The government of Ontario is expected to announce on Tuesday a set amount that payday lenders can charge per loan. Globeinvestor.com is reporting that a new rule setting a maximum of $21 in charges per $100 borrowed will take effect soon. This new rule will be in addition to the rule requiring the lenders to be licensed.
This new rule set to go into effect tomorrow will cause major changes in the Ontario payday industry possibly causing some lenders to go out of business.
The LeadPile team will be watching this closely and will keep you posted on any updates or changes!

We all turn to the search engines to help us locate information, however did you know that the most popular search is one-word searches? Hitwise is reporting that 24.13% of the searches in November were people only using one word. Interesting enough, eight-word keyword searches had the biggest increase last month, however it only made up a little less than 4% of the searches. This sort of data is something that SEO/SEM experts should pay attention to for their campaigns.
This information is also really important to study if you want to optimize your website. Leadpile publishers should pay attention to articles such as this one if they are trying to understand what consumers are doing when searching the internet.

With the amount of debt continuing to rise, you may have thought about debt consolidation as one of your options. Just like anything, it is always good to do a little research before jumping into a big decision. For someone who only has a few hundred dollars in debt, consolidation may not be the best options. There are costs that are associated with the actual consolidation process, and it can actually put you more in debt.
For someone who is thousands of dollars in debt, consolidation could be the perfect solution to your problem. Debt consolidation will combine all your debt into one large lump sum with only one payment being made, usually per month. This one payment will also be lower than what your normals bills would have been, and it will also have a lower interest rate.
One helpful tip is to make sure that you find a trusted lender. Since you are already in debt, you do not want to find your self getting ripped off on top if it. Leadpile wants to make sure that all consumer use a trusted debt company, so do your research first!. So, if you think that you are a good candidate for debt consolidation, don’t wait and get further into debt, start consolidating today!

The holidays are the busiest time of the year for stores to bring in revenue. They will pretty much do whatever they can to bring customers to the store and make them buy their merchandise. But what is the one area where their focus isn’t? Customer Service. According to Brandweek.com, customer service among retail stores only scored a 48.2 out of 100. It seems that many stores are not going out of their way to try and help people or when they are helping someone, more time than not, they do not have an answer/will no try to find the answer for the consumer.
Customer service can really make or break the decision of where a consumer buys their product from. Just the other weekend I was at The Home Depot in the gardening section looking for lawn care help and the sales associate was useless in helping me find what I needed (however, the people in the hardware department couldn’t have been more helpful!). I ended up leaving without what I was looking for. You may think that is just one sale lost, but think about the many consumers this may have happened to among all their stores. That could be a substantial unneeded profit loss.
Customer service should be a large focus not just around the holidays, but all year round. With marketing budgets being cut with many companies, sometimes a knowledgeable and friendly work force will keep the customers coming back. I know that there are some places that I will not go back to because of the service that I received.
At LeadPile we always provide top notch service to all of our customers. It not only keeps the customers coming back, but keeps them happy knowing that they are getting the service that they need and deserve. The question is……. What are YOU doing to better YOUR customer service?

It seems new payday lending laws will be taking effect in January in the state of Washington. The new laws will limit the maximum loan amount to $700, or 30% of the consumer’s monthly gross income, whichever is less. There is going to also be a limit on the number of loans a consumer can take out to 8 loans in a 12 month period of time. One other stipulation implemented in this new law is that anyone who is in default on another loan, or still paying back a loan, can not take out a new payday loan starting in January.
My question is…. will these new regulations limit the number of leads that payday lenders purchase in this state, or will they still be interested in extending loans to consumers in the state of Washington? My guess is they will still very much be interested in obtaining payday loan leads from Leadpile and other lead providers in the state of Washington. Consumers need these short term loans and payday lenders should still be the ones providing them to the consumers.

There are many different versions as to how the candy cane was originated, but the general consensus seems to recognize that prior to the 1900’s candy canes were pure white, and not until the early 20th century that they began to appear with their holiday spirit filled red stripes. The pure white candy canes, straight sticks of sugar candy often used in Europe as decorations for Christmas trees were incorporated with many of the other decorations including cookies and candy. It is believed that the use of candy canes on Christmas trees began appearing in America by the 1800’s . The theory thought by some is that the candy cane known today got its shape to represent a shepherd’s cane. Any way shape or form about it, they are a delicious holiday treat!
The holidays would not be as yummy without Hanukkah gelt! “Gelt” a Yiddish term for money is a traditional treat of chocolate coins wrapped in gold foil. Hanukkah gelt coins are used to create the “winnings pot” for the game of dreidel where a spinning top with a different Hebrew letter on each side is used to play and win the game. Traditional chocolate Hanukkah gelt is a symbol of sharing your good fortune with others in need or for a good cause.
We are ALL excited for the Holiday season, and can’t wait to start enjoying all kinds of holiday treats!

AOL came into this decade as an independent company, and it looks as though they will be leaving the decade solo. In recent news, AOL and Time Warner are “divorcing” and many are wondering how this will impact the internet veteran. AOL became famous as the big dial up internet company, and now they seem to have some challenges on their hands as they try to compete with other internet service providers.
Will there be a big challenge on their hand to get back in the internet “game”, or do they know what they are doing and will jump right back in game after the divorce from Time Warner?
We wish you luck in your new single life!

Almost everyone goes to the ATM to take out cash on a regular basis. Most of the time we do not even think about the task because it has become second nature. But have you ever found yourself in a situation where you need cash and you can find every other banks ATM, but not yours? It is not a big deal going to an ATM other than your own until you see that they are going to charge you around $3.00 to complete your transaction. Then on top of that your bank sometime charges you additionally for banking elsewhere. Over time all those fees can really add up!
Is anything currently being done to lower the fees or get rid of them at all? Currently, the Federal Reserve is reviewing the matter of the rising fees. This all started to come to the service when Bankrate.com found that out of network bank fees rose 12.6% from last year. Where every dollar counts these days, it would be great if the bank fees were eliminated or at the least, decrease. It should not cost an individual $5.00 to take out $20.00.
Here are some useful tips of how to avoid these fees:
1. Only withdraw money from your OWN bank
2. Use your debit/credit card
3. Get cash back when you are at the store
Maybe we should all go back to the old school way of banking… use a piggy bank!

The FDIC has released a report showing 30+ million people have little or no access to banking services. Unfortunately, this study is also highlighting the fact that many of these consumers are poor, immigrants or minorities. According to NPR news, “In all, 25.6 percent of U.S. households either lack bank accounts or use payday loans, check-cashing services and other costly alternatives to traditional banks, according to the survey.
The report is part of an FDIC effort to bring the so-called “unbanked” into the financial mainstream.
FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair said access to a bank account gives households “an important first step toward achieving financial security.” Vulnerable families need the ability to save for emergencies and borrow on affordable terms, she said in a statement.”
The one thing that really needs to be pointed out about this report is the fact that it talks about many people who do not have banking services, yet they are using services such as payday loans. In reality, a consumer generally can not get a payday loan if they do not have a checking account. There might be some lenders that allows no bank account, however most do require it. So, I am not sure payday loans should be in this article when speaking about the “unbanked” consumers??????

This past June many card companies such as First Third Bank decided they are now charging their customers $19.00 for not using their credit card. They added this fee to help increase their revenue, and a way to “encourage” their customers to use and manage their credit card accounts. With the amount of credit card debt and late payments, is this the only option of increasing revenue? Probably not. A lot of credit card companies such as Amex and Discover will simply send you a notice that your account will be closed if you do not start using the card. This seems much more reasonable than charging your customers for inactivity.
Climbing your way out of debt is hard enough, but fixing your credit score can be even more challenging. When an individual finally pays off their credit card, the first reaction might be to close the card so you do not get yourself into that situation again. However, depending on your debt to credit ratio it can actually lower your credit even more. So what is the best to do? Close your account and potentially lower your credit or leave the account open but get a fee for non use? This really puts people in a pickle.
One option for the consumer is to charge only one or two small items on the card a month. This will keep the card active without getting a fee or affecting your credit in a negative way. If you are one of the many that are in debt, debt consolidation/settlement maybe something worth looking into. Everyday at LeadPile, we match lenders with consumers to try and help with their debt needs, but each person needs to know the basics about their own credit/creditors. Knowledge is power!