Payday Loan Blog

Experts on retail sales are obsessed with numbers on Thanksgiving weekend — for Black Friday. It’s the biggest shopping day of the year and the day that retailers hope will help put them in the black. They’re also watching to see how this year went for clues about how the economy is doing.

The problem is it’s a bit difficult to tell. The numbers aren’t always clear.

Many stores expanded the number of early morning specials and hours to attract shoppers. Did you end up waiting in line for a deal? I did!

Fact: Black Friday accounts for about 10 percent of total holiday sales.

Fact: Online sales on Thursday and Friday after Thanksgiving were up 11%, compared with the same period a year ago, according to comScore Inc., an Internet research company. I like the ease of shopping online (it’s much warmer) but then I get the package and it’s never quite what I expect. So it’s back to the stores for returns.

Some stores, like Old Navy, were open on Thanksgiving.

Fact: The AP reported: The National Retail Federation, the world’s leading retail trade group, released data on spending and traffic late Sunday, based on an online poll of almost 5,000 shoppers, conducted by BIGresearch, a market research firm. The group extrapolated that total spending reached $41.2 billion for the Thursday-to-Sunday weekend, up 0.5 percent from a year ago; it reported 195 million people were visiting stores and Web sites, compared with 172 million a year ago. It also noted that discount stores took a back seat to department stores.

Another research firm ShopperTrak released data that showed that customer counts actually declined 1.1 percent for the Friday through Sunday weekend, but showed that sales were up a more robust 1.6 percent compared with a year ago. ShopperTrak derives its estimates from crowd-counting sensors in more than 50,000 stores, combined with data from the retailers themselves on spending and how it relates to customer traffic.

So what I want to know is how was your spending? GetECash payday loans are a quick way to get quick cash to take advantage of sales, or tide your credit card bill over until you get paid.

The governor of Arizona says she’s willing to consider legislation to let the payday loan industry remain in business. The public voted to kill the initiative to repeal a law that will make them go out of business at the end of next June.

The payday loan industry offered to alter their business practices, including lowering their interest rates, a ban on rollovers and an interest-free repayment plan for those who can’t make good on their checks at the end of two weeks.

GeteCash.com typically loans for 14 days. The finance charge for $300 borrowed would be $99.

Brewer said she cannot say whether there is a need for the industry which essentially provides are two-week unsecured loans of up to $500. GetECash lends up to $1,000.

The governor said some people need payday loans, “Certainly, there are people out there that do believe there is a need,’ she said. “There’s a lot of people using those kinds of facilities.’

We were talking about the hidden dangers of debit cards. Here’s another: out of order transactions. This is how this works: your account is not debited in the order you charge or deposit amounts. Instead a bank will process your biggest debit first, then if you’re out of money you’ll get charged a fee for every debit you make after. If they took out the smaller amounts that you charged first, you’d only get a fee for the last charge.

So now a bank can charge you 4 overdraft fees – and they add up fast. Chase Bank decided to stop doing this and hopefully other banks will too.

What should you do? First, check to see how your bank processes debit overdrafts. Change banks if you need to.

If needed, consider a payday loan. A payday loan is more cost-effective than risking fees on your debit card. If you’re cutting it close, put a cushion there. Payday loans are more reasonable than debit card fees if you pay the loan back in the agreed-upon time (2 weeks usually).

The middle class is getting hit. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that for the first 6 months of 2009 salaries actually dropped. It’s the first time that minimum wage has ever dropped. The program started in 1938.

How did the minimum wage drop?
Some states have tied minimum wage to inflation rates. So when prices go up, salaries change automatically. Colorado for example lost 3 cents and hour so minimum wage in Colorado will be $7.25 per hour. So far only Colorado has done this.

Minimum wage protects the most fragile of our society. They are the people we serve with payday loans. They are usually the ones who live paycheck to paycheck so when an emergency comes up a service like ours is one of the few places they have to turn.

Let’s hope other states don’t follow!

People often talk about the high interest rates of payday loan companies. I read an article in Parade magazine about the high fees of debit cards. You get these fees when you spend more than you have in your bank account. With the holidays approaching it’s easy to come up a little short when you swipe that card.

Listen to this. Many banks provide overdraft protection even if you don’t request it — and charge you for it. It’s common to be charged $39 every time you exceed your limit. So let’s say your bank account goes to zero and you make 5 purchases with your debit card. You will be charged $195. Ouch.

It’s a lot cheaper to get a payday loan to cover you for a week or two. It’s fast and easy and you don’t even have to leave your home. You can apply online and have the money direct deposited into your account within a day.