Payday Loans Blog

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.  

This past Februrary, the Carson city Planning Commission voted unanimously to require conditional-use permits for all payday loan companies.  For the last severals months the commission has been thinking about implementing other regulations on local payday lending businesses.

The payday lending industry has greatly opposed this measure and, this last Tuesday, were put slightly at ease.  The City Council voted 5-0 (again, unanimously) to reject that proposal.  Instead of requiring a conditional-use permit from every payday loan company, they will only require permits from new businesses.  The existing companies will be grandfathered in.    

The Community Financial Services Association of America agreed and praised the council for their decision.  A member of that association, Sergio Carillo, stated, "They realized the city must be a business-friendly city.  To change the laws halfway through is just unfair to those businesses."

There are currently 11 payday lenders in Carson.  Two of the 11 are currently not legally practicing and operating.  One of them does not have a state license, while the other does not have a business license because of fire code issues.  Although these companies are obviously operating when they should not be, Carillo pointes out that the city should use the existing regulations to "go after" non compliant businesses instead of creating new ones for the entire payday loan industry.

One member of the council, Lula Davis-Holmes, agreed with this sentiment by adding, "Why punish nine businesses for the actions of two that we need to regulate?"  The council was able to appropriately consider the situation and realize that a few individual businesses, who just happened to be payday loan companies, were operating illegally.  But, their poor actions should not be used as the rope to hang the entire payday loan industry in the city.