Reader comments
Fast growth of payday stores in Utah cools

I would warn people to stay away from these loans. I have seen too many people get themselves into serious trouble because of the ourageous costs associated with them. From my point of view payday loans should be illegal because they are pure theft.

What is wrong with this picture!? 500%

We need to get the ones that charge even more when you convert fees into interest. Those evil ATM fees are over 1,000%. NSF fees (which payday loans help avaoid) can be 1,500% once you add up all the fees. Anytime you take an apple and convert it to an orange and then say that is a nasty orange you miss the point. Payday loans are fee based and the biggest thing they do is help people avoid NSF fees and other onerous fees that fuel banks. The reason the articles never discuss loans this way is that it makes banks look predatory and they don't like that. So they pull advertising, they pull political contributions, etc. Banks spend a lot of money attacking Payday Loans because in relationship to bank fees they are cheap and banks can't compete.

I have read other articles by Mr. Davidson on this subject and hope he continues to keep us up to date. It's easy to hope these businesses go away, but here again, the consumer has to take some responsibility for being in the position of desperation that only a pay day lender can temporarily fix.

Stop blaming the payday loan stores, when you go to borrow money you sign a contract. If you don't want a high interest rate don't go to these stores.

These stores pray on low income families ansd refugees who don't speak English very well. These loan sharks should be outlawed. The thing is the people who go in to these stores aren't educated in finances. it's not fair for the eduacted to take advantage of the uneducated! How do the people who work here sleep at night.

NSF fees can be easily avoided at your bank or credit union by setting up an overdraft on your checking account. It costs nothing and if you use it you can pay it back slowly with usually less than 12% interest. It actually helps your credit score this way. Anybody who uses a payday lender to avoid NSF fees is sorely misinformed and being greatly taken advantage of.

Back in the 1970s before usury laws were done away even the loan sharks never charged this much interest, and they were illegal. Of course if you didn't pay them they would perhaps break your fingers. We had pawn shops to pick up the short term needs.

The best way to control payday lenders and in many cases the credit card industry is to again create usury laws with a maximum interest rate at 24% in interest and fees. This would cause lenders to be much more careful in lending practices. From my point of view it would also benefit the borrower and reduce the chance of default on loans. Anyone willing to pay this much interest(over 24%) is either very desperate or economically illiterate making them a very poor loan risk.

With all the trouble in the credit world, it's nice to know I can get a small loan with a payday lender. I hope the government can do something other than take away another option to borrow money. If used responsibly a payday lender can save money.

When did the mafia disclose an APR 250%? Did the "1960s mafia" have you read it before you signed the TILA disclosure?

Fact filled reporting....