Changes to the Wisconsin Payday lending industry could be very close. A vote by the Assembly Committee 6-5 supports the bill that would place restrictions that would cap Payday loans at $600 allowing borrowers to only take out one Payday loan at a time. Auto title loans will no longer be offered when/if this bill passes. A vote to pass this bill could happen as quickly as next Tuesday. Concerns have been raised about a $1 fee for each transaction to pay for statewide database to track the loans. According to the Associated Press, Republicans argued the bill was flawed and the public should have more time to consider the plan unveiled late last week. Leadpile will be watching….

As a follow up to our past entries regarding the payday loan industry in Arizona, the bill that would allow lenders to continue offering payday loans has been delayed.

According the azcentral.com the bill was pulled out of a hearing agenda recently. Republican Rep. Andy Tobin supporting the bill said that currently it does not have enough support, but vowed that more support would be gathered and the bill would be brought back.

Currently payday lenders are operating under a temporary exemption from Arizona’s 36% cap on annual interest rates. This exemption is set to expire on June 30th.

A new payday loan law has taken effect today in South Carolina. This new law was passed with the intent to protect consumers, however it seems that it actually has an ability to hurt consumers that already have an outstanding payday loan. A local SC news channel is reporting, “The new law limits consumers to just one payday loan at a time. It sets up a statewide database, starting Feb. 1, to keep track of all payday loans to prevent anyone from having more than one. But the database will not include past payday loans that are outstanding as of Feb. 1.” So will something like this prevent lenders from staying in the state of SC? Hopefully not.. because people in SC I am sure still need payday loans even though a new law was passed.

A year ago in New Hampshire payday and title loans were outlawed to “protect” consumers from the interest rates. This however did not completely stop all lenders from being able to offer additional types of short-term high interest loans to consumers.
Today the house will vote to amend the proposed bill which would put a 36% cap on annual interest rates, including some fees for any loan under $10,000. This would apply to loans and personal lines of credit. According to the Concord Monitor the vote is for a bill meant to close what some consider to be a loophole in the law. As there as been much controversy and disagreement regarding the bill which was originally discussed in the house two weeks ago with a recommendation that a bipartisan majority believed the bill to be overkill. The new proposed amendment to the bill would cap the interest rates at 36% while allowing additional membership fees, late fees and participation fees. These fees could only be charged one time and the banking commissioner would have the authority to determine what fees are fair.
Often time consumers with bad credit or in a time of need have no where else to turn for a quick loan and these lenders were filling the demand for these loans. If the loans were taken away, this would leave many people without other options. Hopefully, a decision can be agreed upon that not only has the consumers best interest in mind regarding the interest rates, but also in times of need and being able to access quick short term loans when necessary. Leadpile is watching what happens in NH………….

Opening a checking account with no required balance or no monthly service fees may be something that is soon going to be history. With the suffering economy, there has recently been lots of discussion and controversy surrounding overdraft transaction fees, as a new federal regulation is expected to eliminate them. To make up for these losses in revenue the banks are looking into adding additional fees to checking accounts to help fill the gap.
According to Bankrate.com effective July 1st overdraft coverage will be an opt-in service. “Banks that offer overdraft, or bounce, protection will send opt-in notices to customers explaining the service. Banks will not be allowed to charge a fee for paying an overdraft that occurs because of an ATM transaction or a one-time debit card transaction unless the customer agrees. The rule does not apply to overdrafts that occur through the use of checks or ACH transactions such as bill pay.”
Overdraft fees have affected millions of people during this hard time and often times can be looked at as making a hard situation harder. Here at LeadPile we connect consumers possibly needing help to avoid banking overdraft fees or late payments with payday loan lenders who can loan money for a period of time to get them through. We will keep an eye on any new developments with this and let you know when changes occur!

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!

Steve Beshear, Governor of Kentucky, has renewed his efforts for putting an interest cap on payday loans. The new limit that Steve Beshear would want in place is 36% for every $100.00 lent. This is the same cap that people in the military have on their payday loans. The main reason for the cap is because of the hard times that residents in Kentucky are having just to put food on their tables.
Currently, no new payday lenders are even allowed to open in Kentucky (the state has 743 lenders at the moment). Some believe that such a restricted cap will cause lenders to go out of business. What do you think?

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!

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.

The Thanksgiving rush is now over, and retailers seem to be pretty pleased with the Black Friday results. However, now Cyber Monday is here and the kickoff to online shopping has begun. Internetnews.com is reporting sites such as Amazon.com and Walmart.com to be the potential big winners. Time will tell who is going to be the big winner this holiday season. Web sales only represent a small portion of the holiday sales, however year after year more and more people are turning to the internet for their shopping.
Leadpile is hoping to capitalize on some of this increased web traffic with some additional lead generation. Payday loansare in high demand, and we are hoping some will see these short term loans as an additional way to potentially purchase their much needed Christmas gifts.

In recent news in AZ, payday lenders are working with an former AZ attorney general – Grant Woods to try and keep payday loans from being eliminated fully in the state. In a recent vote the short terms loans had been voted to be eliminated, however some are trying to prevent this from happening. A local AZ paper is quoting that some payday lenders have hired a local company whose owners are advisors to the AZ governor, so this looks like they are really trying to win this battle this time. We all wish the people in AZ (Leadpile’s home) luck with winning this battle.

Canada is no longer an out of the way market that U.S companies do not want to do business with. Many of the hot Canadian companies are all coming together to try to sell themselves. These agencies are going to be traveling around the United States to show marketers that cities like Montreal and Quebec are the ideal new hot spot for market testing. Why is this? According to adage.com, “its language barrier prevents much outside media from seeping in, and vice versa — makes it an ideal place for U.S.-based marketers to experiment with new ideas and approaches before rolling them out to wider audiences.”
Several larger companies such as MasterCard and Mazda are way ahead of the game and have been utilizing Canada as a test market for several years now, both with great success. By testing in a smaller market with a smaller budget, marketers are able to see what works and what does not with out throwing their whole budget out the door. This also allows companies to try a more “out of the box” method.
LeadPile is a head of the game when it comes to working in Canada. Currently we are generating Canadian payday leads in Ontario. We are finding great success generating leads in Ontario and have plans to expand to some of the other Canadian markets.