ALTERNATIVE FINANCIAL SERVICE PROVIDERS ASSOCIATION

             ALTERNATIVE FINANCIAL SERVICE PROVIDERS ASSOCIATION

NEWSLETTER: January 27, 2015

AFSPA

1 in 10 millennials overdraft more than 10 times a year.
It's perhaps not surprising that the older folks get, the better they are at handling money and avoiding penalty fees. But you might be surprised at how stark the difference is between younger and older generations when it comes to that super villain of financial penalties, the checking account overdraft.
Young adults aged 18-25 are four times more likely than folks 62 and over to suffer 10 overdraft fees or more every year, according to data from a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau report.
Read more...Credit.com


Management Reports - Drowning In Data?
One of the recent new buzzwords is "Big Data" and as technology progresses, all forms of data will continue to play a bigger and bigger role in our lives, especially in business. While the ability to access data and use it to make informed decisions is exciting, it is also challenging. It is getting easier to reach data overload and the dreaded "paralysis by analysis" - the state where you have so much data you just don't know how to make a decision. As business owners, it is our responsibility to sift through all the data and identify the key points that drive our business. This is especially true if you have a management team in place that will also be reviewing the same data. What's important to you will be important to them.   Read more...Mike Walrod


Native Americans Say Obama Program Is Hurting Their Businesses and Is an Affront to Tribal Sovereignty.
A Native American group contends a controversial Obama administration program is harming online businesses that are critical to funding tribal governments, and at the same time violating tribal sovereignty. Operation Choke Point is run through the Department of Justice and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and targets how banks handle accounts with certain industries the agencies consider high-risk, including the gun industry, payday or short-term lenders, porn shops, casinos, coin dealers, check cashers and debt collectors.   Read more...The Blaze 

Southwestern Investor Group

Banks Conspicuously Scarce in Supercharged Online Loan Field.
Banks remain noticeably few and far between in the booming field of online marketplace lending.
The two largest U.S. platforms in this budding industry, Lending Club and Prosper, facilitated a combined $2.4 billion in loans in 2013, nearly triple the 2012 figure. Some investors are expecting explosive growth in the sector to continue over the next decade.   Read more...American Banker


The Ins And Outs Of PayDay Lending.
There are no shortage of divisive topics when it comes to finance and lending. But there are some special areas that manage to attract passionate debate among intelligent people that doesn't merely divide debaters into two camps - but instead maybe three or four.
On such special topic is small amount, short-term, high interest loans - known more colloquially as "payday lending." It's a topic that attracts passionate, if not always entirely rational, debate.
"We gotta be careful. There are people who say there has never been a problem with the product, and there are also people saying anyone who takes one [a payday loan] out is in a cycle of death," Nathan Groff, chief government relations officer for Florida-based Veritec Solutions LLC told MPD CEO Karen Webster in a recent conversation.   Read more...PYMTS.com


Oklahoma tribe appeals $1.5 million in payday lending fines.
OKLAHOMA CITY - The head of an Oklahoma-based Indian tribe and two Internet payday loan companies it owns are appealing $1.5 million in fines from banking regulators in Connecticut.
The Connecticut Department of Banking earlier this month fined Otoe-Missouria Tribal Chairman John Shotton $700,000 for loans to Connecticut residents that allegedly violate caps on interest rates there. The tribal payday lending companies Great Plains Lending LLC and Clear Creek Lending LLC were fined $800,000. The appeals were filed on Friday in Connecticut Superior Court, The Oklahoman reported. Based in Red Rock, in Noble County, the Otoe-Missouria tribe has about 3,000 members, mostly in Oklahoma.   Read more...The State 

Pawn-Safe AFSPA Certified Supplier

Car title scammers give lenders a bad name.
It's an unfortunate thing when scammers try to take advantage of unsuspecting car title loan borrowers. Six people were charged last October for unlawfully possessing the vehicles of those who fell behind on loan payments, according to West Side Today.
Stories like this are the very thing that gives lawful lenders a bad name, despite the majority who are just trying to do their job. Those following the law and working well with borrowers are trained to create schedules and try to find the best solution for paying back a loan when the time comes, but scams like the one named may prevent the public from realizing this.  Read more...Philip Burgess


VIRGINIA: Bill targeting payday loans shot down by large margin
State legislators on Monday shot down a bill capping annual interest rates and fees for payday loans. Senate Commerce and Labor members rejected the idea 11-2. The vote was almost entirely along party lines, though Senate Democratic Leader Richard Saslaw crossed the aisle to vote against the bill. He said cracking down too hard would send people to loan sharks for money.   Read more...Daily Press


LOUISIANA: Intense payday loan battles are not likely in 2015
BATON ROUGE - The high-profile payday lending fight in 2014 should not be repeated in the 2015 legislative session. Hundreds of church leaders and community activists filled the halls during the 2014 legislative session in hopes of reining in the practices of an industry that locates mostly in low-income neighborhoods and offers short-term loans at high prices. Despite the pressure, legislators ended up passing a new law that better protects payday lenders.   Read more...The News Star 

GDS Link AFSPA Certified Supplier   

Pew Calls CFPB Draft Rules on Prepaid Cards an Important Step Forward.
The Pew Charitable Trusts today commended the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for putting forward proposed rules that will make general purpose reloadable (GPR) prepaid cards safer and more transparent. Pew said that prepaid card users stand to benefit from CFPB's suggested rules for enhanced consumer protections; however, Pew is also calling for further improvements-including to the proposed consumer disclosures-as the bureau continues its work on the rules.   Read full report...PEW


Inaugural Tribal Government E-Commerce Conference.
Many tribes have recently become involved in pursuing business operated over the Internet. These E-Commerce opportunities have not only created thriving economies, but they have also led to a tangled web of legal issues where state, tribal and federal laws and policies are colliding. The quick growth of E-Commerce in Indian Country has outpaced a general understanding of how E-Commerce law is intertwined with federal Indian law especially as it may relate to States' rights -  Read more...NAFSA


OLA Releases Statement on FTC's Cases Against AMG Services and MNE Services.
Lisa McGreevy, President and CEO of the Online Lenders Alliance (OLA), today issued the following statement about the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) cases against AMG Services, Inc. and MNE Services, Inc.: "OLA and its member companies appreciate that these cases have been resolved, and recognize there are many lessons from this situation which will be important to consumers and other online lenders. (AMG Services and MNE Services are not members of OLA.) "OLA members adhere to the industry's strictest best practices, and are committed to ensuring that all consumers are fully informed and treated fairly. Through this commitment, OLA members launched the "Look for the OLA Seal" consumer education initiative to take the guessing game out of choosing a reputable online lender."

Read more...OLA 

PDP Group Inc. AFSPA Certified Supplier 

How Tech Can Foster Financial Capability For The Underbanked.
In 2014, the financial services industry is looking to technology as a vital link between financial capability and under-resourced communities. Investments in these technologies are imperative to alleviate economic disparity and create better, safer options for the underbanked. Bridging the fiscal divide is a challenge we all share. The truth is that the fundamentals of family economic success are simply not taught as core components of our public or private education systems at any level.  

Read more...TechCrunch.com


New Growth Opportunities for Banks: The Under-Banked Segment.
Timing is important.  It has been said:  if you're too early, no one will understand; and if you're too late, everyone will have already forgotten.  Leveraging today's technologies can help your bank penetrate the under-banked segment and drive new revenue growth.  This post looks at some new financial services whose time may have come. This recent article from The Financial Brand, entitled "Revenue Growth is a Critical Priority for Banking Industry" describes how banking strategy has shifted from the post-2008 recession period which focused on containing costs and mitigating risks to a new era focused on using technology to improve the customer experience and drive new revenue growth.   Read more...Finextra


What happens when debt collectors have to contact the retired?
When a company is rightfully owed a sum of money, it has the right to employ a debt collection agency to get back the funds after the proper notice period has passed. It's as simple as that. People don't pay their bills for a number of reasons, ranging from contesting that the money is owed in the first place to simply being surprised by the expense and not having enough saved to cover it. However, the fact of the matter is that this money is actually owed to the business in question, whether it's a utility provider, a doctor's office or another organization. Company leaders cannot afford to be picky and explore the particular reasons why individuals can't pay - if they start making exceptions to the rule, they're going to hemorrhage money. Then, businesses are going to have to raise their prices to contend with the drop in income and/or make policy changes that may affect payroll.   Read more...Philip Burgess 

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