Question About Texas CSOs

My understanding is that every member of the CFSA has to offer an EPP as part of their membership, but you raise a really interesting point. In a CSO arrangement, the store is not the lender. Some third-party makes the loan at 10% annual interest, guaranteed by the store. The store makes its money from the fee and only takes ownership of the loan if it goes into default. The CFSA's version of EPP only applies to loans in good standing. So unless the actual lender is also a member of CFSA . . . hmmmmmmmmm.

Sorry to get so convoluted but I never even thought about this and have no idea whether EPP applies to CSO's or not. Might be worth a call to CFSA to get the word straight from the horse's mouth.

Thank you for the response Freaky. It's too late to call them, but I e-mailed Mr. McIntyre (sp?) or well, the address listed for him. I'd really like to find out, because I have a loan with each of these companies that I've been trying to pay off for the better part of a year. Someone at work shared their own story with ChecknGo with me and told me that I should just default and send money orders when I can, but I really don't want to do that unless I have to, because I have a family member that has a loan with them and I don't want to cause her trouble.

I posted about WebPayday yesterday, but I'm not sure if anyone was around who knew the answer. When they respond to the BBB citing Utah laws and whatever, does the BBB actually consider that a valid response when both the BBB I complained to and myself are in Texas?

Jen

The BBB isn't really an enforcement agency. The worst they can do is give a company a bad rating, but most internet pdl's already have a bad one. One the other hand, some pdl's will try to settle with you at that point before you start filing with regulators that at least theoretically have some teeth.

I assume you live in Texas which has both good and bad points to consider. If you were to default, Texas doesn't allow wage garnishment and you have strong debt collection laws (which the AG takes seriously) that don't distinguish between 1st and 3rd party the way the fdcpa does. On the other hand the Texas Consumer Credit Commission has taken a pretty hands off approach to pdl's. At one point, they said they would only collect complaints for information purposes but not act on them. That was a while ago, though, so maybe they've gotten more aggressive since.

Yes, I live in Texas. The wage garnishment thing is a relief. I sent my payroll department a note specifying that I revoked any wage assignments (not that I'm positive I even signed any) and I couldn't get the rep that called me about it to understand the difference between an assignment and a garnishment. I'm fairly certain the only ones my employer will honor are court-ordered, federal taxes, student loans, and child support though, so I should be safe.

WebPayday has been the only really agressive one so far. They've called my work an excessive amount of times and the girl that answers the phone the most is about ready to tell the woman off. I forwarded the first C&D I sent them to them and added a pointed note reminding them of that. We'll see how they take that.

I know the BBB isn't an enforcement agency, I just thought it was ridiculous for them to answer a BBB Houston message with a letter citing Utah laws.

Jen

They cited Utah laws because they are trying to convince you and the BBB that they are legal.

Illegal lenders try all types of tricks to get the BBB off their back and to upset you enough that you pay.

Fortunately, I tend to get more pissed off than anything else after the initial bolt of fear. And I've fallen on hard times before, so I'm used to bill collectors harrassing me, calling me several times a day after I already set up arrangements the first call, etc.

Jen