Payday Loans Blog

With Check City's Check Cashing program, you no longer have to plan your financial schedule around the bank.

We've all been there. You finally receive your paycheck at the end of a long two weeks and can hardly wait to deposit it in your bank account. You've been working hard these last few weeks and you deserve this check! It's Saturday afternoon and you pull up to the bank, only to find that it has already closed for the weekend. Don't they realize you need to deposit this check?

With Check City's Check Cashing program, you can cash any type of check at whatever time is convenient for you at an affordable price. Check City is open later than any bank. Almost every location is open until midnight and some even operate 24/7. Check City is willing to cash checks from any of the following sources:

• Cashier Checks
• Government Checks
• Payroll Checks
• Tax Refund Checks
• Personal Checks
• Out of State Checks
• Money Orders
• Insurance Checks or Drafts

In order to get a check cashed at Check City, all you need apart from your check is a form of picture ID. Visit your nearest Check City location and the employees will be more than willing to assist you. Check City's Check Cashing program is an easy, affordable and convenient way to get the cash you need, when you need it.

The Texas Observer printed an article today that went on the offenseive against payday loans. It was a typical tirade, blasting interest rates, calling lenders predatory and trying to defend their poor sob story. Not only was it lacking any balance whatsoever, one might think the author was not even trying to eliminate bias.

I'm not sure what they teach in journalism schools in Texas, but facts are usually reported in news by journalists. They wonder why newspapers are failing across the country...could it be no one wants to read their tabloid editorial garbage anymore? But I digress...

This is one of the better sob stories I've ever heard. The article opens with the anecdote about Isamar Lanusse. This Austin resident makes $27,500 a year driving senior citizens to their doctors appointments. She is a single mother with one daughter.

She says her mother raised her as a single mom on welfare, and she always wanted better for her own family. In her mind, the first step to financial stability was through home ownership. Nevermind that an income of $27,500 could only get you a home for around $70,000 or so, which homes are almost non-existent. At least 4 years ago they were.

But Lanusse decided she needed to own a home and wanted to get started on the paperwork. Unfortunately she needed $200 for initial paperwork fees and was days from her next paycheck. She saw a big flashy sign for a payday lender and decided to give it a try. And that's when she claims she was trapped.

"I got trapped in a cycle, they would offer me more money and then charge me 500 percent interest plus fees. It was a mess."

But she got luckier than many. By borrowing money from family members and skipping utility bills, she escaped from the loans that had quickly amounted to $1,000. Oh, and needless to say, she didn't get the house.

There are so, so, so many things wrong with this pathetic sob story. First, she wanted to buy a house but couldn't come up with a mere $200. Excuse me, you can't afford $200 in paperwork but you want A HOUSE?!?! There is something so terribly wrong and uneducated about this woman already.

Second, she says she was days away from her paycheck. For argument's sake we'll put it at 10 days. At the 500% APR she claims, that $200 loan would be about $28 in interest. Someone making $27,500 a year makes $1,057.69 each paycheck if paid every two weeks. After taxes, about $800 or so.

So she needed to skip utility bills and borrow money from family to pay back that monstrous loan? She needed to get more loans to pay off that original loan? She went through all this to get up to $1,000 in loans and sacrificed so much to pay them back.

Keep in mind....she wanted A HOUSE!?!?! This story is so mind blowingly insane! How could anyone POSSIBLY fault the lender in this scenario? Could this woman have possibly known any less about finances? Clearly this is a comlete lack of education and understanding.

And that's why I may sound like a broken recrod, but look at the evidence our critics are supplying us? Payday lenders are not that bad guys! Uninformed and uneducated people are the problem here!

Millions of people use payday loans responsibly each year. Let's ask them if they feel like they are a ripoff! Not the rare exception who manages to break every rational norm! Payday loans need to government meddling, what we need is better education of our citizens so that those who shouldn't be getting loans don't get them.

Check City offers its customers a Prepaid Visa card called the Cash-In Card. With this card, you are guaranteed all the convenience of a credit card without the possibility of entering into debt. The Cash-In Card also allows you to enjoy the advantages of a credit card without requiring credit approval or the opening of a banking account.

Keeping track of the amount of money on your Prepaid Visa card is simple. You can add money by transferring funds for free directly from a banking account or by physically bringing cash into any Check City location. On the other hand, you can tailor your account to send email or text message alerts directly to you whenever funds are charged to your card.

Cash-In Cards can be obtained at any Check City location and are not limited to local use. They work just like a real Visa card, meaning your card is accepted anywhere a Visa card would be. Cash-In Cards can be used anywhere in the world at any time you like. You can also pay your bills with your Cash-In Card, either online or over the phone.

 Check City is bringing solutions to those who prefer the convenience of a credit card, but do not want the burden of being credit approved or the liability of going into debt. Applying for the Prepaid Visa card is easy. Just make your way to a Check City location and our staff will walk you through the process of receiving this convenient service.

In a letter to the Wall Street Journal, Prof. Roger Meiners defends payday loans. He explains how a 36% APR cap would ruin the industry by making it unprofitable to operate a payday loan shop.

But perhaps his best observation was about predatory lending. Many critics refer to payday loans as an example of predatory lending. Their only evidence is the 400% APR associated with them. This of course ignores that these loans only accrue interest for around 15 days, not a year.

The average amount a borrower pays in fees on a loan that is repaid on time is 15%. If that is predatory, look at a borrower who gets a mortgage on their house. By the time they have paid off their loan in 30 years, they paid around 150% of the loan amount in interest. Remind me why payday lenders are the loan sharks again?

Speaking of loan sharks, these guys are real. They were called the mafia. Desperate people used to come to them begging for money to get by. The mafia would give them the $500 they asked for, but require them to pay back twice that amount in the time allotted or else.

Why do I bring that up? Because banning and prohibiting payday lending will give rise to these criminals again. There is money to be made in small, short-term lending. If the government won't allow people to make money doing it legally, then you better believe a bunch of people are going to start doing it illegally, just like the mafia did.

If we cutoff access to short-term credit, especially for the poor and those with bad credit, then how will these people find help when they need it? Banks won't lend to them because their credit is too low. Credit Unions are the same way. Desperate people do desperate things, so it's not unlikely that these people will turn to the real loan sharks.

Is that what we really want to happen? Do we want to kill payday loans so that illegal lenders can being their operations? Plenty of liberal whackos in this country do. But then again, it's really not the liberal way to contemplate the consequences of our actions. Better to just do what seems like a good idea based on shady information.

Payday loans don't need regulating or prohibiting. The industry is self regulating, There are no lenders left who charge upwards of 600% APR. The only ones left are around 400% APR. This is obviously not a rip off as shown earlier, so leave payday loans alone.

Warren Bolton, Associate Editor of The State in South Carolina, went on a tirade against payday loans today. He painted the legislative scene as a battle between consumers and payday lenders adn called out legislators who were on the wrong side.

Since when have consumers been fighting payday lenders? Consumers are the very people keeping payday lenders in business by getting loans from them. How about the war between retarded special interest morons and sensible freedom loving individuals? Better ring to it...

There sure are some great one-liners in this article. You'll love this one from Bolton:

"Who would defend an industry that charges an annualized interest rate of 391 percent and repeatedly makes loans to people it knows can’t repay them?"

First of all, what's wrong with charging an annulaized interest rate of 391 percent? That translates to little over 1% per day. For a 10-15 day loan, that's a grand total of about 10-15% of the loan amount paid in interest fees. Wow, what dirty loan sharks we must be.

Secondly, why in the name of all that is holy and sacred would someone lend money to another person if they know that person cannot pay them back? Is Mr. Bolton getting his hands on some medicinal marijuana? Perhaps taking too many prescription drugs?

All I can say is this guy made a good decision not to get into the lending business, because he would be out of business faster than you find a poorly written editorial slamming payday loans. There is not a payday lender or any kind of lender in the world who will give one penny to a borrower if that lender already knows the borrower cannot pay the loan back.

But if Mr. Bolton's antics weren't enough, he has to quote the genius state senator Gerald Malloy. I'm not joking here, this is actually what he said in his own words:

"I don’t understand the business model. A business that feasts on borrowers by making as many loans as possible, knowing they can’t repay them, doesn’t make sense for consumers."

Did a state senator really just say that an industry needs regulating when he "doesn't understand the business model?" What the hell is going on in South Carolina? Are they going to start regulating physics, biochemistry and rocket science because they just don't understand how they work?

Of course the business model doesn't make sense to you Mr. Malloy, you have it all wrong! Why would anyone make as many non-repayable loans as possible? How is that helping lenders or borrowers?

Now add those quotes in with this one from Bolton:

"Those who are fortunate enough to keep their jobs will become bigger targets, since you must have an income to get payday loans."

What the hell?!?!?!?! I thought we were lending to people who we know can't pay us back! Yet just two paragraphs later it is revelaed that ability to pay back the loan is required to receive the loan? Does this guy have any idea how a loan works? Clearly Mr. Malloy doesn't:

"There’s no merit in submitting consumers to the level of usury employed by payday lenders."

But there is merit in submitting them to $40 overdraft fees? Or $35 NSF fees? Or $30 bounced check fees? Banks get away with highway robbery and go unregulated. Payday lenders charge people an average of $7.50 for a$100 loan for one week. For each week and each $100, add $7.50 to the fees.

Compare that to overdrafting by merely $20 and you get charged twice that much in fees! Or apples to apples- overdraft by $100 and pay an average of $35 in fees. That's a lot more than $7.50.

But legislatures will do what legislatures do best- screw up everything they possibly can without studying the facts first. I imagine that payday loans are only the first targets. Those terribly complex healthcare and educational industries must be next.

Knowing a good check cashing service can be a great benefit to many people.  I know there have been many occasions where I have needed a check to be cashed but am unable (due to time, location, or day) to use a bank to get the money I need. 

Most often it happens on a Friday after work when the banks are closed before I get out of the office.  I still need some money for the weekend!  So, where do I go?  A great check cashing store-Check City.  

Check City is an excellent resource for many different services, including cash advances, title loans, money orders, prepaid Visa or phone cards, money transfers, insurance, mortgages, and tax services.  Obviously, they provide check cashing services as well.  My point in listing all of these services is to demonstrate just how many services Check City provides.

The services are quick and easy, with great customer service and quality of care.  Check cashing is one that I use and need most often.  It's easy to get a check cashed at Check City.  They will cash a lot of checks that most traditional financial institutions will not.  The stores are also open much later than a bank.  Most stores are open until midnight and some locations are even open 24/7.  

Again, Check City cashes several different kinds of checks, including payroll checks, cashier checks, government checks, insurance drafts or checks, money orders, tax refund checks, personal checks, and out of state checks.

To cash these, all you have to do is bring in  your check and a picture ID to one of the many locations in the area.  You then fill out a short customer information form, and walk away with your cash!  Check cashing can be just that easy!

There is a small fee for the service.  The Check City employees are friendly and knowledgeable and can answer any question you may have.  

The Better Business Bureau reports an increase in complaints about payday loans in the Chicago area. In 2007 there were 5 but in 2008 that number jumped to 30. The BBB cites high interest rates and phone harassment as the main reasons for consumer complaints.

I can understand the phone harassment complaints. After all, it is illegal to threaten people over the phone or endlessly harass them all day about paying back their loans. We do not condone these practices nor do we participate in them in our collections department at Check City.

The real mind boggling thing here is the complaints over the high interest rates. People complain that they were charged 600% APR in some instances. Now first of all, that means borrowers were charged about 2% of their loan amount per day in fees. So the longer they kept their loans out, the more they were going to pay in fees.

To complain about that is the same as going to buy a Mercedes then complaining that it cost too much. Then why did you get it? The Truth in Lending Act requires by law that the APR of any loan be clearly disclosed to the consumer. If you can't afford the price tag, don't buy it!

I am amazed that someone will get a loan for 600% APR, know they are getting a loan for 600% APR, and then have the audacity to complain to the BBB that it was unfair to be charged 600% APR. Do we live in a mindless society devoid of any accountability or responsibility for one's own actions now?

Why do we allow anyone to charge money for anything? Why can Wal-Mart charge $40 for a chair when RC Willey is charging $80 for the same chair. Shouldn't someone complain about RC Willey and their outrageous prices?

Want protection from payday loans? Don't buy them! It's that simple! If you think they are bad, don't get one!We live in a free country, let's keep it that way.

Luis Gutierrez, author and sponser of H.R. 1214, wrote an editorial to the New York Times today to defend his bill to regulate payday loans at the federal level. His bill would cap the APR on payday loans, ban rollovers and create mandatory repayment plans.

This was in response to a letter expressing disgust with the bill. The author of that letter suggested that H.R. 1214 didn't go far enough in regulating payday lenders. Gutierrez defended his position by saying, "My bill is not a cure-all for payday lending, but it is a good start to ensuring consumer protections at a time when consumers need them most."

Gutierrez went on to say that his bill would significantly cut into the profits of payday lenders. It must really empower the entreprenuerial spirit in all Americans when the government steps in and kills the profits on any business they disagree with.

While H.R. 1214 is severe, it isn't as bad as the bill that's fit to wipe my butt that Dick Durbin proposed. His bill would essentially ban and prohibit all payday loans completely. I wonder what the banks and credit unions are paying him for it?

The problem with H.R. 1214 is that it is a step in the wrong direction in principle. What right does the government have to tell a business how it can and cannot operate? If one payday lender wants to charge 800% APR and another 400% APR, do we need a law to stop the one charging crazy rates? Isn't that business going to simply go bankrupt by not being competitively priced at all?

But the government is over stepping its bounds in this one. Cutting into an industry's profits just so that it is less expensive for consumers is not a power given to Congress in any Constitution I have read. If payday loan rates are out of control, why are people borrowing them?

No one tells Ferrari to lower their prices to make them more affordable. No one tells the state of California that their homes are too expensive and to cut prices. No one tells gas stations they can only charge a certain amount. Yet its ok for the government to tell payday lenders what they can and cannot charge?

This bill shouldn't only scare payday lenders. Business owners from all industries beware- the government can do anything they want to you, so you better not get on their bad side. I would love for Congress to cite the specific phrase in the constitution that delegates to them the power to regulate any business they feel like.

Let payday loans regulate themselves. Those lenders who are abusive will fall by the wayside.

Jamie Fulmer recently wrote an article supporting the payday loan option.  In the column, he highlighted the negative conotation that a local newspaper, The State, a South Carolina based paper, has been giving to the payday loan industty. 

The State has clearly made its position known.  The paper has written several articles and columns calling for a ban on payday advances and have questioned the payday lending industry's lobbying and political contributions, suggesting that they are trying to persuade policy.

Fulmer points out that this position blatantly dismisses the value of the payday loan services for families.  There are thousands of consumers of payday loans in the state of South Carolina.  He also stated the the vast majority of consumers appreciate the service, have a good experience with it, and use the services responsibly.  He went on to explain that for one South Carolina company, Advance America, 90 percent of their customers repay their loans on time and are completely satisfied with the product.

We all know that our currently economy is struggling.  In a time of such financial and economic troubles, it's necessary to have services available for hardworking people who need access to short-term loans.  Sometimes payday loans are their only option or the least expensive option.  Payday loans are a great way to go for a lot of people, especially those who want to stay away from increased bank fees and credit card debt.  

It is important for people to have the freedom to weigh their options and choose the financial option that will be best for their situation.  Payday loans are one option that have helped many people, and should remain an option.  

The City Council of Salt Lake City is going to vote today on whether or not to regulate the spacing of payday loan storefronts. The proposal would limit payday lenders from having stores within a half mile of each other. Already existing stores would be unaffected.

Does this seem completely ridiculous to anyone else? What on earth is the goal of spacing payday lenders? A new payday lender will now be unable to get prime retail space because of where others already are. And in certain locations, so many lenders are within a half mile of each other, it would be literally impossible to set up a new store anywhere.

The idea is that it will limit how many lenders there are in SLC and how close they are to low-income neighborhoods. Supposedly the evil payday lenders prey on the poor, even though the median income of a payday loan borrower is $41,000.

I would ask, why aren't fast food chains limited in this manner? What costs America more, a $15 fee for $100 borrowed, or the enormous health care costs associated with obesity and unhealthy diets? Yet fast food chains can operate freely.

This blatant hypocrisy and pushing of a political agenda is sickening. What is the role of government? For the few in charge to do what they want for their own satisfaction? Or is it to do what is best for the people? Apparently facts are no longer used in determining what is best for the people.

Oh no, lobbyists do that just fine. After all, who could be more trustworthy than someone being paid by organizations with a vested interest in the legislation? Clearly unbiased, objective source of information there.

The fact is that over 90% of repeat payday loan borrowers pay their loans back on time. It simply isn't a problem. First time borrowers default less than 40% of the time. If payday lending is such a criminal offense, why do people keep coming back to get loans?

If they were really a ripoff, they would have been out of business long ago. But we're not. Payday loans serve an underserved community. People with poor credit have literall no access to short-term credit options except payday loans.

The alternative is bounced checks, NSF fees, late fees and other charges that make payday loan fees look like pocket change. Leave payday loans alone, the industry is self regulating.