Advance America Suspends All N.C. Lending
Raleigh, NC — Advance America Cash Advance Centers suspended lending in North Carolina today after its out-of state bank partner said it would no longer finance the loans.
The move came after a months-long hearing in which Roy Cooper, the state attorney general, alleged that Advance America's payday loans violated state lending laws that banned them. The result of the case could determine the fate of Advance America in North Carolina and take a big bite out of the state's short-term lending market.
Payday lending has technically been banned in North Carolina since 2001, when a law that had legalized and governed it expired. But several lenders, including Advance America, Kwik Kash, Ace Cash Express and other cash loan providers sidestepped the ban by partnering with out-of-state banks not subject to North Carolina laws.
First Fidelity Bank of Burke, S.D., the lender behind Spartanburg, S.C.-based Advance America's 117 loan centers in North Carolina, did not provide details of its decision.