Alan L. Feld is the Maurice Poch Research Professor at the Boston University School of Law. Let's just say he isn't a major supporter of military payday loans.

In a recent article in The Providence Journal, Feld discussed the major drawback of these cash advances: if a sailor is unable to pay off the loan could actually lose his security clearance, based on of financial mismanagement of personal debts. Without clearance, the sailor cannot be deployed overseas. It's not difficult to see how severe this can become.

For many reasons, military personnel are high profile targets for providers of faxless payday loans such as these; they're often financially unsophisticated and far from family and friends. With full disclosure of the interest rates and compliance with Rhode Island's licensing requirements, a payday loan service can operate within the law here.

So, how can military payday loan problems be fixed? In one approach to the situation, Congress could prohibit high interest rates and set a limit on how much instant payday loan services may charge. A Senate amendment recently added to the Defense Authorization Bill of 2007 would cap the interest rate for loans to armed services members and their dependents at 36 percent; the interest-rate limit must still pass the House before going to President Bush for his signature.

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As Americans took on large debt than expected in May - to the jaw-dropping total of $4.4 BILLION - it would be easy to blame the prolifieration of payday loans for these difficulties.

However, revolving/mounting debt from credit cards was the main culprit.

Borrowers in the U.S. pushed up overall outstanding consumer credit by 2.4 percent (to a total of a cool $2.173 trillion) the Fed said Monday. As interest rates are raised by credit card companies, all of a sudden the use of pay day loans to help with this problem doesn't seem to expensive.

Nonrevolving debt, such as automobile loans, fell by 2 percent during the month. Meanwhile, a slowdown in consumer spending would allow the Fed to halt its interest-rate-tightening campaign. But if individals keep spending, the central bank would likely have to go further to tamp down inflation.

It seems unlikely Americans will stop charging items left and right. For that reason, you may wish to look into the world of payday loans online for assistance instead.

You can't blame a payday loan company for trying. 

Representatives from a EZCorp - a Texas-based provider of cash advances/loans - tried convince the city's Plan Commission to reconsider changes to the city's zoning codes that would restrict their business. The firm failed in its efforts.

Instead, on Wednesday, the Plan Commission took another look at a proposed ordinance that would amend existing zoning codes and place certain restrictions on payday loan businesses. The commission once again approved said amendments that define what a convenient cash business is and establish a distance between stores in an effort to restrict their locations.

The goal of the new payday loan law: Such an ordinance would amend the city's zoning codes by defining convenient instant cash loan businesses - making them a conditional use - and setting a distance requirement of 2,500 feet between stores and 250 feet from any residential district. The City Council will vote on the ordinance at its meeting next Tuesday at 7 p.m. at City Hall We'll have the results for you.

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Members of an Illinois legislative committee blocked Gov. Rod Blagojevich's administration from imposing restrictions on short term payday loans and complained that the agency director pushing for the highly-touted change was politicizing the issue.

Earlier in the year, the Dept. of Financial and Professional Regulation proposed rules they said would stop lenders from skirting a new law regulating the terms of payday cash loans. To get around the law, short-term lenders allegedly steer borrowers toward longer installment loans instead — so they can charge the exorbitant interest rates.

But the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) voted 9-3 to nix the proposed rules, which would have taken effect as early as next month.

Some members questioned whether Blagojevich even has the authority to make such a move under the Consumer Installment Loan Act. Other members of the panel bristled when the Secretary of Financial and Professional Regulation, Dean Martinez, delved into the plight of borrowers before a packed hearing.

State Rep. Larry McKeon (D-Chicago) called the speech "insulting," while Rep. Dave Leitch (R-Peoria) said that Martinez acted with "self-righteous arrogance."

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While some citizens in Oregon may be concerned about loopholes in certain ordinances regarding payday loans, the Eugene City Council didn't waste any time in enacting new legislation.

Councilors heard five supporters of a proposed local law regulating payday loan businesses during an open form this week. The respondents talked about the 16 payday advance lenders in Eugene, those that typically charge a fee of $15 to $20 for each $100 borrowed.

If borrowers can't repay the bad credit payday loan after two weeks, payday lenders allow them to renew the loan up to three times, paying another fee each time. But councilors took the rare step of approving the new ordinance after the public hearing.

They said the changes are needed immediately to protect low-income residents who use no faxing payday loans. Among other changes, the law will allow borrowers to make payments to reduce their balances before the payday loan is due. Moreover, borrowers whose loans have been renewed three times but are not in default could pay off the cash advances in installments over 60 days.

The owner of a string of allegedly criminal payday loan companies, who was recently fined a whopping $1.3 million by Arkansas financial regulators, was accused Tuesday by the state of having siphoned cash from his businesses after being hit with the fine and ordered to shut the businesses down.

A Pulaski County court filing by the Arkansas State Board of Collection Agencies claims that Dennis Bailey transferred large sums of cash from payday loan stores and cleaned out the bank accounts of his businesses in an effort to avoid paying more the record fines.

Bailey was ordered by the board June 28 to close his stores in Arkansas after regulators found him in violation of state lending laws. He asked a circuit Judge to review the board decision, and Little Rock lawyer Thomas Thrash submitted the board's response Tuesday.

The attorney asked for a full accounting of the finances of the payday advance businesses and for a judgment against Bailey enforcing the $1.3 million in fines, plus 6 percent interest. The filing also urged to the judge that Bailey must return money transferred out of his business accounts subsequent to the board decision.

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They won't get away with this! A few payday loan stores have been robbed around the nation, but authorities in Florida have a few leads about a recent crime spree in Broward County.

The Sheriff's Office believes two men and a young woman are behind a series of robberies over the past five weeks; the latest of which took place at Class Jewelers, 3756 W. Hillsboro Blvd. So why is the Payday Loan Times Police Blotter all over the story?

Detectives said the same man and woman robbed Fast Payday Loans, 548 E. Commercial Blvd, on June 30. Their first robbery occurred June 10 at another payday advance operation - when two men stole cash at gunpoint from the clerk at the Check N Go, 3628 W. Hillsboro Blvd.

While it's natural that crooks would look to these businesses - because they carry a lot of cash on hand - that doesn't make it any more right. Anyone with information on the robbery of cash loan stores should stp forward.

Kris Fulcher - featured in a recent article in The Pensacola New Journal - understands the dangers involved in payday loans. However, the Navy Hospital medical assistant, isn't worried about her finances because she's not a frequent cash loan borrower.

"You have to be careful," Fulcher said after she walked out of a cash advance center on Navy Boulevard with a $100 loan that will cost her $15 in two weeks."I've heard about a lot people who fell into a trap."

Haven't we all? More than 37,000 Floridians took out 20 or more no fax payday loans each in 12 months, according to a 2004 report to the Legislature. Despite legislation changes that imposed more consumer protection regulations on Florida payday loan lenders a few years ago, advocates said the main issue still has not been solved: lending that targets low-income workers, military personnel and others who have little or no savings and live paycheck to paycheck.

"It's predatory lending of the worse kind and they are proliferating across Florida," said Mark Ferrulo, director of the Florida Public Interest Research Group. He's among many Sunshine State consumer group reps concerned about payday loans in the state.

The spread of payday loans: Payday loan centers weren't always so widespread in Pensacola. In fact, none were listed in the phone book until the end of 1999. The influx began soon after legislators put a 30 percent cap on the annual interest rate allowed by car title companies.

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It's not your imagination.

There probably are more offers from credit card companies in your mailbox as the burgeoning industry desperately seeks new customers, even as most U.S. residents have more credit cards than they even use.

• Last year, a record 6.06 billion solicitations were mailed out, a new record.
• Only about 18 million of those offers, or about 0.3 percent, were accepted, also a new record.

Recognizing the need for better bait, companies are sweetening their offers with the promise of rebates or rewards, in which consumers spend, then get something back.

There is a card that pays down your home loans. There's one that provides rebates of up to 5 percent on the money you spend on gas. Even one that combines with credit card use. For consumers, the trend offers a chance to pursue rewards of almost any flavor.

It's also an enticement to spend more than you planned, letting things slip out of control, and leaving you with no choice but to apply for high-risk payday loans to get yourself out.

"If you have a high bill that you can't repay at the end of the month, the whole point of earning a 5 percent reward gets eaten in two seconds by the 18 percent interest rate," said Linda Sherry of Consumer Action.

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Welcome to Queensland, Australia: A loan shark's paradise.

That's what columnist Patrick Lion of the Courier-Mail calls the Australian province, where one can pay $16,000 in fees over the course of a year for $1,000 payday loans.

The most astonishing fact about this example is not the crippling way the monthly interest rate compounds to a 1,600 percent annual rate.

It is that the State Government, through the Office of Fair Trading, has done nothing to stop thousands of Queenslanders from being ripped off by these rates since the fast payday loan industry exploded in 1998.

According to Lion's op-ed piece, the Courier-Mail contacted Fair Trading Minister Margaret Keech's office last month for a story on the industry. She said she was in the process of reviewing whether to introduce a cap similar to New South Wales and Victoria, where rates are limited to about 48 percent.

Incredibly, Queensland has no cap and the highest known rate offered is 1,600 percent. Yet the promise of a review is likely to be just another example of the considering, investigating and stalling that the Fair Trading office has become known for over an eight-year span in which Queensland has become a hotbed for faxless payday loans.

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