Payday Lenders and Laws in North Carolina
A brief, but concise page just went up over at Lazerloan.com regarding payday lenders and laws in North Carolina. The same basic rules of thumb apply for all high fee, high interest rate loans in any State, City, Town, or County. Borrower beware!
The page I’m referencing here today at Lazer Loan explains the laws in NC and how much the lender can charge you in fees and interest during the term of the loan. It’s important to understand your legal rights, and what a cash advance company can (or can’t) do compared with the lending institution(s).
As with all of our sister sites, we try and steer borrowers away from taking out a short-term loan with any company, but we do understand that in some cases people need some emergency funds and feel they have no choice but to take advantage of what payday lenders have to offer. There are reasons consumers find themselves in desperate need of a loan and turn to payday lenders and other lenders who will lend them money when their credit ratings are not high enough to go to other lenders.
Usually it’s because the person has made some poor spending and savings (or lack of saving) choices, and has “let things go” for too long. Most payday lenders service younger adults who have yet to figure out how to balance their budgets, and they are partying WAY too much. They’re spending more than they make every month, and it finally catches up with them in such an extreme way, that they end up having to consider a costly lending product – like a PAYDAY LOAN.
Learn more about how to budget and get your finances under control. There are some wonderful blogs that teach you exactly that. A couple of blogs I read (and they probably don’t know I’m a fan);
- My Open Wallet – Read Do You Have a Crisis Plan? (good writer, nice style, and GREAT ideas)
- Budgets are Sexy – Read Free Budget Template (very nice little templates to help you get real)
In the mean time we will cover some of the basics that most people should consider to help them manage a budget, manage their expenses and get back on track as far as their credit is concerned. It is actually pretty easy to lose a good credit rating and very difficult to get it back. For example all you need to do is to have five or six credit cards and your credit rating will begin to slip. Miss a few payments and the company you owe money to reports you to the credit rating agencies and suddenly your rating has tanked. Fail to pay off loans and debt and you may not be able to borrow money again for quite a long time.
Recovering your credit ratings is difficult as we mentioned. Reduce the number of credit cards that you have. Don’t just cut up the cards, you actually have to close these accounts. If you have any debt, pay it off in monthly installments to demonstrate that you can meet monthly debt requirements. Take out a small loan and pay it off on time with each monthly payment on time. Never ever miss a payment due date. It may take time but you will get it back.
Once you have all of your debt under control, the next step is to begin setting aside a small amount of money from each paycheck, say 10% for emergency requirements. Put this money were it is difficult to get and yet you know that it is there if you have a real emergency. No more payday loans that are expensive to the consumer with high interest rates and fees.
Live within your budget and avoid using credit cards unless you have the money in the bank to pay for the item that you are purchasing. There is no question that credit cards are excellent tools to help consumers avoid carrying a lot of cash around. However if you do not have the money in the bank when the account becomes due, they are going to charge a lot of money with high interest rates for that unpaid monthly balance. Of course this will also reflect on your credit rating as well, so take care of those credit cards.
By law payday lenders are supposed to explain just how much your payday loan is going to cost you when you use their services. They could clearly advise you of the cost of interest on the money that is being borrowed and any fees that may also be charged. Pay attention to these numbers, you may be surprised at how much they actually charge. Compare this cost to other types of loans to see what a large difference there is. If you can avoid using a payday loan service, there will be a lot more money in your hands on payday!
Have a good one friends, and we’ll see you back here on Tuesday – LONG WEEKEND!!! Yeah!!!