Credit Services and Intermediation

John Carona's Payday Lending Reform Crashed into a Wall of Lobbyists Today

If you want an idea of the near stranglehold payday lenders have on the Texas Legislature, the Senate floor was the place to be today. That's where Senator John Carona watched as his payday lending bill was picked apart by colleagues, many of whom were taking calls from industry lobbyists as he spok ... More >>

Luxury. Fashion. Snacks.

Dallas Unite! Throw off the Chains of Redneck Legislators, Payday Lenders, Etc.

Maybe Dallas has a shot at stepping out from under the redneck yoke of Austin after all. In today's news we see that a Dallas judge, Eric Moye, has tossed out a lawsuit by the usury industry in which payday lenders claimed the city had no right to protect its citizens if Austin didn't want them pro ... More >>

Checkmate

Prosecutors team with debt collectors to terrorize consumers in ways both highly profitable and usually illegal.

Time For Ron Washington to Stop Shilling For Ace Cash Express

If you watch a Rangers game on TV for more than about five minutes, you're bound to encounter manager Ron Washington telling you wonderful things about Ace Cash Express. If you can ignore the glare from Washington's shiny pate -- he often appears sans baseball cap, even though he is a man who benefi ... More >>

Big Biz Made a Bargain With the GOP's Devils. Here Comes the Bill.

Big business is finally figuring out what Democrats have been saying since the worst days of George W: that the genius idea of Bush's brain, Karl Rove, was a Faustian bargain with that powerful and elusive element of American political landscape -- the ignorati. Now the ignorati are demanding thei ... More >>

Liberal Political Activists Target a New Villain: Edward DeMarco of the Federal Housing Agency

Left-wing activists have taken aim at a man whose name you've probably never heard: Edward DeMarco. He's the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and he oversees mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The presidential appointee has become a villainous figure to those who believe lend ... More >>

After Judge Keeps County's Suit Against Mortgage Processer in Dallas, a Nudge to Settle

​It's been close to five months since Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins went after Mortgage Electronic Registration System over what Watkins claimed were "tens of millions in uncollected filing fees owed to the citizens of Dallas County." But since then little has been said about the s ... More >>

Want to Understand Politics, the Economy, Everything? Follow the Levees.

​Figured it out. I can tell you why the Republicans keep assassinating their own nominees. It all goes back to the Trinity River levees. What? You think I can't connect those dots? Stand back. Right now the GOP rivals are reducing Newt Gingrich to road-kill in Iowa with Super-PAC attack ads o ... More >>

Craig Watkins Makes Good on Threat to Sue Mortgage Processor Over "Tens of Millions"

​Back in August, Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins said he was taking a long, hard look at Mortgage Electronic Registration System, which, as we noted at the time, was created in 1995 by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and other financial institutions to speed up the recording and transfer of ... More >>

Sure, Bank of America Has Bigger Problems, But Dallas Man Wants His Few Bucks Back. Now.

Via.​Bank of America's got plenty to worry about right now, between tumbling share prices, threats of a $10-billion A.I.G. suit and renewed concerns over its long-term viability. So a lawsuit filed late last week in Dallas County District Court by Robert Long may not top the pops 'round Charlotte, ... More >>

DA Craig Watkins Insists Mortgage Processor Has Shorted Dallas County "Tens of Millions"

​A Reuters story from last month tells you everything you need to know about Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, heretofore "a little-known institution in Reston, Virginia." Says the story, it's a 16-year-old entity created in 1995 by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and other Big Banks intended to " ... More >>

Mayor Dwaine Caraway Refers to Mike Rawlings As "Payday Loan King" in New Radio Ad

Photo by Sam MertenCaraway and Natinsky at the candidate's endorsement press conference last month​Moments ago, during Robert Ashley's show on KHVN-AM, an ad ran attacking mayoral candidate Mike Rawlings and his ties to Ace Cash Express -- though it never mentions Rawlings by name. The speaker: no ... More >>

Rawlings Responds to Caraway's "Payday Loan King" Ads, Discusses Tenure on Lender's Board

Photo by Mark GrahamMike Rawlings​Mike Rawlings called this evening to discuss, sort of, those ads in which Mayor Dwaine Caraway blasts the mayoral candidate as the "Payday Loan King," a reference to Rawlings's six-year stint on the board of directors of Ace Cash Express -- the very sort of high-i ... More >>

New Anti-Poverty Coalition to Demand Dallas City Hall Zone Payday Lenders Out of Business

​Been trying to reach council member Jerry Allen ever since yesterday; no luck so far. But we know where he'll be at 3 today: in the Flag Room at Dallas City Hall, standing beside Dr. Frederick Haynes and Rev. Gerald Britt at an anti-payday lender press conference on behalf of the Anti-Poverty Coa ... More >>

Dallas-Fort Worth, Deep in Credit Card Debt

​Late Wednesday, we received in the in-box this list of 25 cities ranked by the average amount of credit-card debt its residents carryin their back pockets. At the top of the pops was San Antonio with $5,177, but, as you can see, Dallas wasn't far behind at No. 5; says credit-reporting agency Expe ... More >>

And Now, to the List of Dallas Mayoral Candidates, Add Mike Rawlings

Sam MertenMike Rawlings​It's the least surprising political announcement of the week, no doubt: Dallas Park Board President Mike Rawlings is running for Dallas mayor. The formal announcement, sent from Mari Woodlief, follows in full. In the release -- which names Joe Haggar Jr., former CEO of Hagg ... More >>

After Pleading Guilty to Tax Evasion, Realtor Nicky Sheets Gets 40 Months in Federal Prison

Eleanor Mowery Sheets and husband Nicky​The headline -- and the freshly baked press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office that follows -- says it all. U.S. District Judge Jane J. Boyle sentenced high-tone realtor John Nicholas Sheets -- married to one Eleanor Mowery Sheets, who copped to four co ... More >>

After Sending Out Proxy Materials, Blockbuster Steps Up Attack on "Dissident Stockholder"

​The postman was kind enough to deliver my Blockbuster proxy materials yesterday in advance of this month's board meeting downtown. (I recently bought 100 shares -- it was either that or a pack of smokes.) CEO Jim Keyes, yet again, reminded me vote for his slate of candidates to the board of direc ... More >>

Debt Collectors Consider Trading "Knee-Breaking" Techniques for "Empathy Training"

Hal Samples Craig Cunningham​Craig Cunningham of Dallas has an interesting way of dealing with debt collectors: He sues them, as documented in this week's paper version of Unfair Park. While only a small number of debtors file such lawsuits, the debt collection industry isn't waiting for su ... More >>

Better Off Deadbeat: Craig Cunningham Has a Simple Solution for Getting Bill Collectors Off His Back. He Sues Them.

March of the Merry

No Justice: We've Bailed Out the Banks. When Do We Go After the Crooks Behind Our Financial Collapse?

Running For Homes

Crime-Ridden Apartments, Credit Reports and Cops

If you haven't carefully checked the fine print in the city's proposed high-crime apartment ordinance, which the Dallas City Council will take up today, you might have missed this little gem: Apartment owners whose properties become too crime-ridden according to the city's calculations will be requi ... More >>

Fannie Mae CEO "Highly Embarrassed" By Dallas Office's Golf Outing

In early November, KTVT-Channel 11 busted 14 Dallas Fannie Mae employees for teeing off at the Cowboys Golf Club in Grapevine -- 22 days after the feds took over Fannie Mae, whoops. Said the CBS affiliate, taxpayers coughed up $6,279.26 for the golf outing, which "outraged" Rep. Jeb Hensarling. So m ... More >>

Subprime Time: Lone Star Funds is Embroiled in Another Legal Battle

Union Played

Is This a Collect Call?

Poor and Pitiful

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The Big Squeeze

Thinking about taking out a payday loan? Think again, sucker.

Deadbeats

Posh Trinity backers skate on 80 grand they owe to the city

Flipped Out

Troubling questions about real estate transactions dog a former Cowboy's business

Grave Robbers

Even in the great beyond, no one is safe from identity theft

Buzz

Silence is not golden; Feed the sharks

This old chair

Oak Cliff buys into rent-to-own antiques

An old concept

Oak Cliff shop offers a new take on an antique idea