State Orders Checkmate to Shut Down Loan Program
The report on Washington State was regulators have ordered Checkmate Payday Loans giant to her new “gift card” program. Adding information for consumers pre-loaded, $ 100 gift certificates suitable for these retailers Safeway, Fred Meyer and Wal-Mart. Consumers have 15 to 45 days to repay the loan, which carries an annual rate of up to 391 percent. The state Department of Financial Institutions said that the gift cards seem an attempt to skirt the statute to be. The law prohibits more than eight payday loans per person per year and then make it the total investor was low.
The state said Checkmate was specifically the tickets sold to people who had reached their eight-loan limit, and that 60 percent of loans at a branch in Tumwater had done to people who maxed out their limit, according to DFI’s cease-and-te issued. The problem is that the cards carry high costs compared to loans and are easily converted into cash, said Deb Bortner, director of DFI service to consumers. But they are not regulated by the payday loan laws. They are very similar to a payday loan, and we believe and assert that the nature of the loan they make is an attempt to circumvent that statute actually.