A group of 50 colleges (and this number is growing) are pledging to do fund student financial needs through grants and work-study programs rather than with loans. Limiting loans with the “Project on Student Debt” will help in the efforts of reducing graduates debt amounts leaving them in large financial debt when leaving school.

With the economy in poor standing, this affected all schools – particularly private schools, resulting in tuition hikes and budget hikes.

With student aid, few students will pay the full tuition price for example. Financial aid is defined as the total cost of attendance (tuition, books, room & board) minus a family’s expected contribution. Public colleges threshold for receiving need-based aid is typically $60,000 or less.

For example according to money.cnn.com:

Full estimated tuition price at Harvard per year is $50,000. A family with an income of $120,000 can expect to pay after Harvard’s financial aid $16,000 per year. This same family would pay an estimated $15,800 at Yale and $34,000 at Stanford after receiving financial aid help.

The financial commitment to attend college may be intimidating. Researching your options for financial aid in addition to merit-based scholarships and grants can be a great way to lessen the financial burden. A complete list of schools participating with the “no loan” financial aid packages can be found here: www.ProjectOnStudentDebt.org .

LeadPile is adding Online Education to our list of lead types and will soon be generating leads!

Pawn shops are becoming a large source of quick revenue these days for consumers who need short term loans and do not have the option of a payday or bank loan. Pawn shops, which offer money in the $100 or less range in exchange for the consumers collateral such as a TV or hunting equipment. The pawn shop loans the money with an additional 5-10% interest rate added on, if the consumer defaults on the loan after a period of time (usually 30 days) the item being held as collateral becomes merchandise within the shop. Pawn shops success during the recession has been dependent upon these loans rather than the sale of merchandise.

As a follow up to our recent posting regarding Arizona Payday loans, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted 5-3 against the bill that would have allowed lenders to continue offering the high-interest short-term loans with the proposed adjustments to the rules.
In Arizona there are currently 596 Payday Loan businesses that provide employment for 2,500 people. The risk of these people losing their jobs is high, as well as loan customers will have to turn to most likely more expensive options to receive quick cash short-term loans.
The bill would have allowed fees of $15 per $100 borrowed, restricted the number of loans an individual could take out at one time and allowed a customer to rescind the transaction if the money was returned within two business days.
LeadPile will continue to keep a close eye on this and keep you updated on any new developments or possible hope for the AZ Payday industry!

Arizona may have good news for the Payday loan industry this week as an amendment will be heard on Tuesday at 1:30pm. Adjustments suggested would restrict the number of loans a person could take out at one time, allowing fees of $15 per $100 borrowed, and also allowing the consumer to cancel the transaction if the borrowed money is returned within two business days. The amendment would require businesses to give at least 1.5 % of the fees it collects to “organizations that provide services to low-income and moderate income individuals” in their community.

Leadpile works a lot in the payday loan industry, with regards to trying to connect those that are looking for a payday loan and those that can provide these short term loans to the consumers. However, if you are in the military you do not qualify for these types of loans, therefore there are alternatives that are offered to these consumers. Leadpile is excited to partner up with a lender that can help service these individuals. We are looking for publishers that can help us generate more of these leads.
This is what we are looking for in these leads:
Nationwide, “active duty” Military (no reserves or government employees) only, consumers must be looking for a $500+ loan, no daily caps and there is no restricted delivery schedules.

There are several ways to generate these leads:

* MicroClick Forms
* MicroClick iForms
* Banners
* Text Links
* “On Exit” Ads
* Open Market

If you are a publisher and looking to help provide these sorts of short term loans to members of our military, reach out to us!

A new bill has passed in Virginia setting new guidelines for car title loans. This bill will enforce caps on interest rates and loan terms which is something that has not been done before. Similar to a law in Tennessee the loans are restricted to a year in length, restrict the loan amount to half of the car’s value in addition to preventing new interest being added onto the loan once the car has been repossessed. A tiered interest rate cap will be put into effect, running from 22 percent per month for a loan smaller than $700, to a maximum 15 percent for loans higher than $1,400.
Car title loans are a topic of controversy lately in a similar way to payday loans. The loans both help consumers who are in need and would not have other options, but can be at times tricky for consumers to understand if they are not taking the time to read the terms. The consumer needs to always be aware of the terms of the loan and the interest rate they will be paying. If applying for a loan, being as educated as possible can help the consumer know all options available and prepare/make a plan to use the loan responsibly.

June 30th is the date that the Payday loan industry in Arizona will have to fight to survive past. The industry has many advocacy groups and local businesses supporting a bill that would allow the short-term loan companies to continue operating. Supporters of the bill believe that this economy has shown short-term smaller loans are necessary and not easily available from banks or credit unions; the lower dollar amount loans are helping a lower income or “fallen on hard times” part of the population.

In recent weeks, there have been talks on the largest debate surrounding the Payday industry, the interest rates. The interest rates are currently under a temporary exemption from the 36 percent, charging $17.65 per $100 borrowed for a 2 week loan; this exemption would expire on June 30th. The Payday loan lenders would possibly not generate enough revenue to cover overhead costs if capped at 36%, however this is the number that Representatives from the minority House Democrats would like to hold them to…

As these discussions continue and the debate grows, LeadPile will continue to keep you updated!

In Wisconsin, the state Senate is being asked by the Assembly Speaker to avoid delay with moving forward with the legislation regulating payday loan companies. It has already been approved recently by the Assembly to limit the size of loans, restrict consumers from taking out more than one loan at a time, bans auto title loans completely as well as “rolling over” the balance of a previous loan.
A Senate version of this bill includes a cap on interest rates, however the Assembly rejected this bill as they believe their version does enough.
There are currently over 500 payday lenders in the state of Wisconsin.

LeadPile will continue to keep you posted on changes…

House prices have not been on the rise for six straight months in a row. Fourteen out of twenty metro areas saw an increase in homes from the month before. As of November, 2009 was up 3.4 percent from its lowest back in May, 2009. Phoenix (Arizona) and San Francisco (California) have had the highest month over month increase in their housing markets. Both New York and Chicago had the largest declines in the nation. One of the largest reasons for the increase was the first time home buyer tax credit. With the original end date for the tax credit being in November of 2009, there was a rush to purchase a new home (the tax credit ended up being extended to the spring of 2010). The tax credit was a huge incentive to purchase a home, and with the home prices in Arizona being so low, it makes sense that Arizona saw one of the highest increases in their housing markets.
One of the big questions is if the trend is going to continue to increase? Some economists believe that there is going to be another dip in the housing market because of the the high rate of unemployment and foreclosures. It is expected that we will see these results in the beginning of this year. It goes without saying that now is the time to buy. Depending on the area, people are seeing move in ready houses for as low as $50,000. That is less than a college education!
If you find that you are one of the many who are having trouble keeping your home you may want to consider a loan modification or debt consolidation. Leadpile is trying to do it’s part by matching up the consumers with lenders on a daily basis! Heck, we want the economy to be better too!

It seems that Iowa might be trying to follow some of those other states that have imposed payday lending laws. The Des Moines Register is reporting that a few Iowa lawmakers are attempting to get a law passed that would limit the number of payday loans a consumer could take out in this state. Many are saying it is a “cycle of debt”, but many are going to keep an eye on this new potential legislation that is trying to get passed. Leadpile will certainly keep an eye on what is going to happen in Iowa. Stay tuned!

As of January 1st 2010, a new payday lending law was imposed in Washington. “The new law limits the size of a payday loan to 30 percent of a person’s monthly income, or $700, whichever is less. It also bars people from having multiple loans from different lenders, limits the number of loans a person can take out to eight per 12 months, and sets up a database to track the number of loans taken out by people.” This will be something that lenders will now have to pay attention to.
Leadpile will be watching the status of Washington and payday loans, because we work with publishers nationwide, and we will be interested in any legal changes that happen in this particular state.

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.