predatory lending practices, and the second is to protect the state from lawsuits and bailouts.  However, the first reason is somewhat short sided and is only looking at one industry, while trying to say it’s protecting people from predatory lending.  However, the big gripe that I have is where are the restrictions and protection for people against predatory lending in credit cards.

Credit card companies to me are worse than short-term loan companies.  There are few reasons for that and I’ll explain them below in detail.
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State Laws Moving In On Payday Loan Industry

Over the past year or so there have been many new regulations introduced into state laws regarding payday loans, short-term loans, and cash advances.  Often these regulations and laws are put into place to help protect consumers, as well as to set up oversight on the industry, and in some cases even produce additional  revenue for the states.  However, some states have put laws into effect only to realize that they’ve created loopholes that not only help the industry to continue operating with business as usual mentality, but even hurt consumers in some cases because the lenders moved their practices into open-ended loans where there weren’t as tough of regulations as the payday loan industry.
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