Nebraska Payday Loans, Law, Stats and History
Payday Lending is Legal in Nebraska.
Nebraska has a $500 limit on payday loans offered in the state. The maximum loan term is 34 days. The finance charges should
The payday lending story in Nebraska dates back to 1994. However, the Delayed Deposit Services Licensing Act that was passed at that time didn’t stay the same. It had lived through several changes, with the most recent amendment being LB 194 (2018) and the new change (Initiative Measure 428) was in November 2020 (ARP and fees were limited to 36%).
Nebraska Payday Lending Statutes
All the laws concerning payday lending are contained in the Nebraska Stat. Ann. § 45-901, or the Delayed Deposit Services Licensing Act. Payday loans are officially called “delayed deposit services”.
It is required that payday loan lenders (delayed deposit services) wishing to operate in the state must be physically located there. All the lenders operating online are considered illegal.
It is also required by the Nebraska law that lenders should have a license in order to provide their services. Moreover, to start a lending business, a $50,000 bond is needed and $25,000 more for each location that a lender is supposed to open. Nebraska license for payday lenders costs $500 and every additional branch – $125. All the lenders must renew their licenses every year.
A written agreement is required for every single payday lending transaction with all the information about the terms and fees. In Nebraska, however, lenders are not obliged to provide a Truth in Lending Act disclosure.
Loan Amount in Nebraska
- The maximum amount of a payday loan is Nebraska is $500 from one lender.
Rates, Fees and Other Charges in Nebraska
No licensed lender may enforce an APR greater than thirty-six percent as it relates to a delayed payday loan. (45-918)
The Maximum Term for a Payday Loan in Nebraska
- According to the Nebraska legislation, payday loans in the state are allowed for a period of no more than 30 days.
- Loans cannot be renewed or somehow refinanced or consolidated. When the time is due, a loan should be repaid in full.
- Any borrower is permitted to cancel a payday loan transaction, so long as the cancellation is enacted before 5 p.m. of the business day that follows the payday loans inception. (45-918.03)
Consumer Information
Attention
From July 2020, lenders are not required to check a borrower’s ability to repay a loan.
Be careful, evaluate your financial situation, don’t get into a debt trap.
- Any criminal actions against default payments are prohibited.
More information about payday loans in Nebraska can be found on the official website of the Nebraska Department of Banking & Finance.
Regulator: Complaints & Information
Nebraska Department of Banking & Finance
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 95006, Lincoln, NE 68508
Address: 1526 K St #300, Lincoln, NE 68508
Phone: 402-471-2171
Url: https://ndbf.nebraska.gov/
File a Complaint: https://ndbf.nebraska.gov/consumers/complaints
Number of Nebraska Consumers Complaints by Topics
According to CFPB Consumer Complaint Database
- Charges from account ( 23 )
- Fraud and threat ( 21 )
- Not exiting debt ( 11 )
- Loan to return ( 10 )
- Credit rating ( 4 )
- Lender is not available ( 4 )
- Not requested loan ( 2 )
- Loan not received ( 1 )
Statistics
| Year | No. of Lenders | Total Income | Total Expenses | Net Income | No. of Employees |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 103 | – | – | – | – |
| 2005 | 106 | – | – | – | – |
| 2006 | 129 | – | – | – | – |
| 2007 | 136 | – | – | – | – |
| 2008 | 139 | $37,536,554 | $33,435,990 | $4,109,833 | 427 |
| 2009 | 127 | $35,928,682 | $30,287,132 | $5,641,549 | 513 |
| 2010 | 116 | $35,344,926 | $27,770,716 | $7,574,210 | 438 |
| 2011 | 117 | $35,780,641 | $27,129,318 | $8,651,323 | 397 |
| 2012 | 110 | $34,398,520 | $26,403,614 | $7,994,906 | 271 |
| 2013 | 104 | $32,678,627 | $26,007,531 | $6,671,096 | 333 |
| 2014 | 100 | $41,124,405 | $34,220,506 | $6,903,899 | 365 |
| 2015 | 99 | $35,932,157 | $28,310,658 | $7,621,499 | 307 |
| 2016 | 87 | $35,246,919 | $25,704,311 | $9,542,007 | 306 |
| 2017 | 80 | $32,963,735 | $25,250,362 | $7,713,373 | 225 |
| 2018 | 75 | $30,541,575 | $24,445,191 | $6,096,324 | 94 |
For the 2019 year (the last full year before the APR limit was changed), payday lenders in Nebraska:
- made 507,040 payday loans (transactions);
- the total number of clients who borrowed money – 49,016,
- the average size of the loan was $362,
- the average APR was 405%.
The History of Payday Loans in Nebraska
- 1994 – First time when payday loans were introduced in the state.
- 2000 – LB 932 allowed lenders to hold checks longer than 31 days in case they were “not negotiable” (couldn’t be cashed).
- 2006 – LB 876 was passed. It extended the loan terms to 34 days. It also prohibited roll-overs.
- 2006 – The Military Lending Act effectively capped payday loans offered to the military at 36% APR. This federal law has no exceptions, thus, no lender in Nebraska is now allowed to offer loans to the military in excess of 36% APR.
- June 2, 2016 – The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) proposed a Payday Loan Rule that hasn’t come into effect.
- 2016 – There was an attempt (LB 1036) to set a limit to the payday loan APR to 36%; however, this effort came to nothing.
- April 19, 2018 – LB 194 passed unanimously by the state Legislature and was approved by the Governor. It didn’t restrict either the loan amount or rates, however, it closed a loophole that payday lenders used to get around regulatory limits, imposed reporting requirements on payday lenders, and also imposed a requirement to provide a short payment plan for borrowers.
- Taking into account that the Nebraska Department of Banking and Commerce had to deal with more than 300 enforcement actions against payday lenders for various violations since 2006, it is likely that LB 194 will be followed by other restrictive laws in the nearest future.
- November 3, 2020 – (Initiative 428); Annual interest rate was limited to 36%, loan amount – to $500, loan term to 34 days.
Before the new law ARP was %404, fee was $15 for the every $100 loan.
[Updated As of November 2020]