store front employee

Hello and welcome! Thanks for visiting us, your insight and opinions are always welcome here. If there is anything you feel might be helpful to the community, your comments are welcome. :)

Good to hear from someone who is trying to play by the rules.

I work at a pdl in Tn. also, I have many customers who come and with no other alternative but to use our services. People know what they are getting into when they walk through the door. Our rates are regulated and we even offer insentives for on time payments. We are regulated and do have audits done by the dept. of financial institutions to make sure we follow the laws. We are always willing to work with someone who falls on hard times. The thing is if someone is ignoring our attempts to contact them they are only creating more of a problem. We would rather work out payment plans then to deposit a check that is not going to be honored at the bank and building up unnecessary charges to them. It only takes a phone call and some honesty to work it out. Silence is not golden in this business. We can't help if we don't know the problem.

I am glad to see someone is abiding by the laws. My experience is that none of the payday companies wanted to make arrangements with me when I defaulted. It was always the same story that.... they need their money in full. I've had people SCREAM at me on the phone.

Both guests have made valid points and it is great to see the positives...not all pdl's are evil...is just in the illegal ones that don't abide by the rules is what we are concerned about.

Is there current legislation ongoing in this state that caused this post? Just wondering.

I appreciate both guests coming on and posting, but I'm sorry, I have yet to see a good payday loan. I have been hurt too much and have known too many people who have been.
But I do agree with definately not ignoring the debt. What they said is very true, as it will NOT go away.

I am sorry I have to agree with the majority on this. Even though the guests make valid points in saying that you need to pay the loan, which is the RIGHT thing to do anyway, it isn't that simple. I have had several PDLs and none of them actually agreed to payment terms. They ALL said upfront the full amount was due or at least 3/4 and then the rest the next week. What most of them KNOW, but don't want to ADMIT is that they knew that you did not have the money to begin with, yet they loaned it to you. It becomes a horrid cycle that you can not get out of without some type of alternative solution. But thank you guests. It is really nice to know that there are actually people that have a heart out there.

hi cajun,
yes there is legislation in the senate subcommittee at the moment. just like a few other states they are trying to shut down the industry.I have seen from all these posts that internet companies are charging outrageous fees for pdl's and extention fee
s.we loan no more than 200.00 on each check with a fee of no more than 30.00 period.If you are 5.00 overdrawn on your bank account the bank will charge you at least 30.00 on a nsf check. that interest rate is higher than ours.It doesn't benefit us to make a loan to someone who we assume cannot repay us as agreed.I am sure had you been denied these loans when you needed them you would have been upset with the company that denied you,so I feel I am in a no win situation with you . But as I stated earlier , we will work out payment plans for anybody that is making an effort.I would like to thank all of you for the warm welcome

Won't it be great to have one law abiding pdl lender in our community :D Guest, why don't you sign-up with us? Thus we will get the opportunity to hear the story of the otherside too. And you'll also be able to help people in dealing with the predatory pdl lenders. Its sad that there isn't much like you in the business :( and most of them give a dern to the laws, causing woes to people. I agree with kscornell, we're yet to see an honest pdl lender.

However, welcome, to the debtcc community :D

Guest I have never use a pdl service in my life and my available cash on a credit card with a quick balance transfer is cheaper. If what you say is true,then at 15% interest that is comparable to most banks. Per checking accounts,every account I use presently is tied to overdraft protection so no nsfs can happen. I am interested merely from the prospective of your posting here & I am just checking on things to keep our members in a safe area here.

cajun,the information I posted about current legislation was in response to your question.All other segments of my post was put out there for the forum in general.I apologize if you thought it was directed at you.Hopefully i can continue to give some positive input to your community from the store front pdl's

No harm done,just realize your business has hurt a lot of people here and our community will monitor just to keep everything in perspective. Do realize when I say your business,it refers to the industry type not your firm. I am sure you can contribute to our site with a inside view & you are welcome to continue. :D

I am glad to see some pdl employees willing to offer solid, truthful advice on the pdl industry.

Most of us would say ALL pdl's are bad - in the sense that yes, customers may know what they are getting into when they walk through your door, but the problem comes when something happens that causes them not to pay the loan back. The car breaks down, gas prices become impossibly high overnight (like right now), the dog needs to go to the vet, someone in the family gets sick or has to go to the hospital, or some other calamity befalls them. So to pay your loan off, they go to another lender to get another loan. Then they have to take out another to pay THAT loan off...thus starts the endless cycle of payday lending that we speak of every day on here.

At least our new guests are abiding by the laws of their state. We run into HUGE issues with illegal lenders who work through the internet - 99% of them aren't even located in this country, and as such, aren't licensed to lend here. Those are the ones you'll see us go after in a big way.

No personal insult is intended, but we'd like to see the entire industry as a whole shut completely down. Though, as you say, people know what they're getting into when they walk through your door, the situation I described above happens all too often, where the customer can't repay and ends up taking out another loan to avoid getting into trouble with the current lender, and can't get out of the cycle once they're in it. There are still a few states out there with very consumer-UNfriendly PDL laws that don't allow for any repayment plans, allow unlimited loans out at one time, allow for unlimited interest rates, etc.

Excellent post, Suebee. In my mind, it's like the tobacco industry. I'm sure there are indeed lawabiding people working in it, but the upshot is that its product kills people in the end. And I appreciate these two employees coming on and I'm glad they are here, but there is NO good PDL place out there. And I speak from bitter, painful experience on this one.
I only had 10 PDL's at one time, but there are many people out there who have more--and some have had even 20 when they come to us. And at that point, your entire check is going to pay fees. And if you want to make payment arrangements, 99 percent of these places won't do it. I know, it happened to me. And this is how this industry makes its money--on the high interest fees they charge.
So I'm sorry, I just can't support this industry. But I do welcome you to the forums.

Thanks, KS! I thought my post may have rambled a bit...I'm in full allergy attack right now, and my thoughts are a little fuzzy! (That's what I get for mowing the grass....)

In a perfect world there would be no need for pdl's.No need for pawn shops.No need for Title loans. No need for buy here pay here car lots.All of these businesses are high interest loans.All of these businesses deal with high risk customers thats why the interest rates are very high.If you shut down the pdl industry, where will these people go when they are desperate?when your child needs to go to the doctor and no family member will help or friend where will you go.We have helped many many people at desperate times. If you close down all pdl's I feel many people will be hurt.I feel our business is an asset to our community.The problem with the industry is a lack of monitoring.I can only speak for the laws in my state of TN.If a customer comes to my store and wants a payday loan, I will make sure they have no more than 1 pdl out, If they do I will deny a loan. The law states That you cannot have more than 500.00 loaned out at any given time. the problem lies in that many companies don't bother to check.
The fact is people are taking out loans they know they cannot pay back.I realize you want to blame that on the industry, But I feel it is irresponsibilty on the borrower also.some states require all pdl's to check a data base to see if a customer has other pdl's open. We use a system called teletrack, the problem is not all companies do and it is not required.If all companies were required to check the data base there would not be people trying to juggle paying 10 pdl's. The industry does need change to protect the consumer from over borrowing, but shutting it completely down will only hurt the consumer in the long run.I realize this post may rub some of you the wrong way,but If i felt I was not doing a service to my community I would not be in this business.
As in any business there are shady companies and i realize that, but to condemn the whole industry for thatI feel is wrong.Oh by the way, many of our store front companies are shutting down because too many people are borrowing from internet sites.So when you close down the store front that is all that will be left.

Guest, thank you for that. I really respect and appreciate you being able to state your opinion in a reasonable, adult manner.

thank you fins fan,I will be registering soon and hope i can help this forum with some hands on experience about the storefront payday loans, although I only have experience in the state of TN.I will continue to support our industry and look foward to heated but civil banter on that subject. Oh, bye the way, I think Bill parcels will help your team tremendously.

Guest, thanks for sharing your insights with the community. Truthful information, delivered in a civil manner, is always welcome here. I look forward to you registering with the site, so that your posts will be easier to pick out from the other 928,371 guest posters here.

As for the PDL industry in general... It doesn't matter what I think of it. As long as a company follows the laws in effect for their location, I won't condemn it.

Guest..I hope you're right about Parcells!

Obviously this forum, by providing education, information and solutions, is victoriously chipping away at the pdl industry and eventually they all will fall.
IMHO, if storefront pdls are so legit, they would be fighting tooth & nail to shut down the illegal online payday lenders. But they don't...they turn a blind eye to online pdls. If you (pdl) are not part of the solution, you (pdl) are part of the problem.

I understand what the guest is trying to say and I am glad there is one lender that is obeying the laws in their home state. Please understand also that due to what I have gone through, right now I can not support the payday lending industry. Right now, there is a person in the state of CO that thinks he is above the law. He would mail checks to your home without even asking you if you want them. He will call all hours of the night, also he will call your job at least 30-40 a day. This person has several complaints against him and was served a summons to appear in court from the state of Maryland. Some of these companies do not even check to see if they can lend to you or not.

I just want to thank you for being a responible lender and caring about your customers.

Quote:

I also appreciate our guests coming on, but let me ask them this: how many repeat customers do they have, if Payday loans are supposed to be a short-term solution? I bet they have many who keep coming in like clock-work every two weeks, right? And this is after the original problem they borrowed money for to begin with has passed! And this is how these places stay in business. Now do our guests get some kind of bonuses for business in the previous quarter? Think about it...
If you see someone coming in frequently, do you stop them? Of course not! And this is exactly how the payday loan cycle starts, because you need to get another one to pay off the first one, etc. In short, you never get ahead and to quote an old song you "owe your soul to the company store".
This is a flawed business model and you ask where these people would go if you weren't there. Like Sue said, they would go to the places they went to before PDL and check-cashing places (which are often one and the same) flooded lower income America.

I will try to answer a few questions. As far as online payday loans, it is in the store fronts interest to have them shut down.We cannot control there illegal practices.We are fighting tooth and nail fighting legislators just to stay in business.As repeat business goes. many of my customers do pay off there loan and re borrow the same day because they still need the money.If I don't reloan them they get mad. many say that they will have checks bounce that will cost them more than what i charege for the 2 week period.There are many people who borrow from us resposibly.I would like to ask any of you, do you take any responsibility in this.If you buy a car and can't pay for it and it gets repossessed are you going to blame the finance company that helped you get the car.If I take out 10 credit cards and can't pay them all do I blame the credit card companies for letting me use there service.I am in credit card debt do to medical illnesses and lack of good insurance.You don't see people lobbying to close credit card companies.I understand, the situation many of you are in, mostly do to internet pdl.If you only had 2 pdl's out you might manage much better,but many of you have more than that.who's resposibilty is that you took out so many loans?If there are so many alternatives for you, why did you keep going online and borrowing from pdl'sI stress that the pdl industry needs better regulation not shut down.I f you take away all legal means for low income families to borrow money , many will obtain the money illegaly

I thought you were gonna register? :)

Quote:

I don't consider this arguementative, and yes, we have 2 different opinions on this subject,I don't expect to change anybody's opinion here.I just like the oportunity to voice my position.reborrowing was a choice they made.

You are quite right in that reborrowing is a choice we made. But I ask you, if we didn't reborrow, how would stay in business? How would you make your money? How would you keep your doors from closing? Like I said before and I'll say it again: flawed business model. I see nothing good in this industry and I regret getting involved in it.
It sounds to me like there are a few people (PDL owners) getting very rich off this business while people on the front lines are not.

I think I'm done posting on this one....like I said, the storefront employee and I are going to disagree on this one simple fact - reborrowing is a customer's choice - but the customer ends up repaying and reborrowing because they have no choice, unless they come into enough cash to repay and still pay their other bills. If some problem occurs that prevents repayment of the loan AND payment of other bills all in one paycheck, then the customer is left feeling they have no choice but to borrow once again.

And many storefront employees don't go out of their way to stop the habitual reborrowers, of course. They're johnny-on-the-spot when a customer comes in to repay their loan, saying "would you like to take out another?" At least that's what I ran into.

I have to agree with Ms. Suebee. Once you get started with payday lending you can not get out of the cycle.

Just to put in my two cents, I have never had any of the payday loan companies I deal with offer any incentives for paying back early, (which I have done when I could) or offer extensions more than a week. consequently, this is why we would end up taking out another loan at another place to pay, etc. We currently have 4 out at $575 a piece. Since none offer extensions, when we pay back, we have to borrow to survive, etc.

I'm jumping in this fire & will probably regret it. However, I can see both sides. This guest apparently works at a storefront that actually does abide by the law. Also, this particular store front uses a system to be sure the customer does not have 5 loans out somewhere else. This would help the customer if they did get turned away due to having too many loans out. The problem in my state is that you can have 10 loans out and still get another because they don't use any type of system to check. Now, re-writing is actually the customers choice. However, I will say that 99% of customers have to re-write because if they pif and walk out the door, they have no money to live on. So, it's a no win situation. I can see a law abiding store front, who checks to be sure a customer doesn't have 300 loans out, doing business. I can see a customer going in if they have an emergency situation and need cash right now and walking out with it. However, I am with the others on the fact that once you start, you're kind of stuck. Like I stated, unless you have money (and obviously you don't if you're going to a pdl), you're most likely not going to be able to pif and walk out the door in two weeks. Nope. You're going to re-write. And, like was already posted, it's a never ending cycle. Hell, we've lived through it.

I have to agree with what suebee and most of the others have said on this topic. While reborrowing may indeed be the customers's choice it's because it's the only one they have to make. When they can't pay the loan in full and still have money for their regular bills and food and such they are forced to reborrow just to pay the regular living expenses. Then again in 2 weeks they're going to be in that exact same situation because once again if they pay the loan how are they going to survive. I am so thankful for this site and all the wonderful people on it, I have never taken out a PDL but had actually considered it when I happened upon this wonderful site and because of all the wonderful information I have learned her I can say I won't fall into the PDL cycle. I can't say how blessed I am to have found this site before I actually took out a PDL or I'm sure I would be trapped in the cycle also.

Johnita

you say you don't have a choice but to reborrow because you need the money to pay your living expenses like food rent and soforth.Well wasn't that the reason you took out the pdl in the first place.I read on this site where they advocate to find other ways to get money, like borrow from family or friends or your church, but don't use a pdl.you can use those sources to get you by instead of reborring from the pdl.When they shut down my business you won't have the option of reborrowing.

Like I said...this is going nowhere. :roll:

I would like to thank the moderators for allowing this thread to continue.I know they have the power to lock threads that they feel are disruptive to the forum.I can honestly sympathize with all of you that have so many pdl's out.I don't condone the malice collection tacticts that I have heard you guys describe.I can assure you that my company does not participate in that type of collection practices.The state of FL. has a database that requires each pdl lender to check before issuing a pdl.Teletrack is the database for the pdl industry . It tells the pdl company if you have any open pdl's.If somebody shows up on the data base as having 2 loans out already they should be denied by the lender in the State of TN.Teletrack is not required in our state but should be required nationally, and all those lenders who do not abide by their state regulations
should be investigated.We are a responsible lender and those who are not, do a disservice to the industry.I must say that I have enjoyed this debate and am willing to help and give what information I can concerning the storefront laws in the state of TN.

As long as it stays civil and respects this site's ToS, we're willing to hear you out. We may not agree with you, but you get your say. Step over the line, and we'll swat you, though.

By all means, hang around. An insider's viewpoint can be helpful at times. You really ought to register with the site, however. I get tired of addressing folks as 'Guest.'

I wish that the PDL stores in my state had a method to check if you have outstanding loans in other stores, because that would have saved me a crapload of headache and money. Now I am stuck with 8 very large loans out and I have no idea how I'm going to pay them back. I've offered to pay them off at $20.00 a month but none of the PDL stores will accept that small of an amount. Even $20.00 a month is $160.00 a month for me and it would have saved me if I was stopped at the door at some point because then I would have been forced to borrow from my family which would have been much better than borrowing from a predatory PDL store (and yes, they are all predatory).

This is the point that I was trying to make. My point here is that I wish that ALL states who allow storefronts have the sort of system this guest's storefront has. One that would check to see how many pdls a customer already has. If you have one/two out, they will deny the loan. This would be a good thing. It would prevent the customer from getting 15 pdls. They would be turned away and have to find an alternative way of getting money. I think it's a good practice to use at storefronts. If they did that in my state, I wouldn't have gotten into the ugly situation that I found myself in.

Thank you cannr, That is exactly, correct.You have all helped me prove my point.By regulating and enforcing the industry better it keeps people from getting
to deep.We were their to loan you the money when nobody else would in desperate times.
To reply to Kscornell.you are correct also , If my customers didn't rewrite I would go out of business.The most we can charge per pdl in my state is 30.00 per check.we loan them 200.00 and they repay 230.00.so we make 60.00 per month on them providing they have one loan with us.If someone bounces a check the bank charges 30.00. and the merchant charges another 20.00.If your late on your rent or mortgage there's another 20 or 30.late on utilities another 15 or so.The fee's we charge are less than these combined.Like I said the industry needs tighter regulations not abolished altogether.most Of my customers pay us off in full when they get income tax refunds, but come back and reborrow several weeks or months later when they get back into a jam. Some come back a year or so later.

toddms, I'm sure you've read the horror stories of some storefronts on here from members. Horrible! And I know all too well the vicious cycle of paying and re-writing. Been there, done that. Which is why people are so negative towards any pdls whatsoever. However, your particular storefront follows the law, has a system for checking customers pdl records, etc. Not all are like yours, unfortunately. I have had some that were actually pleasant to deal with. Believe it or not! But others were plain old nasty. So, it leaves a bad taste in people's mouths. But, I know that me personally, I got myself into the ugly mess because of the fact that I had so many pdls out. Now, if I was "checked" and turned away, that wouldn't have happened. I would have been forced to find a way to get money (borrow, whatever) and pay the storefronts off and then would have had the money to pay the bills, rent, etc. I honestly think that your input here is good. You're not bashing anyone for getting pdls. You're letting people know that not all storefronts are nasty and horrible and knock on your door in the middle of the night. I welcome your comments. I know some may not; however, it's always good to have someone from the "other side" giving their input.

Thank you cannr,that is why I decided to post on your site, not to bash anyone but to represent my side

Personally, I welcome you. :D In my opinion, it's always good to hear from the "flip side". There is always something we can learn from each other!!

Yep I enjoy hearing from the the other side as well. If a creditor,collector,lawyer,or anyone else wishes to come here to have a civil discussion,I more than welcome them.

same here,there are a few people who are
members that used to do collections and a
few who do and used to work for pdl's.i too
like a inside perspective.as long as it is
not inflamatory or insulting i am all for
it. :D 8)

Never used pdl's and hope I never have to. However, just the intent of what pdl companies are doing sets them up for failure and the people using them. Think about it, someone had to borrow money for whatever reason and takes it out of their next check, plus a little more for interest and fees. Now they are less that money and can't make ends meet until their next check so they are back a pdl. This doesn't make sense to me how a business such as this wouldn't expect to have many defaults.

Well, both sides of this argument are valid and it is nice to have some input from someone in this morally destitute industry. My take on this is, payday lenders should not be an option in our society at all-not now, not ever. The interest rates are astronomical, the collection practices are frightening, and even relying upon the statement "our customers know what they are getting into," doesn't hold water, as frankly, you are not dealing with people that manage their money very well to begin with, myself included. We are a society that has a problem, and that problem is wanting everything YESTERDAY. We are lazy, slightly spoiled, and we want things easy..that is how predators happen. They know you are maxed on your credit cards, they know you have over purchased by a long shot..and so, they are here to "help" you. Yes,they obey the laws such as they are for the most part, but I can say for myself, I am working to change those laws. I will get a second job, I will have a yard sale, I will get a third job, I will take in sewing, I will baby sit, I will mow lawns, before I give businesses like yours one more dime. Storefronts are not the caliber of awful that Internet PDL's are, but give storefront's that chance, and they would be. We need to learn to live within our means folks, we don't need 40 television sets, 32 IPODS, an SUV, and homes with more rooms than the white house. We are the reason businesses like this exist, and we need to be the reason that they close down. To the very nice employees of these businesses, thank you for your candor and your input, but I urge you to find another job in an industry with some honor, some value, and some decency. You can put a dress and lipstick on a pig, but it is still a pig.

The fact that people constantly go back to the storefront PDL's has been brought up; ARE there in fact any PDl's out there that look at your record with their company and say, "hey look, you've already taken out 8 loans with us in the past couple of months, we're not going to give you another loan for at least a year, you need to find some other way to manage your money?" Just curious, I've never heard of such a thing happening....