My Introduction to the payday loan industry
Before I started out in the payday loan industry, I was a software developer for big companies like Sungard and other software vendors of the like. Thats not counting all the millions of trips ive taken as a technical consultant for these companies to visit blue chip energy companies like BP, Calpine, and Shell. Back then a job was a job - If it paid my bills and I could live comfortably off of the income, I didn’t have much to complain about.
After a while I started to see just exactly what I was contributing to - helping big corporate energy giants create technology to make millions of dollars in trading profit per day. My six figure salary literally was pennies considering the profits they would amass in a single month. It wasn’t long before I started entertaining the idea of getting into another career. Between my obsession of writing picture perfect business applications, and a sharp know-how in some of the most advanced topics in finance I decided to take my first step into the payday loan industry.
The adventure began with a cash-out in savings that I had saved over the last few years as a software developer. With less than 40k in startup capital I started Green Valley Financial. Green Valley Financial was a special payday loan startup because we were focused on the look and feel of service rather than making obscene amounts of money. We figured that if we have the right presentation and a comfortable look and feel, we would attract the right kind of borrower and lower our default numbers. With that in mind, we did away with the classic bullet proof glass. In its place we setup couches and desks for borrowers to meet lenders face to face. Our aim was to create a presence which resembled the feel of a small size bank.
This “financial presence” formed the foundation of our business operations. In combination of providing advanced loan options, and customer payback programs we were able to break every conventional rule for starting a payday loan business - we were in a mid high to high income demographic, regularly attracted customers from beyond 20 miles away, and our average borrower income was around 50k a year (I even had a small group of borrowers making as much as six figures a year!). We had accomplished all this without the use of conventional advertising, and road side visibility. Our “advertising campaign” strictly relied on craigslist. - Can you believe that?!
Long story short - state regulation for APR crack downs forced by business to close in mid 2007. I wasn’t exactly bummed because I saw it happening a year before it happened. On top of that, I had developed a loan management system that was tried and true for the payday loan industry. Between then and now, is the story of Empower - but ill tell that one another day.