Oregon Payday Loans and Lending

Online lenders typically deposit the loan money in an applicant’s checking account within a day, and then retrieve the loan, plus interest and fees, via an electronic withdrawal after the borrower’s paycheck is deposited.

To loan money here, payday lenders must get state licenses and meet Oregon lending limits, regardless of where they are located.

“They don’t even pay any attention to that,” says McCord, financial services program manager for the state Division of Finance and Corporate Securities. “It’s hard to run these guys down, especially when they’re out of the country.”
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The growth of online lenders appears to be “a way to subvert state law,” Martin says. That points to the need for national legislation and the new Consumer Financial Protection Agency supported by President Obama, she says.

Judging from complaints filed with state regulators, the laws are working. Before, frequent complaints were filed against payday lenders, regardless of where they were located, regulators say. But in the first eight months of this year, 62 consumer complaints were filed against online payday lenders, and only one against a storefront payday lender….
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“If you make a loan to someone in Oregon, you have to follow the state law,” says Lisa Morawski, communication director for the state Department of Consumer and Business Services.

The state issued a “cease and desist” order to one company in Las Vegas that was violating the law. Several other companies are under investigation, Morawski says….
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Payday loan customers in Oregon are advised to use a licensed lender, who is more likely to adhere to state law, says Lisa Morawski, communications director for the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services.