Center for Responsible Lending
March 31, 2011

Although payday loans are marketed as quick solutions to occasional financial shortfalls, new research from the Center for Responsible Lending shows that these small dollar loans are far from short-term.  Payday Loans, Inc., the latest in a series of CRL payday lending research reports, found that payday loan borrowers are indebted for more than half of the year on average, even though each individual payday loan typically must be repaid within two weeks.

CRL’s research also shows that people who continue to take out payday loans over a two-year period tend to increase the frequency and extent of their debt. Among these borrowers, a significant share (44 percent), ultimately have trouble paying their loan and experience a default. The default results in borrows paying more fees from both the payday lender and their bank.

Federal banking regulators have voiced their concerns about long-term payday loan usage. For example, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has stated that it is inappropriate to keep payday borrowers indebted for more than 90 days in any 12 month period. Yet CRL determined that the average borrower with a payday loan owed 212 days in their first year of payday loan use, and an average of 372 days over two years.

“This new report finds even more disturbing lending patterns than our earlier reports”, said Uriah King, a senior vice-president with CRL. “Not only is the actual length of payday borrowing longer, the amount and frequency grows as well. The first payday loan becomes the gateway to long-term debt and robs working families of funds available to cover everyday living expenses.” 

CRL tracked transactions over 24 months for 11,000 borrowers in Oklahoma who took out their first payday loans in March, June or September of 2006. Oklahoma is one of the few states where a loan database makes this kind of analysis possible. CRL then compared these findings with available information from regulator data and borrower interviews in other states.   

According to Christopher Peterson, a University of Utah law professor and nationally-recognized consumer law expert, “The Center for Responsible Lending’s latest research on multi-year, first-use payday loan borrowers provides conclusive evidence that payday loans are not short-term debts. Rather, their data shows payday loans evolve into a spiral of long-term, recurrent, and escalating debt patterns.”  

Rev. Dr. DeForest Soaries, pastor of First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens in Somerset, New Jersey and profiled in Almighty Debt, a recent CNN documentary, also commented on the new research findings: “Reputable businesses build their loyal clientele by offering value-priced products and services. Customers choose to return to these businesses. But payday lenders build their repeat business by trapping borrowers into a cycle of crippling debt with triple digit interest rates and fees. Lenders should be completely satisfied with a 36 percent interest cap.”

To address the problem of long-term payday debt, CLR recommends that states end special exemptions that allow payday loans to be offered at triple-digit rates by restoring traditional interest rate caps at or around 36 percent annual interest. A 36 percent annual interest rate cap has proven effective in stopping predatory payday lending across seventeen states and the District of Columbia. Active duty service members and their families are also protected from high-cost payday loans with a 36 percent annual cap.

In addition, CRL notes that both states and the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at the federal level can take other steps such as limiting the amount of time a borrower can remain indebted in high-cost payday loans; and requiring sustainable terms and meaningful underwriting of small loans generally. 

Further information on the report is available at: http://www.responsiblelending.org/payday-lending/research-analysis/payday-loans-inc.html.

For more information: Kathleen Day at (202) 349-1871 or kathleen.day@responsiblelending.org; Ginna Green at (510) 379-5513 or ginna.green@responsiblelending.org; or Charlene Crowell at (919) 313-8523 or charlene.crowell@responsiblelending.org.

# # #

About the Center for Responsible Lending

The Center for Responsible Lending is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research and policy organization dedicated to protecting homeownership and family wealth by working to eliminate abusive financial practices. CRL is affiliated with Self-Help, one of the nation’s largest community development financial institutions.

House Banking & Insurance Committee’s first vote on a 36% cap for payday loans falls short in delivering a proven solution despite public opinion and hard facts. 

Today, the House Banking and Insurance Committee came within a few votes of fixing a defective consumer product for Kentucky.  Instead, the state’s first vote on a 36% rate cap on payday loans guarantees another year of burdening families with 400% interest rate debt – and another highly profitable year for payday lenders. A small number of Committee members voting to pass House Bill 182 could have made all the difference.

Those Committee members voting to support HB 182 clearly heard the facts, responded to public concern and voted the wishes of their constituents. They stood for the economic recovery of Kentucky families rather than the triple-digit rate return for out-of-state payday lenders.

Today, the industry won and Kentucky’s working families lost.  Payday loans will continue to be a defective financial product trapping consumers in a cycle of debt.  Although 73% of KY voters supporting the 36% cap, it’s now business as usual for payday lenders. And even after being told that some payday lending businesses may close, 50% of those same voters still think 36% is better than 400% interest. It’s clear that the people of Kentucky recognize 400% interest rate loans are a taking advantage of consumers and expect lawmakers to fix it.

According to Anne Marie Regan, KCRL Co-Chair, “Today’s vote is a loss for consumers and common sense across Kentucky. We’ve missed an opportunity for lowering abusive 400% rates in favor of proven solutions to protect our families, just like Congress did for the military and 17 other states (including the District of Columbia) have done for their citizens.”

Finally, despite exaggerated claims by the industry of job loss or lack of consumer alternatives, 400% interest rate payday loans will continue to be a net economic drain to the state. In 2010 alone, Kentuckians paid more than $80 million dollars in payday loan fees – mostly to out -of-state payday companies.  KCRL believes that as long as 400% interest rates clog the market, other safe options that exist will not be able to compete and these safe alternatives will remain out of reach of borrowers trapped in payday loans.

Today’s vote may be a temporary set-back for consumer advocates in the faith-based community, who care about the poor and seek justice, housing advocates seeking to help families get into and stay in their homes, senior advocates seeking protections for the aging, family and children advocates who care about families with children and advocates helping victims of domestic violence and for those in poverty to build assets.

“It’s clear that the people of Kentucky will not accept “business as usual” and want action to limit this toxic product for our working families,” said Lisa Gabbard, KCRL Co-Chair. “We commend Representative Darryl Owens for his work to pass House Bill 182.  Owens and those Committee members voting to pass HB 182 put people first and listened to those voices calling for justice and protecting all our working families,” added Gabbard.

KCRL remains committed to changing state law and protecting consumers and their local economies from exploitive, high-interest payday loans and ending the cycle of debt trapping thousands of Kentuckians.

More on KCRL http://kyresponsiblelending.wordpress.com/

The push for a 36% rate cap needs your phone call to your state Representative.  The call is toll-free and takes minutes: 1-800-372-7181

Please share this message with your organization’s members and friends.

Quick Updates:

• KCRL joined with Rep. Darryl Owens for new conference in support of House Bill 182. KCRL released new public opinion polling showing 73% of KY voters support a 36% cap on payday loans.
• Rep. Jeff Greer, Chair of House Banking & Insurance has rescheduled the HB 182 hearing to Wednesday, Feb. 16 at 10:00 a.m. in Capitol Annex Room 149.
• Rep. Darryl Owens (Louisville) filed House Bill 182 seeking a 36% cap on payday loans interest rates; 24 House co-sponsors signed-on;
• House Speaker, Rep. Greg Stumbo (Prestonsburg), is quoted as saying the “data is in on payday lending”;
• Rep. Jeff Greer (Brandenburg), Chair House Banking & Insurance Committee has publically spoken favorably about hearing HB 182 in B&I Committee;
• Lawmakers return to Frankfort on February 1 for Part II of their 30-day session;
• We’ve come this far because of your efforts, and we need to keep getting the message out. 

What You Can Do:  Contact your state representatives before February 1^st.

Today, our message is simple:

• As long as the state permits 400% interest rates on payday loans, families’ economic recovery will be hampered.
• The database shows that right here, right now, payday loans are long-term debt, not the quick easy fix they claim.
• Waiting will not help. The new data makes the case for capping the rates at 36%, just as Congress has done for the military and 17 states have done.

Connecting with Legislators:

Call – Governor Steve Beshear: 1-502-564-2611

Call – Senators and Representatives toll-free on their Legislative Message Line:

1-800-372-7181 • TTY Messages 1-800-896-0305 • En Español 1-866-840-6574

Find your representatives in the General Assembly online: www.lrc.ky.gov

Send your representatives email: http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Mailform/mailform.htm

Find KCRL on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/kyresponsiblelending

The LRC Message Center is open Monday – Thursday from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. and Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.  If you are calling your own Representative, make sure to let him or her know you’re from their district.  For each Rep, we’ve listed the counties they represent (below). (Telephone operators will deliver your message to your legislators. 

Action message for the Representative Jeff Greer – Chair Banking and Insurance Committee: The payday loan bill (HB 182) deserves a hearing!

Rep. Greer, Kentucky families deserve strong protection from the high costs of payday loans.  They shouldn’t have to wait.  Please schedule HB 182 for a hearing and support its passage.

Action message for Banking and Insurance committee members (see list below with links)

Please support HB 182, and cap payday loans with a 36% interest rate.  Kentucky families deserve strong protection from the high costs of payday loans.  They shouldn’t have to wait.

 House Banking and Insurance Committee and the counties they represent.  Click through to email them!

Editorial published in Lexington Herald-Leader (1/4/11)

The payday loan industry reported spending almost $120,000 in the first eight months of 2010 lobbying Kentucky’s legislature.

Advocates for the payday loan industry’s prey, er, customers, don’t have that kind of money to get out their message.

But they do have some compelling facts, if only lawmakers can turn down the volume of special-interest money long enough to listen.

The Consumers’ Advisory Council, a body created by the legislature to advise it, is urging lawmakers who convene today to impose a 36 percent interest rate cap on payday lenders.

The council, which held three public hearings last fall, listened to payday lenders, as well. One of the industry’s most persuasive arguments is that the exorbitant fees charged by banks on overdrafts and for services are unregulated and that payday loans are a better deal than paying the bank fees.

Kentucky’s new payday lending database is proving that too many consumers are caught in an endless cycle of debt and that a 36 percent rate cap is long overdue. The Herald-Leader’s recent editorial got it right that payday loans create “a perpetual debt machine that grabs borrowers and sucks them in.”

What’s new: Information from the database supports the push for a common sense 36 percent cap. Lawmakers told consumers and their advocates, in 2009 and again in 2010, to “wait and see how the database works.” All the while, payday lenders have continued making loans at up to 400 percent annual interest to consumers desperate for cash to make ends meet.

Kentucky’s database went live in April and has been quietly gathering hard data and adding up the millions of dollars borrowed and fees paid at the 600-plus payday lending storefronts across the state. What the new database confirms is a disturbing and persistent debt trap for consumers that parallels patterns of long-term borrowing in other states. These patterns show that repeat borrowing is the rule, rather than the exception for the payday industry.

The average borrower in Kentucky has taken out 8.6 transactions since January, and 83 percent of payday loan revenues have been generated by borrowers with five or more transactions. Borrowers typically cannot repay in 14 days and end up taking out loan after loan. As a result, the typical borrower will pay $439.50 in fees alone on the average loan amount of $310. The database also confirms how much Kentucky consumers are paying in fees (more than $80 million this year so far), with much of it leaving our local economies and going to out-of- state companies.

While the database is a useful tool for regulators and a first step in enforcing existing state law, it does nothing to help consumers escape the debt trap or lower the 400 percent interest rates. Other states have taken action to do this, and Kentucky should, too. Seventeen other states (most recently Montana) have capped interest at around 36 percent or never legalized payday lending. In 2006, the Department of Defense pushed Congress to pass a law limiting annual interest on payday loans made to military families to 36 percent.

One recent bright spot in this long debate is the Attorney General’s Consumer Advisory Council. It held a series of public hearings this fall and gathered comment on payday loans. What it heard from consumers and their advocates was clear: Waiting for a 36 percent cap on payday loans is costing consumers, their families, local economies and Kentucky too much.

After deliberating, the Council has recommended that the 2011 General Assembly impose a 36 percent interest rate cap on payday lending.

Even with Kentucky’s new database, state law is not protecting consumers from exploitative, high-interest (400 percent APR) loans and the cycle of debt. Now that the database is capturing data about the harmful effects of payday loans, it’s up to the legislature to use this information to spring consumers from this debt trap. The only proven solution is to cap these loans at 36 percent.

Anne Marie Regan and Lisa Gabbard are co-chairs of the Kentucky Coalition for Responsible Lending.

Click here to read the Consumers’ Advisory Council’s Letter to House and Senate Leadership recommending a 36% APR to help consumers.CAC Letter_Sen_Williams_Rep_Stumbo_12-09-10

See the Herald-Leader online version: http://www.kentucky.com/2010/12/15/1567162/ky-voices-spring-payday-loan-debt.html#more#ixzz18BzzwdqX

Capping interest rates at 36% in best interest of Kentucky.

The Consumers’ Advisory Council (CAC) voted Dec. 9th to officially recommend legislation capping interest rates on payday loans at 36% APR. In a letter to House and Senate leaders, the Council concluded that a rate cap is “in the best interest of Kentucky.” The Council’s recommendations are expected to boost consumer groups’ and lawmakers’ continued push for a 36% cap in the 2011 General Assembly.

“We applaud the Council’s work and for recognizing the harm of a loan product that carries 400% interest rates – and the urgent need to protect consumers,” said CLOUT Board Member, Jimmy Mills.  “There is broad statewide support for lowering abusive 400% rates in favor of a common sense 36% cap for payday loans, just like Congress did for the military and 17 other states have done,” said Anne Marie Regan, senior staff attorney for Kentucky Equal Justice Center and co-chair of the Kentucky Coalition for Responsible Lending (KCRL).

At a series of three public hearings called for by CLOUT (Citizens of Louisville Organized and United Together) in Newport, Lexington, and Louisville, Council members heard personal accounts of consumers being caught in payday lending’s cycle of debt.  Consumer advocates, using data from the state’s new payday loan database, testified that both the numbers and stories show that the typical payday loan results in long term debt, not a quick financial fix.

“Data from the state’s database shows that the average borrower in Kentucky has already taken out 8.6 loans this year, translating into more than $80 million in fees alone” said Pendleton County resident Brigitte Blom Ramsey, Director of Special Projects at Kentucky Youth Advocates.  “These fees represent a loss of valuable financial resources to Kentucky families and communities, with the vast majority of the money going to out of state payday lenders.” 

The new Kentucky data also showed that at least 83% of payday revenue has been generated by borrowers with five or more transactions this year. In contrast, just 2% of payday revenue is generated by customers who only used one loan.

The Council’s letter also noted additional measures, such as, a cooling off period between loans, extended payment plans, and enhanced consumer disclosure. However, at the same time the Council recognized other states’ experience showing these same measures “appear to be ineffective” to address consumers’ needs once caught in the cycle of debt created by payday loan’s high interest rates.

In other states where 400% interest payday loans are is still allowed, repayment plans and cooling off periods fail to lower the costs of loans or change patterns of repeat borrowing.

KCRL with some 65 other organizations and supporting legislators will seek a 36 percent cap in the 2011 General Assembly. 

 “Payday loans are not an answer to the financial emergencies that are hitting Kentucky families. When families get sucked into the debt trap and are forced to pay excessive fees every two weeks it directly affects their ability to meet their monthly obligations such as rent or mortgage payments, utilities, and essential needs of their family,” said Penny Young, Executive Director of the Homeless and Housing Coalition. “These loans are predatory and take advantage of our most vulnerable populations. It’s time for our legislators to take action and follow the consumer advisory council’s recommendation for a 36% cap.”

Testimony submitted and presented by: Brigitte Blom Ramsey, Kentucky Youth Advocates

Data prepared by: Melissa Fry Konty, Ph.D.,Research and Policy Associate, MACED

 Good Afternoon:

 Thank you all for being here and for taking the time to hear from a range of voices about the impacts of payday lending on Kentucky’s hardworking families. My name is Brigitte Ramsey. I live in Northern Kentucky and work for Kentucky Youth Advocates.   Kentucky Youth Advocates is a statewide nonprofit organization working to increase the well-being of children and families in the Commonwealth. We are part of the Kentucky Coalition for Responsible Lending because we see how payday loans can devastate the financial security of Kentucky households.

 In February, the Coalition released a report entitled, “The Debt Trap in the Commonwealth: The Impact of Payday Lending on Kentucky Counties,” which you should have already received as part of your packets.  Our research is based on 2008 data from the Department of Financial Institutions and uses models constructed by the Center for Responsible Lending in North Carolina based on data from databases, much like our new one, in 19 other states. In the couple of minutes that I have, I will highlight the findings from our study, and briefly address preliminary findings from current data generated by Kentucky’s new payday lending database, with particular attention to Northern Kentucky counties.

In 2008, 95 of Kentucky’s 120 counties were home to 781 payday lenders. To put this in perspective, there are approximately 250 McDonald’s in the state. Kentuckians paid upwards of 400 percent interest on nearly 3 million loans, totaling approximately $158 million in predatory loan fees – in one year.

When we say “predatory fees” we refer to the fees paid by borrowers who take out five or more loans in a year: those borrowers are stuck in a debt trap. The fees associated with these repeat loans are considered predatory, because they are collected as the result of a business model built on people’s inability to repay a loan with such a short term. According to the Commonwealth’s new database, 83 percent of Kentucky’s payday loans from May thru September went to consumers who took out 5 or more loans during that 5 month period.

Northern Kentucky is not immune from the ills caused by the harmful payday product.  There are currently 49 payday lending establishments scattered across six of the eight counties that make up the northern Kentucky region.  Combined these lenders have charged more than $7.4 million in fees in the first nine months of 2010.[1] This represents a loss of scarce resources for families and individuals who are already struggling to make ends meet. 

 (Verbally – Here you can see the counties where payday lenders are in operation.  You can see that Kenton County is home to the largest number of payday lenders in the northern Kentucky region with 17 operations where borrowers paid nearly $2.4 million in fees – again representing a drain of resources families need to be self-sufficient and make ends meet.)

 Northern Kentucky Counties

This is not simply a problem for urban families. (As you can see Carroll, Grant, and Pendleton – rural counties in northern Kentucky all have payday lenders.  Carroll and Grant each have three and borrowers paid nearly $500,000 – $700,000 in fees.)  We found the highest concentration of payday lenders in rural Mason County, (adjacent to northern Kentucky, and) home to roughly 17,000 people. Today, Mason County has nine payday lenders in operation and the highest per capita debt load in the Commonwealth.  (Per capita debt load is defined as the amount of loans and fees if spread across the adult and child population in the geography.)

Select Eastern Kentucky Counties

A large portion of the money paid in fees to payday lenders leaves our communities. The majority of payday lenders in Kentucky are nationally owned and their profits leave the state. As shown, payday lending has contributed to a wealth drain of nearly $7.4 million in northern Kentucky counties alone in 2010.

Payday lenders locate in low- to moderate-income neighborhoods where people are most likely to need access to small-dollar credit—but the families in these neighborhoods are also least likely to be able to repay the loans within the two-week term while still meeting their financial obligations – creating a cycle of need that leads to a debt trap - (and a threat to a families financial stability).

Payday loans threaten the economic security of Kentucky’s families – particularly single mothers with children.  The payday lending industry’s own research shows that 60 percent of borrower’s are women; 49 percent of payday borrowers have a dependent child; and that borrowers are less likely to be married compared to the national average.[2] 

Since 2008, the number of payday lenders in the state of Kentucky has declined from 781 to 667, but this is still 2 and half times more than the number of McDonalds in our state. Some might argue that the database is responsible for this decline. Rather, we submit that the moratorium on new licenses is responsible for the slowed growth as no new licenses could be issued this year.  Further, continued job loss and broad economic decline both associated with the national recession are likely responsible for the closure of some stores.  Finally, the database likely made business less profitable for some lenders, causing them to close their doors. However, the data show that those still in business continue to trap borrowers in the debt cycle produced by a product with high fees and a short repayment period.] 

In the first nine months of 2010, payday lenders made nearly 1.6 million loans totaling more than $486 million in paycheck advances and more than $80 million in fees.[3] These 1.6 million loans went to 182,159 people – an average 8.6 loans per borrower. As previously stated, 83 percent of payday revenue in the first five months of the database came from borrowers with five or more loans.

These figures demonstrate that the debt trap continues in Kentucky, and illustrates a direct contradiction to the claim that the payday loan industry business model is to provide quick loans for short-term use only. Rather, these numbers confirm that borrowers find themselves stuck in a chronic situation resulting from high borrowing fees that drain families’ resources and a short repayment period that does not allow a families budget to recover before the loan must be repaid.   The data from the new database clearly shows that the industry derives the bulk of their revenue from borrowers stuck in this cycle of debt.

The database indicates a low 2.25 percent default rate. This may lead some to conclude that we do not have a problem. However, the structure of these loans means that borrowers pay them back on time straight out of their paycheck on payday. This tells us nothing about how many of them follow up their repayment with a new loan as soon as possible. Again, the ratio of number of loans to number of borrowers is indicative of the repeat borrowing debt trap that hardworking families in the Commonwealth continue to experience, even with the database in place. 

In May of 2010, 51.5 percent of requests for payday loan transactions were declined. By September the decline rate had dropped to 8.8 percent. Declines resulting from the implementation of the database would be those loans requested by people with two or more loans already out. While some may say the reduction in the decline rate suggests improvements as fewer people appear to be trying to take out more than two loans at a time, this misses the point. Reducing the number of borrowers that have more than two loans out at a time reduces the risk to the lender, but it does not significantly reduce the risk to borrowers. Borrowers are still able to carry two loans at a time, which carry the same 400% interest rates just like they always have.  Thus, borrowers are unable to pay them off and still meet all of their obligations, and open new loans as soon as they pay off prior loans. As previously stated, the ratio of total loans to number of borrowers clearly reflects this pattern with an average 8.6 loans per customer in 2010.

(During the first months the database was operational – ) borrowers across Kentucky paid an estimated $35.7 million in fees from May to September of this year. During the same 5 month period, just 2.5 percent of payday lending revenue was generated by customers who took out only one loan. 

Though the database provides useful information, it has not curbed the debt trap (nor has it protected financially vulnerable families from predatory practices). Only a return to a 36% rate cap can spring Kentuckians from the payday lending debt trap.

Council members will hear testimony and details on state’s payday lending business, economic impact and consumer protection. The hearing is open to the public and consumers are encouraged to attend and discuss their expereince with payday lending.

The Council’s final regional hearing on payday lending is being held in Newport. Testimony and comments will be heard from consumers, representatives from the Department of Financial Institutions, consumer advocates and deferred deposit industry representatives have been invited.

Who: Consumers’ Advisory Council, Consumers, Department of Financial Institutions, representatives of the Deferred Deposit Industry, CLOUT (Citizens of Louisville Organized & United Together), Kentucky Coalition for Responsible Lending.
What:   Public forum
Where: Brighton Center’s Family Room 799 Ann Street Newport, Ky 41071
When:  Tuesday, November 9, 2010   1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Why: Payday lending in Kentucky is a multi-million dollar industry with operations in every county. KCRL welcomes the Council’s interest in this important consumer issue. The Council agreed to conduct these hearings on behalf of consumers. The sixteen member Council’s statutory function is to aid in the development of preventive and remedial consumer protection programs.

Learn more at the Consumers’ Advisory Council’s  final public hearing in N.KY on Tuesday, Nov. 9 from 1:00 – 3:00 pm at the Brighton Center ~ 799 Ann St. in Newport.