Texas, Louisiana, Missouri, and on and on, states are failing in enforcing any legislature created to protect borrowers of short term, high interest payday loans as for whatever reason payday loan laws favor loan companies first and customers end up loosing out.
These loan companies are alive and well, and growing in numbers.
329 payday loan companies in Louisiana operate a mind boggling 965 locations and this is just in one of the above states.
Missouri has more payday loan companies than both McDonald’s and Starbucks stores put together, and they are opening more every day.
Add in the uncountable number of online payday loan companies available to people and the only answer to combat them from getting caught in a payday loan trap is to educate the public.
Why the laws favor loan companies
Most laws that have been introduced to legislators have been gridlocked and frozen or simply voted down by politicians who are heavily lobbied by the loan companies themselves.
Regulators do not enforce the laws that are on the books, and the ones that are introduced simply disappear from lack of support.
It has gotten to the point of many cities enacting their own city wide regulations against these companies, but this is far and few at present, and does not address the online loan companies at all.
One state that is being extremely proactive is New York.
They have made all forms of payday loans illegal and are actually taking companies to court.
Still they face an uphill battle and companies that are willing to spend enormous amounts of money to support politicians who will favor them.
Back to school
The best way to help people avoid getting themselves caught in the payday loan trap and accruing huge amounts of debt in a very short period of time is to go back to school so to speak and get educated on how these loans work.
Rule One:
Payday loans are meant to be a one time short term loan that must be paid off in full on the first due date period.
This is the only way one should ever take one of these loans out.
You will walk away having paid a high interest charge for a short loan but you will be done with it and have no chance of getting caught by the lenders in the age old payday loan trap.
Rule two:
Never roll over a payday loan, as this is the first step in getting trapped.
Be extra careful when using online payday loans as they have different pay procedures than brick and mortar storefronts.
Most require you to contact them within 3 days of your due date and inform them the amount you intend to pay on your loan, and you need to tell them you want to pay off the loan in full.
If you do not you will most likely get charged a $150.00 fee and your loan balance will stay the same.
Have that happen on a two week 500 dollar loan 3 times and you have a six week loan that you have paid $450.00 interest on and still owe $650.00 to the company.
See how quickly it will add up by not following the simple rule of no roll overs period?
Rule 3:
Do not borrow more than you can pay back on your first due date no matter how bad you need the money.
This is one of the leading reasons for people needing to roll over a payday loan, and leads to about an 80% default rate.
Summary
If you must use a payday loan company, do yourself a favor and follow the above three rules and you will be fine.
You will not get caught in any of their money traps and you will not be looking for help in two months with a huge debt load you can not possibly handle by yourself.
Education is power, and we here at Help With Payday Loan Debt are more than happy to share with you ways to avoid the payday loan trap that detroys so many peoples lives so quickly.
