Manitoba

Appendix F: Internet Survey of Fringe Financial Service Providers in Rural and Northern Manitoba

The purpose of this piece is to assist in responding to PUB/COALITION ? 51 which asked:

Does CAC and / or its experts have any information or data available regarding provision of payday loans in Southern Canadian rural / Northern Canadian rural areas (including small urban centres) and the characteristics of lends and borrowers in these geographical locations? Please provide available information including information specifically for Manitoba if available.

We investigated the hours of business and the business model in terms of the scope of services offered. This information was compiled through internet searches and phone calls with relevant businesses. In addition to payday and lince of credit lenders, we examined the services provided by Aski Financial and Northern Stores. It was felt that this information would provide additiional insight into the financial services available in remote communities. Given time pressure, the analysis was done by one of our mystery shoppers and by an articling student at law. The work was supervised by Mr. Williams.

The discussion of Aski Financial is particularly interesting as it appears to have a fascinating model.

Money Mart

Money Mart Locations ? Brandon, Manitoba - 750A Victoria Avenue Hours of Operation: Monday to Thursday and Saturday: 9am to 8pm Friday: 9am to 9pm Sunday: Closed Services Offered: Featured products: Payday loans and titanium prepaid debit cards; featured services ? cash 4 gold, cheque cashing, currency exchange, EasyTax, electronic bill payments, and western union

? Selkirk, Manitoba ? 295 Main Street Hours of Operation: Monday to Friday: 9am to 8pm Saturday: 10am to 5pm Sunday: Closed Services Offered: Featured products ? payday loans and titanium prepaid debit cards; featured services ? cash 4 gold, cheque cashing, currency exchange, EasyTax, electronic bill payments, and western union

? Portage, Manitoba ? 10 Saskatchewan Avenue

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 Hours of Operation: Monday to Wednesday and Saturday: 10am to 5pm Thursday and Friday: 9am to 8pm Sunday: Closed

Services Offered: Featured products ? payday loans and titanium prepaid debit cards; featured services ? cash 4 gold, cheque cashing, currency exchange, EasyTax, electronic bill payments, and western union

Summary of Findings After browsing through the Money Mart website, it is quite clear that the payday loans are quite available via internet. Some provinces are more available than others. For instance, if you are an Ontario resident you are able to apply and receive a loan online. However, if you are a Manitoban resident you are only able to apply in advance via the internet. With this method, you still have to go into a Money Mart to receive the loan payment. When looking through the application, I started to fill one out. The first question asks for what province you are in. I inputted Manitoba. After submitting that, another little window opened up to explain and break down the fees that would be charged to a loan. It gave an example of a $300 loan.

For the online application, where you do not have to go to a Money Mart store at all, they had a video to explain how it works and what you need. Through the whole video they primarily explained what information you required to receive a loan and how being approved worked. It was not till the end that they discussed the fees for the loans. It was on the screen for a short period of time and very fine print. Also, there was a lot of information because it had to explain the different regulations for all the provinces able to acquire the online loan. Shortly after, I looked at the FAQ page which clarified and answered most questions. If you are still unclear about the fees and chargers they have a live chat and telephone representatives to answer your questions. I find that the fees are not explained very clearly on their site and it could lead to quite a bit of confusion to customers. I think that on the site there should be a section explaining the fees and how they work, in particular the APR% charge.

Another video I watched on the site was about their cash 4 gold service. It was very short, it explained that you can bring in jewellery and get cash. You have up to a year to repay the amount loaned to get your piece of jewellery back. In the video, the lady states that you get money fast for a low interest rate. Nowhere in the video do they state what the interest rate is.

Fast Cash Co.

Fast Cash Co Locations ? Brandon, Manitoba ? A840 McTavish Avenue Hours of Operation: Monday to Wednesday: 9am to 6pm Thursday and Friday: 9am to 7pm Saturday: 10am to 5pm Sunday: Closed

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 Services Offered: Cheque cashing, payday loans, western union, income tax services and prepaid credit cards.

? Steinbach, Manitoba ? 333 Main Street Hours of Operation: I was unable to find the hours of operation on the website. Services Offered: Cheque cashing, payday loans, western union, income tax services and prepaid credit cards.

? Dauphin, Manitoba ? 19 1st Avenue On the website this was not listed as one of their locations. However, it is on the Manitoban list of payday lenders and it was in the yellow pages.

Summary of Findings As compared to Money Mart, the Fast Cash Co website was simpler and more straight forward. It was clear that you must go into a store to sign up for a loan and to receive all information. It was nice to see that they had the fees laid out for each province quite clearly. It did not explain the fees so much, but when you went to look at the fee section it was evident what you would be charged for a loan. It is interesting because this company has other location with different names for instance;

The City Cash Company

Locations ? Brandon, Manitoba ? B840 McTavish Avenue. Hours of Operation: Monday to Wednesday: 9am to 6pm Thursday and Friday: 9am to 7pm Saturday: 10am to 5pm Sunday: Closed. Services Offered: It offers the same services as the Fast Cash Co stores.

Parkland Title Loans and Payday Loans

Locations ? Dauphin, Manitoba - A102 & B102 1st Avenue NE Hours of Operation: Monday to Thursday and Saturday: 10am to 5pm Friday: 10am to 6pm Sunday: Closed.

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 Services Offered: Cheque cashing, payday loans, pawning, gold purchasing, jewellery sales, furniture sales and appliance sales.

? The Pas Title Loan and Payday Loans - The Pas, Manitoba ? A380 Hazelwood Avenue & B380 Hazelwood Avenue Hours of Operation: Monday to Thursday and Saturday: 10am to 5pm Friday: 10am to 6pm Sunday: Closed. Services Offered: Cheque cashing, payday loans, pawning, gold purchasing, jewellery sales, furniture sales and appliance sales.

Summary of Findings Parkland and The Pas shops were both featured on the same website . This site had a minimal amount of information on their products. Each page explaining their products had relatively little information about their services; it seemed more like a ad you would see on the sides of websites. The page regarding the loans (payday and title) stated only what documents you needed to and had nothing about the fees. However, it did have a clip of information regarding the rights of a payday loan borrower and provided a website where you could check out your rights. There was not very much else on the site.

Swan River Title Loans and Payday Loans

Locations ? Swan River, Manitoba ? A115 & B115 4th Avenue S Hours of Operation: Monday to Saturday: ? 10am to 5pm (spoke to someone over the phone) Services Offered: Could not find a site with services offered

Summary of Findings I did not have any luck finding a site for this shop. While I was searching, there were a lot of payday lenders and pawn shops that came up for Swan River, Minnesota. Also, at one point I found a Swan River information site and this ad was posted in March, 2012;

RESOLVED that Swan River Title Loans be authorized to operate a pawnbrokers business within the Town of Swan River as per the terms and conditions outlined in By-Law 23/95.

At one point, I thought I found a site for them. However, I was redirected to another payday loan site, speedypayday.ca . I looked around at this site, the application form said you could get a loan in Manitoba from this site. This site did not have a lot of

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information about loans itself. You could register and receive a loan online without needing to see anyone. It recommended you understand all the fees for the loan before agreeing to one and taking it out. From my search on the site, I was unable to find any information regarding the fees for a payday loan.

Brandon Pawn & Loan

Locations ? Brandon, Manitoba ? 10-1015 26th Street Hours of Operation: Monday to Saturday: ? 10am-5pm (called the voicemail informed me of this) Services Offered: Payday loans, title loans, cheque cashing, gold purchasing, pawning, jewellery sales, tool sales, game system sales, recreational vehicle sales, electronic sales, and musical instrument sales. (found on yellowpages.ca in an ad that would be printed in a newspaper)

Summary of Findings I could not find a site for this shop. I looked at a number of sites that were search engines to find businesses in your city or near you. I got some of the information because they posted ad that they would print in a newspaper. I do not think you could use this shop via the internet.

A1 Financing & Loans

Locations ? Thompson, Manitoba ? B ? 73 Mystery Lake Road Hours of Operation: Monday to Thursday ? 9am to 5:30, Friday ? 9am to 7pm, Saturday ? 10am to 5pm and Sundays ? closed (spoke to someone on the phone, not stated on site) Services Offered: Payday loans, payroll cards (have not seen this service before, quite interesting. It is a credit card that can be used as a bank account pretty much. This gives some people the opportunity to have a bank account which in turn they could use for other things that require you to have a bank account), tax filing and prepaid MasterCard.

Summary of Findings To qualify for a loan they require documentation that demonstrates you have a permanent address. This was the first time I saw this as a term for eligibility. It is quite accessible via the internet; all that is required is to forward all documents to them. They can send money through an e-mail money transfer or can directly deposit it into your bank account. If you used a pre-authorized form for method of repayment, you will have to wait a bit before being able to take out a new loan. If you can not pay on the due date, it is not a problem you just need to call them and they will make a repayment plan for

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