back again, like a payday loan
“Payday loans” must really be addictive (like consumer activists insist), ’cause I couldn’t keep myself from writing about them again today (see our post on Jan. 11; update, battles everywhere over payday loans, Feb. 23, 2007). Here’s a temptingly neutral definition from Payday Loan Times (a website that is discussed below):
A payday loan [or "payday advance"] is a short-term cash loan (usually between one and two weeks), issued to consumers. It is expected that the borrower will repay the loan after receiving his/her next paycheck. Unlike a traditional loan from a bank, there are no credit checks run on the applicant. Loans are usually issued in less than 24 hours, and are around $500. Payday loans can be obtained in person, via fax, or online.
In its Feb. 2000 Consumer Alert, Payday Loans = Costly Cash, the Federal Trade Commission explains further how payday loans work: “Usually, a borrower writes a personal check payable to the lender for the amount he or she wishes to borrow plus a fee. The company gives the borrower the amount of the check minus the fee.” Also called cash advance loans, check advance loans, post-dated check loans or deferred deposit check loans, such payday loans are being advertised everywhere (on tv, radio, and the internet) as an easy way to “tide yourself over” until your next paycheck. However, here’s how they quickly become so expensive:
“Let’s say you write a personal check for $115 to borrow $100 for up to 14 days. The check casher or payday lender agrees to hold the check until your next payday. At that time, depending on the particular plan, the lender deposits the check, you redeem the check by paying the $115 in cash, or you roll-over the check by paying a fee to extend the loan for another two weeks. In this example, the cost of the initial loan is a $15 finance charge and 391 percent APR. If you roll-over the loan three times, the finance charge would climb to $60 to borrow $100.”
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The Center for Responsible Lending says that payday loans cost American families 4.2 billion dollars a year in excessive fees. CRL has a good discussion of possible alternatives to payday loans, including “small savings accounts or rainy-day funds; salary advances from employers; credit card advances; working out extended repayment plans with creditors; and loans from friends, relatives, religious institutions, or social service agencies. In addition, many lenders have developed lower-cost alternatives to payday loans that have better repayment terms.” Of course, consumers likely to use payday loans often have no prior credit history or an awful one, and can’t turn to sources of credit that middle class Americans take for granted. Industry members and their legislative supporters explain, therefore, that they are providing a necessary service at a rate commensurate with the risk they are taking. Consumer advocates disagree.
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Payday Loans: With holiday shopping bills hanging over their heads, a lot of people with poor credit ratings are tempted to turn to so-called payday loans – which appear to be structured to keep people in debt. Jeff Sovern at 
Similar complaints are being raised about Paystub and Holiday Refund Anticipation Loans [RALs], which are short-term loans secured by the taxpayer’s expected tax refund, but are especially risky, because they’re calculated prior to filling out the borrower’s income tax forms. See 
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If you want to learn more about doing public records searching (or virtually any kind of research online — especially legal), shlep suggests that you take advantage of the resources available at 
When faced with a respondent who has no counsel, “judges hand immigrants a list of charities that offer free or low-cost legal services.” Although they can help, and the Executive Office for Immigration Review, at the Justice Department has been facilitating and expanding pro bono efforts, “volunteer legal aid services are often overwhelmed and have to turn people away.” For example, Alberto M. Benitez, a law professor who directs the George Washington University 
CJ Broderick told the Herald that the delivery of justice grows more complicated as more people choose to represent themselves in court. He noted last year that 85 percent of civil cases in district courts, at least one party is self-represented, and emphasized that an increase in pro bono services is only part of the solution.
The book is a collection of my columns from Law Library Journal. As it happens, the very first one I wrote, “Golf Buddy Reference Questions” (chapter 8 of the book) was about the policy most law librarians have of not giving legal advice. We don’t tell people what the law is, but help them use the library’s resources (and online resources) to look it up themselves. That policy can be baffling to members of the public. After all, if you call your local public library and ask how tall Mt. McKinley is, the librarian will look it up and tell you 20,320 ft. Why are legal questions different?
The Times notes that “In California, getting divorced takes at least three steps: filing divorce papers, serving them on the spouse and then writing and processing a judgment with the court. The process can be more complicated if there are children or fights over assets.” Last spring, Judge Juhas began calling in about 100 people a month whose divorce cases have languished and asking them if they need help. He has found that about half of them still want to be divorced, but need some help (e.g., with entering the judgment after a divorce is granted). At the sessions, attorneys, some volunteer, others employees of the court’s family law resource center, help the parties figure out their status and assist people with the necesssary paperwork.
