Survey: Payday lending not missed

Most low-, moderate-income consumers say its elimination did not affect them

Good riddance to payday lending.

That's the bottom-line message of a consumer survey commissioned by the N.C. Office of the Commissioner of Banks in the wake of the state's shutdown of payday-lending outlets last year. The study was released Tuesday.

"Working people don't miss payday lending," said Mark Pearce, deputy commissioner. "They have a lot of financial options, and they use them."

The majority of the low- and middle-income consumers surveyed reported that eliminating payday-lending storefronts had no impact on their lives. But those who did report an impact were twice as likely to view it as beneficial rather than harmful -- even if they had experienced a recent shortage of cash.

The ratio was the same among consumers who had obtained payday loans in the past three years. That sample size was too small to be statistically significant, but their responses were in line with non-payday-loan customers, according to the study by the Center for Community Capital at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Payday loans, which are cash advances for workers in between paychecks, often charge annual interest rates in excess of 400 percent. The median $244 loan in 2000 had a median fee of $36, and most of the loans were due within eight to 14 days. That's a median annual percentage rate of 419 percent.

The negative view of payday loans among past customers shows they recognize that such loans are traps, Pearce said. "A payday loan is easy to get into, and, once you get into it, it is really hard to get out of," he said.

Lenders require borrowers to pay back the entire amount of the loan within two weeks. If they can't, they must roll over the loan and incur additional fees.

The state commissioned the study because advocates of payday lending contended that "people needed this option and their lives would be worse off if they didn't have it," Pearce said.

But researchers found that eliminating payday-lending outlets has not significantly affected the availability of credit.

Instead, people faced with a shortage of cash have other options. Most use multiple options, including skipping an expense or paying it late, which was the most common; dipping into savings; tapping friends and family for loans; and using a credit card to obtain a cash advance.

"We were happy to see that low-income families in financial distress were able to meet their needs," said Roberto Quercia, director of the Center for Community Capital.

North Carolina was the first state to shut down payday-lending outlets. After a law that authorized payday lending was allowed to expire in 2001, some payday lenders continued to operate by forming partnerships with out-of-state banks -- which they argued exempted them from North Carolina law.

But the state Attorney General's Office went after the state's largest payday lender, Advance America, and Banking Commissioner Joseph Smith ruled in December 2005 that the company was charging excessive rates in violation of state law. The remaining chains agreed to shut down in March 2006.

The survey conducted last spring consisted of 401 randomly selected respondents in households with annual incomes of less than $45,000. The households were in three urban areas -- Raleigh, Fayetteville and Charlotte -- that once had the highest number of payday-lending outlets.

In addition, the study held two focus group discussions in Charlotte with people who had taken out payday loans.