Advance America Suspends All N.C. Lending
By John MitsudaPayday Loan Writer
Raleigh, NC — Advance America Cash Advance Centers suspended lending in North Carolina today after its out-of state bank partner said it would no longer finance the loans.
The move came after a months-long hearing in which Roy Cooper, the state attorney general, alleged that Advance America's payday loans violated state lending laws that banned them. The result of the case could determine the fate of Advance America in North Carolina and take a big bite out of the state's short-term lending market.
Payday lending has technically been banned in North Carolina since 2001, when a law that had legalized and governed it expired. But several lenders, including Advance America, Kwik Kash, Ace Cash Express and other cash loan providers sidestepped the ban by partnering with out-of-state banks not subject to North Carolina laws.
First Fidelity Bank of Burke, S.D., the lender behind Spartanburg, S.C.-based Advance America's 117 loan centers in North Carolina, did not provide details of its decision.
March 5th, 2006 at 4:32 pm
[…] Now that payday loans are essentially eliminated from the state, where will residents of North Carolina turn for quick cash needs? According to an article in The Charlotte Observer, consumer advocates believe the demand was created by the suppliers. The Center for Responsible Lending in Durham, a payday advance critic, estimates 99 in 100 payday loans are made to repeat customers. […]
March 10th, 2006 at 2:18 pm
[…] With payday loan lending suspended in N.C., consumers are turning their attention to South […]
March 16th, 2006 at 10:07 am
[…] Advance America was the first to go. […]
March 21st, 2006 at 3:40 pm
[…] Last month, following problems in North Carolina and Pennsylvania, Advance America said it was studying alternative methods for conducting business in the two states but had not determined if it would cease its payday loan operations — ones that brought in nearly $90 million in revenue in 2004 and 2005. […]
April 15th, 2006 at 2:44 pm
[…] Cliff Voss was short on cash and needed to make truck payments. But when he strolled down to the Advance America payday loan center in Ashland, the office was closed. He had to head to Medford. “They’re your last resort to save your ass if you’re a working-class schmo like myself,” Voss said. “My family and my friends don’t have any money to lend, and I’m not the type of person to ask my boss for it. If you’re a person on your own, you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do.” […]
July 11th, 2006 at 12:47 pm
[…] Jamie Fulmer, spokesman for Advance America - which owns about a third of the payday loan centers in the Pensacola Bay Area - said payday loans are not intended to trap borrowers. […]