QC Holdings, Inc., a major payday loan company in the U.S., had announced its Board of Directors has increased the authorization limit of the company's common stock repurchase program to $30 million. The program would have otherwise been completed upon reaching $20 million.

During August 2006, the quick and online payday loan firm has repurchased 850,000 shares of its common stock, for approximately $10.3 million. With these transactions, the company has repurchased approximately 1.6 million shares at an aggregate price of $19.8 million overall.

QC Holdings is based in Overland Park, Kansas. It's a leading provider of bad credit payday loans in the United States, operating 558 stores in 25 states at August 23, 2006.

The issue of military payday loans is on the docket in our nation's captial - but it will soon be discussed in Kansas, as well.

As The Wichita Eagle reports, a local grassroots group again taking on the industry. Indeed, Sunflower Community Action is inviting the public to a meeting next week to discuss faxless payday loans and car title lending, particularly to military personnel.

"A lot of payday lenders are huddling up around bases," said J.J. Selmon, community organizer for the northeast chapter of Sunflower. "In a lot of states, payday lending places are open 24 hours a day around military bases."

The August 31 meeting is open to the public and Sunflower would especially like to hear from military personnel who are concerned about these dangerous, fast payday loans. Selmon has been corresponding with Martin Dempsey, an Army liaison in Kansas who deals with quality of life issues for the military. He's a contractor for the Department of Defense.

A Defense Department report to Congress urges lawmakers to set a cap of a 36 percent annual percentage rate on extensions of credit, including payday loans, made to service members and their families. The report also asks Congress to prohibit lenders from giving money to service personnel without regard for the member's ability to repay.

Specifically, the report says to "prohibit lenders from using checks, access to bank accounts and car title pawns as security for obligations." It also notes a Center for Responsible Lending analysis that showed that active-duty military personnel were three times more likely than civilians to take out a payday loan.

Just under 50 percent of enlisted service members are less than 25 years old, typically without a lot of experience managing finances. Most do not have a cushion of savings to help with emergencies. Is it really any wonder they are prime targets for supposedly low cost payday loan providers?

In defense of payday loans: Not everyone is on Sunflower's side. Lt. Ashley Conner at McConnell Air Force Base said personnel there do not appear to have a problem with payday advance lending. Whitney Damron, a lobbyist for the Kansas Payday Loan Association, said provisions to Kansas' law regulating payday lending specifically help protect military personnel.

Kansas statute 16a-2-405 says that payday loan lenders may not garnishee a military borrower's wages and must defer all collection activity against a military borrower who has been deployed. Lenders also may not contact any person in the borrower's chain of command in an attempt to collect a debt.

"The payday loan industry from my experience has been very responsible and respectful of payday loans in regard to military bases," Damron said.

Sunflower, he said, "wants to foreclose borrowing opportunities to consumers. I'm still waiting to see when they're going to open up their own lending institution. They are attempting to limit consumer choices."

Expect a fiery debate regarding cash loans at the meeing to end August.

The interest rates charged on payday loans in Canada are criminal. So decreed a judge last week in a class action lawsuit against A-OK Payday Loans

Not everyone agrees with this decision, however. Most notable among those that object? The lawyer representing the instant payday loan firm.

"I think the reason this is in the news is there's a class-action lawsuit going on," said Bruce Hallsor." They're a small company. That's why they went after them first. They're not going to get much money out of A-OK."

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Brenda Brown ruled last week that A OK's processing fees, late charges and interest rates exceed the maximum 60 percent annual interest rate allowed under Canadian law. Noting the federal government is planning this fall to introduce new legislation aimed at regulating the industry, Hallsor argued that existing laws were originally intended to prevent no faxing payday loan sharks from setting up shop in Canada.

"There's an issue about the constitutionality of the legislation. That section of the Criminal Code was intended to deal with loan sharking," Hallsor said.

He went on to state that it's not fair to apply the 60 percent rule to the short-term lending that forms the bulk of the payday loan industry's business.

"If I charge you one per cent on a $100 loan for one week, that's already 52 per cent a year," he said.

The point being that these rates only appear to be so high when done out over the course of a full year. Last week's decision was the first civil court ruling of its kind in Canada and could affect payday loan companies across the country.

Another defender of this industry, Michael Thompson of the Canadian Payday Loan Association, criticized Justice Brown for jumping the gun just as the federal government was preparing to pass new laws.

"I don't think it is a precedent-setting case. The law on which the judge based her decision will soon be invalidated," he said.

Despite questioning the court's decision, Thompson acknowledged the industry needs proper regulation. While the association has developed a code of best business practices for its members, only 55 percent of the country's cash loan companies, including A OK, belong to the association.

Victoria-Hillside NDP MLA Rob Fleming called on B.C. Solicitor General John Les to take action in the wake of last week's ruling. Les recently told The Victoria News the province is waiting for Ottawa to make the first move, but Fleming pointed out that B.C. is among a handful of Canadian provinces that don't require special licences for payday loan industry.

"We licence pawnbrokers, but not payday lending," Fleming said.

According to the Canadian Payday Loan Association's website, the industry took off in the mid-90s in response to an unfulfilled consumer demand for small-sum short-term credit. Since then the industry has grown to an estimated 1,200 locations across the country in 2004.

Hallsor said same day payday loans are a choice that should be made available to people, especially those who have poor credit rating and can't get loans from the major banks.

"Whether or not this is the best way for people to borrow money, it's a legitimate option in the marketplace," he said.

Across the nation, consumer debt is rising. It's growing at a faster pace this year than at any time between 2001 and 2005. 

While it may be tempting to blame an outbreak of faxless payday loan applications for this problem, cash advances alone cannot explain why American debt increased at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 5.7 percent in June. Our debt is growing twice as fast as our economy.

It's occurring despite a quintupling of rates by the Federal Reserve Board. What gives?

According to The Knoxville News Sentinal, the lending standards of many financial institutions are at fault - and the newspaper is NOT talking about predatory payday advance lending.

The head of an industry-specific lending division of a major regional bank recently explained that his competitors had lowered the amount of collateral they required borrowers to put up or were eliminating certain loan guarantees. The result?

A price war among competing banks; proof that online payday loan providers certainly aren't the only shady lenders out there. The above maneuver also provided credit to borrowers who, only a few years ago, would not have qualified for these loans.

In the current interest-rate environment, the profitability of bank lending typically declines. One reason is that the spread shrinks between banks' cost of funds and the rates they can charge borrowers. Yet with the recent exception of mortgage activity, bank-loan profits remain high - and are still increasing. How?

Because of an increase in loans. If your margins decline, you're tempted to make it up with more volume. And if the pressure to increase quarterly earnings is great enough, you increase your lending volumes by dipping down to a lower-quality borrower.

In other words, banks aren't helping their clients very much. They're often making financial matters worse. With all the negative attention providers of no fax payday loans receive, critics may also wish to take a close look at banking activity.

It's not unusual for any campaign to field questions about just who is donating to it. It's a free country, this is how our elections are run and there are few rules in place for what sort of individual or company can help someone such as Sue Kelly maintain her congressional seat in New York.

The Times interest was piqued, however, by the attention paid to this race by fast payday loan companies.

First, some background: Kelly is facing her toughest competition in 12 years. As usual, the representative is receiving money from many industries she oversees in Congress. It's the status quo.

A handful of government watchdogs say the practice is bad for democracy because elected officials may find their loyalties divided on issues where the interests of large donors conflict with those of the voters.

"Money buys access in Congress, and often influence," said Massie Ritsch, spokesman for the Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics. "Members of Congress won't necessarily vote your way, but at least they listen. The less well-funded don't have that at their disposal."

The case becomes more interesting in New York because a fight is on to rid the state completely of predatory lenders and payday loans.

The Katonah Republican, Kelly, has raised about $1.4 million. Four Democrats are vying to unseat her, mainly on the basis of her support of Bush administration policy, including the war in Iraq. of course, Kelly wants to remain in office so she can continue working to keep the tax burden down and to improve the environment, educational opportunities and access to affordable health care, her campaign manager, Jay Townsend, said.

According to the June 30 Federal Election Commission filing, $766,942 of Kelly's contributions - or 54 percent - came from political action committees. Many of these special-interest donations come from businesses Kelly oversees through the House Financial Services Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, which she leads.

"The fact that Sue Kelly takes money from the very same industries and companies that she has oversight responsibility for is ethically questionable and downright inappropriate," said Mike Morey, spokesman for Take19, a group organized to defeat her.

Since January 2001, Kelly has led the subcommittee with the power to investigate all matters that come under the jurisdiction of the House Committee on Financial Services, formerly known as the Banking Committee. Now, perhaps you can begin to see where receiving money from no fax payday loan firms becomes questionable.

After all, this committee oversees the securities, insurance, banking and housing industries, along with financial services regulators including the Federal Reserve, the Treasury Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

During her congressional career, Kelly has received more than $3.2 million in PAC money, with insurance, securities and investment, real estate, banks, accountants and credit companies among her biggest contributors, the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics said.

However, Kelly's 2006 election cycle contributors also included the lesser known QC Holdings Inc. and Cash America International Inc., payday advance companies that offer small, short-term loans.

"Neither company has been charged with wrongdoing," Townsend said. "Both are publicly traded companies listed on either the American or Nasdaq Stock Exchange."

That's true. But, as often happens during tense elections, campaign contributions are placed under a microscope and it's easy to see why these could raise financial flags.

Ben Heyward and Bob Whitelaw each work for a credit union. The former is trying to prevent the use of payday loans, however, while the latter is actually the former head of the Canadian Payday Loan Association.

Whitelaw was recently hired by Alterna Savings to research the possibility of setting up a payday loan product for the Ontario-based company. Meanwhile, he's lobbying the federal government on behalf of Alterna to allow credit unions into the pay day loan industry. He's got his work cut out for him.

Cash loans, cash advances, payday cash loans - whatever you choose to call them, these are, perhaps, the single-most reviled financial product offered for legal sale in Canada. Who, other than the financially illiterate or the utterly desperate, would pay as much as 40% on a loan?According to critics, the industry is nothing more than a giant scam targeting the working poor. And, possibly worse, the military. In the United States, the number of low-earning servicemen who have lost their security clearance as a result of financial problems climbed 1,600% between 2000 and 2005 (the same period in which the military payday loan industry flourished).

Despite these obstacles, Whitelaw is having some success. It appears a bill will soon be introduced in Parliament that will clear up a legal grey area around the no faxing payday loans (some contend the interest rates charged on these loans contravene the Criminal Code of Canada) and allow credit unions to venture into a market they have thus far avoided. Whitelaw talks about the benefit to his company's clients.

"Our customers are asking for these," he says. "Our members are using payday loans. Can't we offer these?"

Interestingly enough, that just might be what the industry needs, and may be an initiative on which even the social activists can agree. Listen to Chris Robinson, a finance professor at Ontario's York University and the author of a report for ACORN Canada, a non-profit, member-run group that looks out for the interests of low-income families.

In a telephone interview, Robinson talks about the internal dynamics of the industry and confirms some of the worst suspicions about payday loans online, including the idea that they trap people in a never-ending spiral of debt.

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Cash Now Corporation (Cash Now), a well-established payday loan company in the U.S. has announced it's completed the 100% takeover of Australian and New Zealand Master Franchise.

Cash Now Pty Ltd. has been operating Down Under for three years, experiencing outstanding growth in the instant payday loan and check cashing franchise market with 21 stores now using the Cash Now system.

The growth prospects for such an industry are outstanding, as less than 100 stores of this type are currently in business in Australia and New Zealand. With over 24 million consumers between the two nations, there are many possible faxless payday loan clients out there!

As Ben Heyward flipped burgers and celebrated the opening of New Mexico's second First Financial Credit Union location over the weekend, his mind was on a far more serious topic:

The proliferation of fast payday loans in the state.

Heyward, president and chief executive officer of the credit union, said he is working on a savings plan that would make payday advance lenders obsolete. He was reluctant to offer many details prior to the plan's implementation in October, but said it would drastically reduce the amount of interest borrowers would be forced to pay, while creating an opportunity to begin a savings plan and repair poor credit ratings.

"We had half of the city's employees today," Heyward said of the branch's grand opening.

The credit union, which has 11 branches in New Mexico, was forced to open a second Gallup office to keep pace with demand, Heyward said.

"The branch on Boardman (Drive) was slammed every day," he said. "People were leaving because they had to stand in line so long, and not because we're slow."

First Financial is fanning out across New Mexico and is presently doing a feasibility study on opening a branch in Quemado. A major reason? Consumer dissatisfaction with their faxless payday loans. Heyward said the credit union will open offices in smaller communities, such as the branch in the Pine Hill, as a matter of public service.

First Financial, which has total assets in excess of $300 million, employs 143 people in New Mexico. Those wishing to join the First Financial don't have to be New Mexicans.

"If you live, work or worship in the counties we cover, you can join," Heyward said.

Because numerous individuals have felt the negative financial effects of payday advances on their bank account, this is probably an attractive offer.

As the Pentagon and the Department of Defense fight for military payday loan restrictions across the nation, Georgia can at least take solace in its reforms.

The state has already protected consumers by passing what could be considered the nation's toughest prohibition on bad credit payday loans. Nevertheless, the state Legislature refuses to bar other abusive practices, including title pawns.

Title pawn lenders offer instant loans - at annual interest rates that can reach 300 percent - to those who put up their car titles as collateral. If the borrower defaults, the lender takes the car. Such a business is so profitable that title pawn companies are now major donors to Georgia politicians, giving $328,310 to 75 Georgia politicians and three political committees last year.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution states this industry - similar to the past instant payday loan world - gives to both Republicans and Democrats, believing it needs friends everywhere. Therefore, while Georgia politicians leap to their feet to applaud returning Iraq veterans, they ignore a practice that the Pentagon says "traps borrowers in repeated loan renewals in order to keep from losing essential transportation and key family assets."

Virtually all financial products aimed at low-income earners and unsophisticated consumers - the check-cashing outlets, expedited tax refunds, payday advance operations, title pawn shops, rent-to-own deals and subprime mortgage companies - work the same way:

• They lock borrowers into a cycle of renewals, fattened by fees and high interest rates. Because of their youth and financial naiveté, soldiers are an easy and reliable mark for these netherland lenders, which is why they cluster their businesses around military bases.

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Young women may be falling into debt and considering payday loans these days, but they aren't the only ones. 

Consumer borrowing unexpectedly shot up in June as Americans used credit cards to finance more of their purchases, a Federal Reserve report stated Monday.

Non-mortgage loans to individuals rose $10.3 billion to $2.19 trillion, following a revised $5.89-billion increase in May. This would include approvals on resources such as faxless payday loans. The two-month gain was the biggest since September-October 2004.

Americans are relying more on credit card debt because rising interest rates and a cooling housing market make it harder for them to take out home equity loans. Higher gas prices are also prompting consumers to borrow more, economists said.

People almost need a payday loan online in order to fill up. Seriously. 

"The jump in consumer credit coming at a time when consumers are hard hit by soaring gasoline costs could indicate some financial woes on the part of borrowers," said Chris Rupkey, an economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. in New York. "It looks as if consumers are relying more on credit cards now that other avenues of credit such as mortgage refinancing have been shut off to them."

Revolving debt, such as credit cards and cash loans, increased by $6.65 billion in June, after rising $7.42 billion in May. Non-revolving debt, such as loans to buy cars and mobile homes, rose by $3.62 billion in June after declining $1.54 billion a month earlier.

Overall, U.S. consumer debt rose at an annual rate of 5.7% in June.