Director of Credit Counseling Services Glad to See Payday Loans Go
By J.J. CameronPayday Loan Writer
Celeste Collins, executive director of Consumer Credit Counseling Service of WNC, penned an editorial to The Citzen-Times this week. In it, she showed gratitude and happiness for the elimination of payday loans in North Carolina. To wit:
At Consumer Credit Counseling Services, we’ve seen them: families on the verge of losing their homes because of fees spent renewing payday loans; parents afraid of arrest because they’re unable to pay off their balances; calls from low-wage employees whose jobs were in jeopardy because of unrelenting collection calls.
What was the enticement of payday loans?
The way they were advertised, payday loans seemed to be the perfect solution to those times when there was too much month left at the end of the money - small loan amounts for short loan terms (generally two weeks).
Simply write a check to the payday company for up to $300, they cash it and keep a mere $45 fee.
Yeah, $45 for a two-week loan.
What?
Surely the happy payday loan customers featured in the TV commercials were having an easy time repaying the loans.
Not really.
Calculate the annual percentage rate on payday loans and you’ll find it’s 400 percent or more.
Thanks to the N.C. Attorney General’s Office and the N.C. Commissioner of Banks, payday lending in North Carolina came to an end this month.
North Carolina consumers won’t fall prey to the deceptive advertising and predatory interest rates of payday lenders, which tried to hide behind out-of-state financial institutions to bypass North Carolina law.
And the good news is that consumers who owe these payday lenders will only have to repay the principal amounts. While that may still be difficult for some, it’s nothing compared to the financial hole they were digging with the payday loan.
N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper is counting on the Consumer Credit Counseling Service agencies in North Carolina to work with consumers who are trying to create a plan to pay off payday loans and stabilize their finances.
March 13th, 2006 at 3:15 pm
[…] The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) expressed concern last month over Dollar’s “CustomCash” payday loans and installment loans. The FDIC has been subjecting payday lenders and the banks that partner with them to closer scrutiny recently, with some companies in some states (such as North Carolina) deciding to stop making payday loans. […]
April 10th, 2006 at 8:18 am
[…] The law would limit the number of payday loans a person could possess at a time - to only one. Credit counselors say it would help put an end to what has become a vicious cycleof debt […]