This bill was authored by Pickett, and is “relating to limitations on the renewal of deferred presentment transactions and motor vehicle title loans.” The primary goal of this bill is to decrease the options a consumer has, and restrict the ways in which they might be able to re-finance a loan. Section 1 of the bill addresses Chapter 342 which is primarily for ” Regulated Lenders” versus CAB’s who operate under Chapter 393 of the Texas Finance Code. The bill would restrict the the “lender” from allowing a consumer to “rollover” a loan more than 4 times. A rollover is defined in this rule as “a refinancing or paying of all or part of the finance charges and cash advance of a deferred presentment transaction with a new deferred presentment transaction.”

Section 3 of HB 1715 is relating to Chapter 393 and CABs. The bill would limit rollovers to 4 as it also does with Chapter 342 loans. The way the rollover is defined is the same as above, which is different from the most common definition in the industry. A “rollover” traditionally has referred to the scenario where a consumer opts to pay interest and fees only with no payment towards principal, instead of paying off the loan as originally agreed.

“Rollovers” do not typically occur when there is an amount of principal that is paid down in addition to the interest and fees that are due that day. This is Pickett’s new definition, the key difference lies in the phrase “all or part of the finance charges or cash advance.” Would go into effect 9-1-2013.

Click here for a PDF of HB 1715! HB.1715

The O.C.C.C. has released the Credit Access Business License! Looks as though it may have been posted online on Saturday, October 29th.  Laurie Hobbs just sent  out an email to the stakeholders this morning so perhaps there were a few more details to square away prior to today.

The printed forms are 12 pages total, comprised of 8 parts.  See below:

• CAB Instructions and Checklist
• CAB Application Form for New License or Transfer of License
• Schedule A: CAB Branch Location(s) Application
• Schedule B: Disclosure of Third-Party Lender Organizations
• Schedule C: Personal Information, Affidavit, and Questionnaire
• Schedule D: Additional Requirements
• Schedule E: Personal Financial Statement
• CAB Consent Form

I am in the process of reviewing the Application documents and will provide more feedback soon.  You can access the information by going to: http://www.occc.state.tx.us/pages/industry/CAB/Forms.html

If you have any questions, as always feel free to reach out to Michael Brown via phone at 214-293-8676, or email at cabconbrokerage@gmail.com.

For the benefit of those who read our posts we are sharing a snapshot on the progress of a five-location retail chain’s Search Engine Marketing Campaign after six months.  This particular business offers cash advances and title loans in the Central Texas area.  What do you think?  Is it doing well with SEO? Room for improvement?  How about your title loan or cash advance business?  Is it doing better or worse?  

The results shared here are what will net a business 148 online applications in one month which was the actual April 2019 total.  It could and probably will be higher in future months because this time of year traditionally is the lowest in demand.  That being said, right now this cash advance and title loan business is achieving some of its best results since starting the SEO campaign in late September 2018. 

The SEO team at Hearst Media Services, 
https://hearstdms.com/localedge/tofsc (contact Ahmed Khalaf and team!) is handling this campaign and provides monthly reports that summarize where the business is at in a number of ways, what changes are made by them for you to improve, etc. 

Statistics that were reported for April:

·         43,000 impressions.

·         588 clicks.

·         148 online applications.

·         Online traffic has increased 20% since starting the SEO campaign in September 2018.

·         Cost broke out to $6.35 per lead generated.

What are the top sources of traffic?

70% Google, 20% is from actual entry of the website address, 2% Yelp, 2% Facebook, the rest was “others.” 

Comment: No surprises there, Google is king, and everyone needs to max out on this search engine every way they can! Yelp is proving to be a good source too, check them out directly.

What pages are visitors entering on?

Home, then contact us, across the board. Big drop off after that. 

Comment: This tells us site visitors check out the business online, get a feel for it, then look for a phone # to call and get a live person.

What cities are generating organic traffic?

Top 10: Austin, Dallas, Abilene, Houston, San Antonio, Waco, Round Rock, Pflugerville, New Braunfels, San Marcos. 

Comment: Strange to see Dallas and Houston pop up in these stats as the business is not located in those cities.

What search terms are leading customers to the website?

Top 10: Title loans, car title loans, Star of Texas, Title loan, Car title loan, Star loans, Auto title loans, Installment loans company, Installment loans Texas, Title loan near me.

Comment: Surprised that cash advances was not at least half of the top six results here. Not understanding why title loans was so popular.  Is the website more optimized to title loans versus cash advances?

For more information on the topic of SEO for your cash advance, payday loan, or title loan business, feel free to reach out to Michael Brown at the contact below, and to get in direct contact with the real experts call Ahmed Khalaf at 716-541-4174, or email him at akhalaf@hearst.com.

This blog post was written by Michael Brown, President of CAB Consulting and the Texas Organization of Financial Service Centers.  He can be reached at 214-293-8676, or Michael@CreditAccessBusiness.com.