Reverend Hickey And Larry Kurtz Bait Or When Did Timber Lake, South Dakota Become The Wall Street Of Legal Sharks?

Or why is Georgia apparently better at taking on usurers than South Dakota?

From Legal Newsline.com, this Bryan Cohen article in its entirety.

Georgia Attorney General Samuel Olens announced on Friday that he has successfully urged several payday lenders that claim to be owned and operated by Native Americans to stop making loans in Georgia.

Payday Financial LLC, Green Billow LLC and Western Sky Financial LLC will stop making payday loans in Georgia. The companies allegedly made illegal payday loans in Georgia through their websites, despite the fact that Georgia law specifically prohibits making payday loans, including making payday loans to residents of Georgia through the internet.
The companies allegedly offered payday loans of $300 to $2,525 to consumers throughout the nation, through websites and by advertising on television.

"When it comes to payday lending in Georgia, there is no gray area," Olens said. "It is unquestionably illegal in any form. We will not stand for unscrupulous, out-of-state lenders taking advantage of Georgia consumers by skirting our laws."

Attorneys for Martin A. Webb, the operator of Payday Financial LLC and several related businesses in Timber Lake, S.D., claim that the companies are exempt from law in Georgia as a result of tribal, or sovereign, immunity. The businesses claim to operate within the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation and to be completely member owned by the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. Olens' office said that if a company conducts business in Georgia, the laws of Georgia apply.

Thank God for Small Gifts

Via the Madville Times, I see that the South Dakota Legislature is seriously considering limiting interest rates charged by payday lenders.  The bill probably should contain a truth in advertising amendment that has them call themselves payday predators, but that’s a topic for another day.

Given that Governor Dennis Daugaard stubbornly insists on cutting funding to education at least 10% and that those cuts mean layoffs, it’s good to know that the loan sharks will have a few limits when the laid off teachers are in their clutches.  It would be better to limit payday predators and fund education fully, but the latter option doesn’t seem to be on the table, so I guess we’ll have to celebrate the small gifts.