How are payday loan companies regulated?

Mostly by state and local laws.

Unlike banks and credit card companies that are heavily regulated by the Federal Government, States and their laws largely regulate payday loan companies.

Laws regulating payday loan companies vary widely from state to state (and locality to locality) and we cannot hope to reference every regulation and statute here. In many cases the laws and statues have broad interpretations anyway, so listing them wouldn't be helpful. When we have been able to determine (or, not determine) which State regulates a payday loan company, we note this in our reviews.

We can tell you that many states do not permit payay loan companies to operate within their borders. Usually, a payday loan company will declare up front whether or not it can lend to people in a particular state. However, not all companies declare where they can lend--they only declare this information after they have pre-qualified a borrower. This is a poor practice and we always note this in our reviews.

When you want to know more about the laws regulating a particular payday loan company, please refer to the State Website in which that payday company is regulated for details. (Example: For a payday lender working within Maine regulations you would go to www.maine.gov and then search for "payday loan".) Also, you can contact that State's Office of Bank Commissioner or similar regulatory body.

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