Tennessee Payday Loan Help

Samantha - I split this off the other thread so you will get more responses.

None of the companies listed above are going to take legal action against you. They are trying to scare you into paying them what they want when they want.

Payday Select is going to be the easiest to deal with. You've paid them enough. Send them a letter with your state laws and demand they mark your account paid in full. They do it all the time. Technically the laws of Deleware would apply to this transaction, but they are so easy to get a PIF from, since you've paid more then you borrowed it's worth a shot.

The other ones will be harder, but the same rules apply. None of them are licensed in your state, but Nationwide is licensed in New Mexico. That puts them in a gray area . . . . Technically the laws of New Mexico would apply to this transaction.

The other 2 are blatantly illegal. One Click you have paid enough, they are done. my cash now you still owe them $198.63, that's all.

You will find the Payday loan laws for Tennessee here (just select your state),
http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/paydayloan/explain-pdls-laws.html

Email to and from TN Banking Dept

Hello,

I'm trying to make sense of the payday loan laws in Tennesse. How would I go about calculating the allowable interest?

Thanks!

Response

From: Steve Henley
Sent: Friday, March 02, 2007 1:08 PM
To:
Subject: Re: calculating pdl interest

Dear Ms , technically it is not an interest rate but service fee and this is how it works. The fee cannot exceed the lesser of 15% of the check amount or $30. So if you have a check amount for $100, the service fee would not exceed $15 (15% x 100). Keep in mind the fee is on the check amount, not cash amount. If the consumer requests $100 in cash, the check amount would be $117.65. The check amount of $117.65 x 15% equals $17.65, and cash is $100 ($117.65 - $17.65 = $100). If the customer asks ... "how much should I write the check for if I want $50?"

You can back into the check amount by taking $50 and dividing it by 85% or .85. In other words $50 divided by .85 = $58.82. You can verify by multiplying $58.82 x 15% = $8.82 service fee. $58.82 - $8.82 = $50.

Remember the service fee is limited to $30 on all checks exceeding $200.

I hope this helps but please let me know if you have other questions.

615-532-6993 Steve Henley

Reply:

Hello,

Can you tell me if internet based payday lenders with no physical location in TN need to be licensed by TN to lend legally? Or would they only need to be licensed by another state? And which state's laws would they need to follow?

Thanks!

Response:

From: Steve Henley
Sent: Monday, August 27, 2007 8:12 AM
To:
Subject: Re: Internet Payday loans

Dear Ms , our statute does not address internet activity, but to obtain a license from Tennessee the entity must first have a physical location in this state.

Please let me know if you have other questions.

615-532-6993 Steve Henley

What does this mean?

They can charge 15% of the face value of the check in fees.

Rollovers are not allowed.

Internet companies do not need to be licensed by TN. As long as they are licensed in another state they can lend legally. They must follow the laws of the state they are licensed in.

Thank you so much. PayDay Select is the one that caused me the most grief recently. I spoke to a manager there who wanted me to pay my loan off within 90 days - plus my account is continuing to accrue interest & fees. My balance today is more than it was last week. When I told him $75 was the best I could do, he is the one that said if I did not repay this it would be fraud because I closed my checking account. He also refused to give me their mailing address, saying that they will not accept my $75 payment. I had to go online to find their address.
So, if I can send them a letter with the laws, they will really write this off?

Out of all the payday loan companies, they are the easiest. I'm not saying it's still not some work, but they are usually the easiest ones to deal with.

Also, file complaints against them. That will help too.

Payday Select is also Payday OK. If you do a search for both of them on this site you will read many success stories with them.

Thank you for your help. You have no idea. Until I found this forum, I was honestly considering bankruptcy as the only way to stop them from "legal actions" as they have threatened. But I don't even know if these could be included. Either way, I have definitely paid them a lot more than these loans were worth! I just want to be done with all of this payday loan drama.

If this is your only major debt problem, BK is not the way to go.

These can be cleaned up on your own. It will take some time and some work, but you can do it.

Yeah - I see that now. Really these are the only debts I have. That's the ironic part. I CAN pay them back, just over a longer of period of time than they are willing to offer me. I just thought about BK because I absolutely can not have them garnish my paycheck or something. But I am going to send out a letter to PDS today & wait for their response.
This forum is a life saver. I wish I had known about it 6 months ago! :)

I have been on this board for a long time, and have only heard of one internet company that will sue people. It's not one you are dealing with, so don't worry about being taken to court.

One thing you need to do - Sometimes these places put a clause in their contracts saying that if you default you give them persmission to attach your wages. This is like garnishment, only it's not court ordered and they can take what they want. Good news is that it's 100% voluntary. You need to send each company a letter asap revoking this. All it needs to say is:

"I hereby revoke any and all wage assignments I may have signed with Company X."

Send it certified mail, return reciept so you have proof, and save a copy in case they try to do it anyways.

One last question: Do you have a template for the letter I should send to PDS to have my account marked paid in full? I just want to be sure to do this right. Thanks again for all the info.

You would need to register here so we can send you private messages. Once you do so, post here and someone can send you a copy of a sample letter.