Leadpile’s Blog

The generation gap between the boomers and younger generations is becoming more apparent and widening the gap even more with the effects of the recession. Dropping home prices and stock values give employed people in their younger years an opportunity to invest and purchase in ways that would not have been possible to them without the drastic decline in value from the recession. On the opposite end of this scale, the aging generations such as the boomers are taking a large hit, watching their homes and 401(k) accounts drop by huge percentages in value.
First-time home buyers being offered $8,000 tax credits, and the stock market at all time lows adds extra benefits for generation X’ers looking to get a head start. People in their 20’s or 30’s have plenty of time to get in now and watch their investments grow, giving them a huge advantage to someone in their 50’s or 60’s looking to retire.
According to msnbc.com the Consumer Price Index has recorded a rare drop over the past 12 months, 1.5 percent. The decline for many goods and services has been much greater, allowing young people to put even more money into stocks and housing.
For those who are fortunate enough to have remained employed and have the opportunity to invest have a great advantage….For those who have been working all of their lives to retire and now are faced with hard decisions and losses, it feels as though they are being taken advantage of. It’s scary to think that even the best layed out plans could turn bad.
Recently there has been enormous amounts of discussion surrounding Payday loans, and the push by some to get rid of this option. With the economy in the state that it is, and people’s budgets and financial futures in question Payday loans are the stepping stone to help people get from point A to point B. They may not be the perfect solution to the problem, however at the time, they may be the only.

We all know there has been legislation going on with the payday loan industry, however it still does not take away the fact that consumers still need short term loans. If consumers still need a short term loan, like a payday loan or installment loan, then what are they supposed to do if these types of loans are banned in their states? WTAM.com is reporting that in the state of OH they are still struggling with consumers needing loans, but the loans are facing tough scrutiny.
Leadpile Lead Exchange recognizes that there are some state restrictions going on with this industry, but if there is going to be tough regulations, then shouldn’t there be some other type of short term loan that the consumers can look at taking out? If there is one door closing on the consumers, then there needs to be some other options available. What should be the available option to them? Ohio sounds like it might have a challenge on it’s hand to try and figure that out.

Many conversations recently have involved payday loans and how they are just not right for consumers, yet articles like this one today make you think that maybe a payday loan is not really a “bad” option for a consumer. With this recent news that banks are under fire for the insane overdraft fees they charge consumers, payday loans are looking pretty good right now. Banks are projected to be generating up to $38.5 billion dollars in fees being charged to our nation’s bank customers. Congress is not liking this, and is looking at cracking down on all the banks that are charging these fees. What appears to be happening is consumers are using their debit cards and not having enough funds to make the purchase, yet the banks allow the transaction to take place and then charge the large overdraft fee. Maybe banks should not allow these sorts of transaction to take place, which in turn are getting the consumers more and more in debt?

I found this article interesting about payday loans maybe being offered at our nation’s banks. A few of the nation’s largest banks — including Minneapolis-based U.S. Bancorp, Wells Fargo & Co. of San Francisco, and Fifth Third Bancorp of Cincinnati — are now marketing payday loan-type products, with triple-digit interest rates, to their checking account customers. Really it is something that should have happened a while ago, or maybe now this is the perfect time to really give the industry a little better image. We have all discussed the need for these short term loans, however now that our banks will be looking at offering these types of loans, what does that do to the future our payday loans? Is this maybe the beginning of the segway into installment loans? What does something like this really mean?
Leadpile will probably be watching something like this because this could open up some doors on who to work with, but also how is this going to affect the future of the payday loan lead generation business? I think this is a GREAT thing to hear about regarding payday loans! The rest of America is waking up to the need for this sort of short term loan. It’s about time!!!!!!!

I came across this article about nursing homes providing payday loans to it’s employees and it intrigues me because this just goes to show you that there really are a lot of people that need extra short term cash. Nursing homes offering their employees short term loans might not be the answer to helping those that need help, but the point is that there are people everywhere (working and not) that are looking for some short term help. Regulating nationwide payday lenders to the point that causes places like nursing homes to provide loans really the answer? OR coming up with a solution to help those that need short term cash the answer? There has to be a middle ground where getting short term loans should be easier than having to necessarily go to your employer …right? Nursing homes are for taking care of our elderly AND payday lenders are for taking care of those in need of getting some quick cash. The payday lenders should not be taking care of the elderly and the nursing homes I do not believe should be lending money.

When someone needs some quick cash, most think of getting a payday loan because it is quick and no credit check is required. However, in recent years, credit unions have tried to come up with an alternative to a payday loan, but some seem to be similar in many aspects. Does this mean that our nation’s credit unions will be getting put under a microscope like most payday lenders? The unfortunate thing is that many of these consumers are needing “emergency” money, so places like credit unions are trying to jump in and help out their customers with creating these short term loans. There is certainly a need, or credit unions would not look at creating their own version of a payday loan, but really what is the difference? Is there some way all lenders can come together to create one “short term emergency loan” that can help our nations consumers get out of trouble? Leadpile hopes so, because we really want to continue to be able to generate leads of those that are looking to be connected with someone that can help them. Sounds like the credit unions and the payday lenders have a common goal >> help consumers! Right?

Leadpile has rolled out a new offer for the payday loan lead type, and we are looking for more traffic!
We are looking for traffic to Green-paydayloan.com through PPC, email marketing, banner or social networking. The top payout is currently at $73.60. If you are a Leadpile publisher and looking to drive traffic to the offer, you can locate the text link in your seller account under the “offers” tab. If by chance Leadpile is not already working with you, we would like to see you join our marketplace and generate payday loan leads as a Leadpile seller/publisher!
As we all know, a lot of consumers are looking for help in their temporary setbacks, so a payday loan is a lot of the time that in-between money that is going to help them in their current situation.

With everything that has happened in the financial market in the last few years, many question if the responsibility falls on the consumer or the lenders (or both)? Is the responsibility of the lender to make sure the customer 100% know what they are signing, or it is the responsibility of the customer to ask questions if they do understand what they are signing? There are advocates on both sides, however the government now feels it needs to step in. NPR is reporting that Congress has drafted legislation that would allow the government to oversee all consumer financial products such as credit cards, mortgage loans and payday loans. This measure would prevent consumers from getting any sort of “loan” that they did not fully understand what they were signing. I am not quit sure how something like this can be regulated, but the government wants to step in and try to protect consumers in these sorts of situations. Many legislatures feel that the past behavior of our banks was that they would shop around till they found a lender that would take on their “unique” client situation. Unfortunately, what this caused was those “unique” consumers to then fall behind on their mortgages because they really can’t afford that mortgage.
No matter what, if you agree with government intervention in our financial market or not, the bottom line is our country needs something to change. The right answer is not always that easy to figure out, however one thing I do know is that to change our financial market there needs to be a combination of many people/groups that need to come together to protect customers…and sometimes protect the lenders (the good ones).

Lately it seems to be a dog-eat-dog world with all our search engines trying to get the biggest piece of the search engine “puzzle”. Yesterday I spoke about search engines and the need to bring new things to the table in order to stay competitive with other search engines. Ask.com is one of those search engines that is offering a unique service that other search engines are not offering. For instance, Ask.com is great for longer questions you want answered versus entering them in a standard Google search, and having to filter through all the results. Comscore reports that Ask.com’s ranking rose from 10th place to now 6th place, compared to other properties such as eBay and Facebook (in May based on unique users). This explains why a lot of Leadpile publishers are using this search engine to generate traffic to their payday loan, debt, auto finance, online education and other websites. Just like search engines trying to do something different to attract users, affiliate marketing and lead generators have to think of unique ways to generate traffic to their properties. Ask.com seems to be a good option to consider. It appears that others think so too, and that’s why their rankings seem to be headed in the right direction. Another GREAT alternative to the Google BEAST!

There has been alot of Leadpile posts about payday loans, and the various states implementing legislation on payday loans. California appears to be the next state to look at doing this. A recent article in Merced Sunstar points out that bill 377 is going through the legislature to attempt to regulate payday loans, however it does not have any rate cap incorporated into this bill. So, will this bill have enough ammunition for the legislature to see the need to pass it? Only time will tell.

Leadpile will keep an eye on this most recent payday loan news, and see what happens in the state of California (if anything at all).

Is there really a good time to capture email addresses and other secure information from consumers that are visiting your website(s)? Bizreport.com thinks there is an optimal time to get the consumer to provide their email addresses, when doing their online shopping (or other online activities). So, when is an ideal time to capture this sort of information from the consumer?? The report says, “At the highest engagement level, and most times this is at the point of purchase or while consumers are beginning to shop your site. .” Why is this? Capturing this sort of information creates more customer loyalty. If you want the customers to come back to your site, or eventually react to future emails you send them, they have to trust you and the site. The report also found that since mobile marketing (SMS marketing)is so popular right now, capturing their email addresses to send them mobile updates is something a lot of consumers are open to.
These sort of rules also apply to other online experiences, such as lead generation. For instance, Leadpile captures email addresses on all it’s leads, however there are some lead types such as payday loan and auto finance where additional secure information is captured. Capturing this information at the right time is certainly key to the trust factor with the consumer submitting online requests for things such as loans.

Some great insight provided in this survey on paydayloanindustryblog.com. We all think we know the “typical” payday loan customer and what they are looking for, however this survey provides some things all of us that are in the lead generation business should pay attention to. This survey was sponsored by the Canadian Government, but still has some insight that we should maybe pay attention to.

SURVEY RESULTS
User Satisfaction with Payday Loan Lenders
The majority of payday loan users are satisfied with their most recent payday loan experience,
including 49% who are very satisfied. Users are highly satisfied with the rates and terms being
explained to them (82%) but their satisfaction with the cost of the payday loan is substantially lower
(54%).

Motivations for Using Payday Loans
Users cite a range of situations of great need, or emergency situations in general, as their reasons for needing payday loans. The most frequently mentioned reason for needing a payday loan is to pay bills or prevent overdue bills (40%).
When asked for top of mind reasons for choosing a payday loan instead of another form of lending, users say it is a last resort (41%). Convenience factors represent other motivators for obtaining payday loans; for example, that it is easy to apply (12%), faster to get the loan (10%) and the location is convenient (6%). However, when asked to rate the importance of a number of specific aspects of payday loans, users rate speed, ability to borrow a small amount, hours of operation, convenient location, and ease of applying for the loan substantially more important (87-92% important ratings) than being the only place they are confident to apply (61%) or not being approved at other places (44%).

STIGMA
There is a degree of
stigma associated with payday loans, with 25% of users agreeing they would be concerned about
being seen at a payday loan store.
INTERNET PAYDAY LOANS
A low percentage of users obtain their loans through the Internet (3%). Almost all users obtain their loans from a payday loan store, usually somewhat or very close to their home. Most users (82%) have Internet access, at about the same incidence as the general population (84%).