In finance, a loan is the transfer of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money.
Usury is the practice of making unethical or immoral monetary loans that unfairly enrich the lender. The term may be used in a moral sense—condemning taking advantage of others' misfortunes—or in a legal sense, where an interest rate is charged in excess of the maximum rate that is allowed by law. A loan may be considered usurious because of excessive or abusive interest rates or other factors defined by the laws of a state. Someone who practices usury can be called a usurer, but in modern colloquial English may be called a loan shark.
A payday loan is a short-term unsecured loan, often characterized by high interest rates.
A loan shark is a person who offers loans at extremely high interest rates, has strict terms of collection upon failure, and generally operates outside the law.
A hard money loan is a specific type of asset-based loan: a financing instrument through which a borrower receives funds secured by real property. Hard money loans are typically issued by private investors or companies. Interest rates are typically higher than conventional commercial or residential property loans because of the higher risk and shorter duration of the loan.
Grupo Elektra is a Mexican financial and retailing corporation established by Hugo Salinas Price. The company has operations in Latin America and is the largest non-bank provider of cash advance services in the United States.
A title loan is a type of secured loan where borrowers can use their vehicle title as collateral. Borrowers who get title loans must allow a lender to place a lien on their car title, and temporarily surrender the hard copy of their vehicle title, in exchange for a loan amount. When the loan is repaid, the lien is removed and the car title is returned to its owner. If the borrower defaults on their payments then the lender is liable to repossess the vehicle and sell it to repay the borrowers’ outstanding debt.
Moneytree, Inc. is a retail financial services provider headquartered in Tukwila, Washington, with branches in Washington, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, and British Columbia. Moneytree offers payday loans, installment loans, prepaid debit cards, money orders, bill payment, Western Union transfers, auto equity and title loans. In 2013, Moneytree won "Best Place to Work in Colorado" in the small business category.
The Community Financial Services Association of America (CFSA) is a trade association in the United States representing the payday lending industry.
FirstCash Holdings, Inc. is an American pawnshop company headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas which operates retail pawn stores in the U.S. and Latin America. It is a publicly-traded company listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange. In September 2016, the company merged with Cash America International, Inc. and in December 2021, the company acquired American First Finance.
EZCORP, Inc. is an American pawn shop operator based in Austin, Texas which provides services across the United States and Latin America. It is a publicly traded company listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange and is the second largest pawn shop operator in the U.S. after Cash America International.
An alternative financial service (AFS) is a financial service provided outside traditional banking institutions, on which many low-income individuals depend. In developing countries, these services often take the form of microfinance. In developed countries, the services may be similar to those provided by banks and include payday loans, rent-to-own agreements, pawnshops, refund anticipation loans, some subprime mortgage loans and car title loans, and non-bank check cashing, money orders, and money transfers. It also includes traditional moneylending by door-to-door collection. In New York City, these are called check-cashing stores, and they are legally exempted from the 25 percent criminal usury cap.
Money Mart Financial Services, formerly Dollar Financial Group, is a financial services company with over 600 locations in Canada and the U.S. The company offers a range of financial services, including installment loan, cash advance/payday loan, check cashing, prepaid card, and money transfer services. It focuses on the underbanked and subprime customer segments. Prior to 2018, the name 'Money Mart' was associated only with the 38-year-old Canadian unit DFG acquired in November 1996.
A payday loan is a small, short-term unsecured loan, "regardless of whether repayment of loans is linked to a borrower's payday." The loans are also sometimes referred to as "cash advances," though that term can also refer to cash provided against a prearranged line of credit such as a credit card. Payday advance loans rely on the consumer having previous payroll and employment records. Legislation regarding payday loans varies widely between different countries and, within the United States, between different states.
William Allan Jones Jr. is an American businessman from Cleveland, Tennessee. He is the founder, chairman, and CEO of Check Into Cash, Creditcorp, Jones Management Services, and the Community Financial Services Association, as well as several other local lending agencies. He has been called the "father of the payday loan industry" for founding and building the first major payday loan chain.
Wonga.com, also known as Wonga, was a British payday loan firm that was founded in 2006. The company focused on offering short-term, high-cost loans to customers via online applications, and began processing its first loans in 2007. The firm operated across several countries, including the United Kingdom, Spain, Poland and South Africa; it also operated in Canada until 2016, and in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and the Netherlands through the German payments business, BillPay, between 2013 and 2017.
TMX Finance is the parent company to the brands TitleMax, TitleBucks, EquityAuto Loan, and InstaLoan. The company holds more than 900 stores in over fourteen states including Alabama, Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wisconsin, and an online presence in Idaho. TMX Finance’s brands serve individuals who generally have limited access to consumer credit from banks, thrift institutions, credit card lenders, and other traditional sources of consumer credit.
Operation Choke Point was an initiative of the United States Department of Justice beginning in 2013 which investigated banks in the United States and the business they did with firearm dealers, payday lenders, and other companies believed to be at a high risk for fraud and money laundering.
Hardwick Clothes is an American clothing manufacturer headquartered in Cleveland, Tennessee specializing in tailor-made suits for men and women. Founded on July 28, 1880, Hardwick Clothes is the oldest maker of tailored clothing in America, and the second-oldest company in Bradley County, Tennessee.
Founded in 1996, Advance Financial is a fintech company based in Nashville, Tennessee. Advance Financial provides lending decisions on cash loans and other financial services. It employs over 1100 employees and in 2019 was named to the Inc.com 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in the country for the eighth year in a row.
