Leadpile’s Blog

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….

Surveys & polls are often times a way to determine the public’s opinion on issues relating to politics, entertainment, business, and sometimes off the wall topics.  There is a website you can go to that allows you to see people’s opinion on literally ANYTHING you could imagine.   Buzzdash.com allows anyone to create a new survey (buzzbites) on whatever topic they want. Some of these buzzbites are about some really off the wall topics, but still very interesting to read about! Buzzbites can even be put on your own website to capture the opinion on any desired topic.

View real-time popular opinion on a range of timely issues.
Express opinions by voting or commenting on individual issues.
Post individual buzzbites to personal web pages, blogs or emails.
Create buzzbites for personal use, for submission to BuzzDash, or both.

Leadpile Lead Exchange should maybe come up with a buzzbite for our website, about various subject matters we are sometimes trying to determine amongst our marketplace.  So, is there anything you want to know the public’s opinion on?  This is the place to go to gather that information! Go take a look…. you might learn something!

First, I would like to say congratulations to our next president of the United States. No matter who everyone voted for, we are all keeping an eye on how the future of our struggling America pans out.  Secondly, there was something that America should really pay attention to, and that is an amazing effect the internet had on the election of our 44th president.
The internet AND social networking tools contributed to the Barack Obama being elected. According to businessstandard.com,“Obama, on his part, has refined the digital act further — a fact revealed during his presidential announcement speech in Springfield last October when he said: “Let us be the generation that reshapes our economy to compete in the digital age…” A few examples of this being implemented, was in the case where almost 300,000 people created accounts on the barackobama.com website, he became the first YouTube politician, got involved on Facebook, MySpace, text messaging and all other avenues of the internet for fund raising and party awareness.
Another interesting aspect in this presidential campaign was, “Obama has proposed the creation of the nation’s first Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to ensure that the American government and all its agencies have the right infrastructure, policies and services for the 21st century. The CTO will have a specific focus on transparency, by ensuring that each arm of the federal government makes its records open and accessible as the e-government Act requires. The CTO will also ensure technological interoperability of key government functions”, according to Business Standard.
No matter who was elected, the excitement of the internet and the power it can have also excited Leadpile Lead Exchange. We are in it for the long hall on wherever this great internet craze LEADS us!

Matt Burns of Business First of Columbus had a very nice article today on the situation with the Ohio Payday Ballot.

According to Burns,, Ohio officials have finally finalized the ballot language for the Payday Issue.

The Ballot will read:  “Shall Section 3 of H.B. 545 be approved?” A “yes” vote keeps intact the provision of the law, which caps annual interest rates on payday loans at 28 percent, down from 391 percent, while limiting the maximum loan amount to $500, from $800.

A “no” vote, according to the language, sets the maximum loan amount back to $800 and allows payday lenders to levy a total charge on a loan that “substantially exceeds” 28 percent.  According to Burns, the 391 percent annual percentage rate calculation doesn’t appear on the ballot.

It looks like a Payday Group called Ohioans for Financial Freedom have worked to collect signatures to make sure the repeal makes it on the ballot. They called the language “fair and balanced.” According to Burns, Ohioans for Financial Freedom has until the end of the month to collect and submit more than 241,000 valid signatures to ensure a spot on the ballot.

Stay Tuned my friends. Ohio is in the middle of it.

I am an election board worker at my local polling place, and every year when it gets closer to election time I get excited and a little concerned as to what changes there may be for the  election that I am working. Changes in the law happen every election, even if it is only from September to November, and there are so many laws to remember. Which party can vote this ballot, what time do we open/close the polls, what happens if someone gets sick while working and many other things that may or may not happen.  I always enjoy the day and really have fun mostly when handing out stickers that say “I voted today” to those who voted. Some people even ask for the stickers when they don’t get them right way. Those sticker shows everyone how proud they are to have voted every year when a Senator, Congressman, or Representative gets elected.

To me when I hear people complain about things I often wonder if they are doing something about it. The best way to make your voice heard is to get out and vote. Don’t sit and complain and then if things don’t get better or change think that you can’t make a difference. Every voice heard is one more for change. In Maricopa county we had a large number of independent voters attempt to vote in the Presidential primary and I don’t think that has happened in the past. they were not allowed to vote because it was a party preference election but they still came out to make their voices heard. They wanted to make a difference whether it mattered or not in the final count. It mattered to them.

To make sure that you are registered to vote check with your local recorders office. Also make sure that your records are up to date so that you don’t end up going to the wrong place to vote and have to travel to another polling area wait in another line and then vote.  Next step is to make sure you know where your local polling place is. That information is vital to voting as well as knowing if you are registered.  You also need to check to see what kind of ID is required. In Arizona you need 2 forms of ID.  Remember what dates your elections are on. All elections should be listed on your local recorders web site.  It is very important to learn what you can about the candidates. You want to be an informed voter and not just vote for someone just because you “think” they will do a good job.  You can always volunteer to be a poll worker. Since you are going to the polls anyways. You get to meet your neighbors and I know I always have fun. I get to work at my daughter school so we always eat lunch together. Most important is to get out and VOTE! It can make a difference.

http://www.canivote.org/