Effort designed to correct misperceptions about payday loan customers SPARTANBURG, S.C., Oct. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- A groundbreaking ad campaign from Advance America Cash Advance Centers (NYSE: AEA), the nation's largest provider of payday advance services, gives a human face to the millions of people who use short-term loans responsibly to meet their financial needs. Five television commercials each profile a real person engaged in their occupation - a paramedic, a gym teach...

SAN FRANCISCO, July 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Young men and women in the U.S. military have become prey to modern loan sharks -- payday lenders who surround bases and trap service members in dangerous cycles of debt. California legislators have a chance to protect them in a hearing scheduled for Aug. 8. Last month, the California Assembly passed with a vote of 71 to 1 AB 1965, a bill with limited protections for military personnel from payday lenders. In its current form, AB 1965 does not cap t...

WASHINGTON, July 27 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 70 consumer and veterans groups are calling on Congress to enact an amendment by Sen. Jim Talent (R- Missouri) and Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Florida) to protect military families from payday lenders, who trap borrowers in a vicious cycle of debt at interest rates of more than 400 percent a year. This predatory business doesn't just ravage service members and their families. It means our military is less prepared. And it potentially dangerously distracts...

CHICAGO, June 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Foundations of JPMorgan Chase and Bank One today announced a $400,000 grant to work with community development credit unions to create and expand alternatives to high-cost "payday" loans for consumers. The grant will enable the banks to work with the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions to identify member credit unions in Illinois, New York, Texas and two other states in a pilot program to help low-income consumers who n...

NEW YORK, Nov. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Bankrate, Inc. (Nasdaq: RATE) announced today that it has released a new Debt Management Guide. Bankrate's award-winning staff of personal finance writers have written over 45 articles that will help consumers make better-informed decisions regarding their personal credit and debt. The guide is designed to help consumers with problem credit, consumers who have little credit history and consumers with good credit who want to maintain or improve their c...

KANSAS CITY, Mo., Aug. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- In order to offer an alternative to payday loans, Pioneer Services created the "Help Loan" in 2003. This short-term installment loan is a one-time loan of $500 with only $25.24 in interest and fees, payable in four monthly installments with a 30-day grace period until the first payment. It offers a disciplined and financially responsible way for service members to get money for unforeseen expenses and comes with the standard Pioneer Services 15 day no-...

Leadpile.com Expects the Online Demand for Payday Loans to Continue to Break All Records for the Remainder of 2005. PHOENIX, Aug. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Online Payday Loans are becoming such an easy alternative to going to the local Payday Store that Leadpile.com predicts that Online Payday Loan Sales for the remainder of 2005 will break all historic records. Leadpile reports that their surveys indicate that as the Digital Divide becomes smaller, more and more people than ever will dema...

DURHAM, N.C., March 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Payday lenders who trappeople in triple digit-interest loans locate their stores in African-Americanneighborhoods in higher concentrations, according to a report by the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL). African-American neighborhoods in North Carolina have three times as manypayday lenders per capita as white neighborhoods, even after controlling for variables associated with the industry's purported customer base such asincome and homeowner...

DALLAS, March 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- ACE Cash Express, Inc. (Nasdaq: AACE) announced that, on March 1, 2005, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) issued revised Guidelines for Payday Lending. The Guidelines provide guidance to banks that engage in payday lending, and include a requirement that such banks develop procedures to ensure that a payday loan is not provided to any customer with payday loans outstanding from any bank for more than 3 months in the previous 12 months. T...