A new website has been created for Lending Season with new features and is targeted towards consumers with good credit, offering personal loans up to $35,000. In the current economy there are a lot of people in need of financing, and this includes people with high and low credit scores. Lending Season has created an option for consumers with good credit and giving them access to larger amounts of funding. These personal loans may be needed for home improvement projects, funding a small business, or a variety of other reasons that someone would need financing during these hard economic times. While Lending Season is targeting consumers with higher credit scores, it is understood that people with all types of financial backgrounds may be in need of extra financing. Lending Season also has options available for people with lower credit scores who would qualify for a short term cash advance. With the upgrades to the new website publishers are seeing much better results and higher EPCs  as we are seeing higher converting traffic from the site.

The downturn of the economy has left many people with high credit card balances and not many options. Payday loans have been and will continue to be a great source of necessary and quickly needed funds for a large number of consumers however don’t always offer the larger amount loans or longer payment terms that personal loans once offered. Prior to the economy taking a downward turn and home-equity loans becoming the popular choice personal loans were the main option for many people.

Recently, as the demand to borrow money has become necessary for many, personal loans have been in demand and the supply is starting to make a comeback. Personal loans, can offer the longer terms and higher borrowing amounts than payday is typically able to and offers a much better option and interest rate than credit cards do.

Recently, according to CBS MoneyWatch, banks including Wells Fargo, Discover Financial, Citi and CapitalOne are all currently offering personal loans.

Wells Fargo – loaning $3,000 – $10,000 for lengths as long as five years
Citi – $300 – $7.500
Discover Financial – lending up to $25,000

This week, Montana was added to the list of now 17 states that have moved to restrict payday lending. Voters approved a ballot initiative on November 2 that places a ceiling on the amount of interest that can be charged. This new initiative will impose a 36 percent cap on payday loans as well as car title loans.

In June, a temporary exemption from the 36% cap expired in Arizona causing most lenders to abandon the state. With the costs involved, operating under the cap is not possible for majority of them. Losing the lenders and options for quick, short-term loans leaves a large number of consumers without other options in times of need. Hopefully, Montana will be able to come up with a solution for both side of this!

In NY there seems to be some interest with potentially passing a law that would allow check cashing stores to lend money. The bill, they would call the “Short-Term Financial Services Loan Act”, would potentially allow registered check-cashing stores to make loans between $300 and $2,000 for 90 to 180 days. The loans could not be more than 25 percent of a borrower’s gross monthly income; installment repayments must be 10 percent or less. This could certainly benefit those frequenting the check-cashing stores that are paycheck to paycheck. New Yorkers are in need of this sort of short term loan because there are about 825,000 un-banked adults in New York City, according to the Department of Consumer Affairs, and this is something I am sure is similar in some of our nation’s largest cities. Advocates of this new pending law are wanting it to be known that this is NOT a payday loan, but it is in fact a loan with a repayment schedule that has installment payments within two days of a borrower’s payday.
No matter what it would be “called” it seems that there could be some additional resources for New Yorkers that are paycheck to paycheck. If a law like this is passed in NY, then will other states follow? We shall see… Stay tuned!

In recent payday loan news, the state of Colorado has passed a law restricting the APR on payday loans. The new law puts a cap of 45% APR. This is just following suit with some other states that have put some sort of restrictions on these short-term loans. Other states that have some sort of payday loan legislation or the payday loans are banned are the states of: AZ, AR, CT, GA, ME, MD, MA, NH, NJ, NY, NC, OH, OR, PA, VT and WV.
Many talk about installment loans or other short-term loan options. Is there going to be a transition from what we all know as a “payday loan” to something else to help those consumers that need the help? Either way, there HAS to be an option for consumers. If we want to call it payday loan.. installment loan, or whatever, consumers need to have somewhere to turn for unexpected situations that happen in their lives.

Times must be tough if one of the world’s largest retailers is planning on offering small business loans. MSNBC is reporting that Wal-Mart is teaming up with a lender to offer small business loans to some of our nation’s businesses. So, is the motive behind something like this to promote businesses to spend money at their stores? If that is in fact the case, is that really a bad idea?
The retail giant is reporting that in a recent survey, they conducted with their business clients, a large percentage of them were rejected for business loans. Therefore, in a effort to capitalize on these “unhelped” businesses, Wal-Mart teamed up with Superior Financial Group to offer these businesses a small business loan.
Good idea or not? If our “traditional” banks are not lending to consumers and businesses, is it really a conflict of interest to have a retail giant want to jump in and help? There seems to be no strings attached for these businesses and being required to only shop at Wal-Mart stores, however they are offering a discount on the Sam’s Club membership. Sounds like a good idea to me……

In recent news, Ohio’s new payday lending law might not be going as smoothly as they had planned. According to dispatchpolitics.com, the public thought the commerce department (who regulates the payday lending industry) would be able to control the payday lenders from charging high interest rates on the short term loans.  It seems Ohians are getting around these new payday lending laws by offering short term loans under the Ohio Short Term Loan Act.  It seems they are trying to do anything possible to get around this newly implemented law.  Leadpile Lead Exchange will be keeping an eye on this to see if it affects the future lending laws of other states.

In recent news, South Carolina is the next state to be heading in the direction of payday lending regulations. According to the Augusta Chronicle, the South Carolina house of representatives has passed a bill preventing consumers from taking out more than one payday loan (up to $600) at a time. In addition to the number of payday loans being potentially allowed, the bill requires the industry to allow customers to go into a extended payment plan if they can’t meet that deadline (without incorporating more fees). This bill is now going to be headed to the Senate to be voted on. If this passes this is just another state that is cracking down on payday lenders. Leadpile Lead Exchange will be keeping an eye on this.

Did you hear?  The Fed cut a key interest rate today to 1%.  This is the second time in 3 weeks that the feds have done this.  So how is it going to affect the average consumer?   The immediate answer is there is not going to be an immediate affect on consumers.  However, there is some potential to see this benefit you in some way (maybe indirectly or down the road).

The problem is not necessarily that the rates are too high, however a lot of the issue is consumers who just don’t know if they can pay back the loan.  This is a concern of the consumer and also for the lenders. At some point or another money has to start flowing through to consumers for loans and lenders have to lend it. Where does the waterfall effect begin so the economy can start heading in the right direction? I am not sure anyone knows the answer, but in the meantime Leadpile Lead Exchange will generate those leads of people looking for various financial assistance.
Stay tuned……………..

According to The East Valley Tribune Saturday, Scottsdale City Council has voted to impose tougher regulations on payday loan stores that are in Scottsdale, AZ. This was imposed to try and decrease the number of stores in the city. The Scottsdale City Council had agreed to implement minimum distance requirements between these payday loan stores. The specifics of the new restrictions will be determined in upcoming council meetings. Mayor Mary Manross had previously requested the council to pursue new regulations, saying she wanted to avoid an increase in stores that do not “lend themselves to uplifting neighborhoods and centers.” Also, Proposition 200 will be voted on by the public in November to determine whether to allow payday loan operations to continue past their current expiration date of July 1, 2010.
Should Scottsdale be able to control the number of payday stores doing business in it’s city?

Easy Money, a payday lender with stores in Alabama, recently joined Borrow Smart Alabama – a TV  campaign aimed at encouraging borrowers to use loans wisely.

The title loan and cash advance industry, under fire for high-interest rates, have smartly recommended regulatory oversight which will help to promote legitimacy. Borrow Smart Alabama is comprised of more than 225 cash advance and title lenders in the state who have committed to a Code of Fair Lending.

Smart Move by Payday’s in Alabama.

In a continuing effort to research all the options consumers have available to them, I came across a type of loan that I have never seen before. The newest and latest way for consumers to get cash is by taking out a cash advance from their home. Currently, consumers that are age 65 and older have often looked at the option of doing a reverse mortgage. This is basically the consumer taking out a loan on their home, but the loan not being paid back till after they pass away. However, it appears there might be another option available to them.
Something new that lenders are looking at is offering consumers cash advances on their home. According to The New York Times, “Owners 65 to 85 with good credit who live in homes valued above $400,000 (above $500,000 in New York and California) can receive a payment of up to 15 percent of a home’s equity.” Something like this costs the consumer no closing costs unlike a reverse mortgage. There are certain stipulations the consumer has regarding the sale of the home, however the simplicity seems to be there compared to doing a reverse mortgage or other lending options. Yet is this a logical choice for consumers? Not everyone has a home valued above $400,000 either.

The options that homeowners now have are:
1. Refinancing
2. 2nd mortgage or lines of credit
3. Reverse mortgage
4. Home cash advance
5. Loan modification

and what’s next?…………………………….

Consumers are looking for anything and everything they can do to survive. Does this mean a potential new lead type for Leadpile Lead Exchange? Let’s wait and learn some more about this new option available.