Pay-Day Lenders Hit Rough Patch On Wall Street

Some of the few publicly traded companies that participate in the $89 billion, so-called pay-day loans industry hit a rough patch lately, because of a recent spate of bad press. Among the largest of such companies, EZCorp. Inc., EZPW fell 4.26 percent Tuesday to $11.90. The shares are off as much as 10 percent from a week ago. QCHoldings Inc. QCCO was off nearly 2 percent Tuesday at $2.62. Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown sent a letter Monday to the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau urging greater vigilance and enforcement actions against the ultra-high interest loans. Brown took his stance after the Ohio Supreme Court struck down a 2008 law that severely restricted the process. But the industry is fighting. A consortium of the lenders filed suit June 6 against a raft of federal agencies, charging the agencies' so-called “operation choke point” initiatives are trying to drive them out of an honest business. The initiatives date from 2013, and last month the Justice Department said it's engaged in 15 investigations concerning banks and processors who may have abetted illegal lending.