VIDEO!  Attorney Flannery O’Rourke explains the problems…and the solutions. Note: see General Assembly legislative updates on the issue below this post by Flannery O’Rourke, Esq. Unemployment insurance can sometimes feel more like a tangled web than a safety net. Some claimants even remain entangled in Virginia’s unemployment insurance system long after their claim ends. Retroactive […]

People are struggling to pay their rent, utilities, and buy food.  We see it everywhere.  Lack of affordable housing, lack of access to medical care, utility shutoffs.  The Commonwealth of Virginia is not doing enough to help people.  Into that gap come those that will exploit desperation– payday lenders, get rich quick con men and […]

The U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote on the so-called CHOICE Act, which would essentially undo all the protections put in place after the last Great Recession and bank bailout.   Here are a few questions we all must consider and ask of our Congressional representatives as they prepare to take America’s financial marketplace […]

Virginia Poverty Law Center filed a class action lawsuit almost 3 years ago after a man called our hotline about a loan he had received from Western Sky/Cashcall. VPLC’s Board Members Kristi Kelly and Len Bennett took on this case and both spent a lot of time and resources litigating this case. Virginia’s Attorney General’s […]

Delegate David Yancey has tried for years to put some reasonable limits on the odious practices of former payday lenders that now evade regulation with their “line of credit” loans. HB 2465 is a common sense Bill that puts some of the same restrictions on these loans that are in place for payday loans: 1. […]

   SB 1126 and HB 1443 simply clarify existing Consumer Finance Act applies to loans made over the Internet to Virginians    HB 1443 (Patron: Delegate Peter Farell-R) and SB 1126 (Patron: Senator Scott Surovell-D ) make it clear that the Virginia Consumer Finance Act applies to loans over the internet to Virginians.    The language […]

Here is what we have learned about internet loans from callers to our predatory loan hotline  866-855-4501   The interest rates are unbelievable and borrowers can’t repay  “Only later did I realize the 6-month $900 loan would actually end up costing me $3,019 at an interest rate of 638%.” “I borrowed $525 …When I saw […]

Here are the lessons we’ve learned directly from borrowers’ experiences with open-end, “line of credit” loans.  866-855-4501  Borrowers get caught in a debt trap “I kept paying and paying and paying on it, but the balance never went down. After a year and a half of never missing a payment, my balance was higher than […]

 Loansharks inflict economic violence on borrowers.   “We may think of violence as physical harm. But violence is defined as force applied to bring destruction or damage. A violent wind or a violent act. However, the situations I observe with regularity are nothing less than economic violence. The violence to a family’s finances and stability […]