Thoughtful insight from the blogosphere

As someone who is relatively new to the world of blogging (this blog hit the 'sphere in April), I have been surprised to see the level of commitment that some bloggers and blog readers put into their posts and their comments on other people's posts. A great example is the comments that followed a high octane blog entry from Matthew Mayer titled You Can Still Save Payday Loans in Ohio. The article itself is interesting, if a bit aggressive, but the comments that follow about the ins and outs of the cash advance business make for an even more informative read. Yours truly even took the opportunity to throw in a cent or two.

While it is well worth the time to read through the full list of comments, here are some highlights:

• Payday loan borrowers sent 30,000 letters to Ohio law makers (I doubt there were 30,000 Canadians who even knew about either the Manitoba or Nova Scotia public utility board hearings regarding payday loans).
• Over 5,000 people participated in rallies relating to the pending Ohio payday loan legislation.
• The "faith based community" in Ohio is unified against payday lenders (not sure of the importance of this point, but it was interesting news nonetheless).
• An interesting link to an article about "The Self-Interested Self-Help of the Center for Responsible Lending" (I hadn't seen this article before and I will certainly give it a read and pass on the Coles notes in a future post).
• Reference to a North Carolina study of payday advance users where “87% said that payday advance companies provide a useful service.”
• Some interesting comments from former payday loan employees, one talking about how they work with borrowers to try to help them manage their payday loan debt and also describing how hard they work to ensure that they do not lend to overextended borrowers.
  
• And finally, an interesting YouTube video of a payday loan company talking about the approach they take to the cash advance business (two posts in a row with video!):