Has anyone ever used one of these things? How do they stay in business?

There has to be like half a dozen of the mothers in Rolla alone...

Hundreds of percent interest; that's how they stay in business.

The paycheck advance places give you like 80% of the value of your check.

I'm wondering how they're even allowed to stay in business. I thought that in Missouri it's illegal to charge over 9% interest on anything. These places charge way more than that. Take the 80% example someone mentioned above. If your check was for $100 and they kept $20 of it, that equates to a lot more than 9%

National banks are exempt from the 9% limit (which explains how credit card companies get away with it), but I doubt these places could be considered national banks.

Even at charging a shitton of interest, people still have to USE them. Are there really this many gullible people out there, how don't these people go bankrupt in droves?

There are TONS of people out there who don't have their priorities straight and don't know how to manage money. Where I am going for a job (US Steel) it should almost be required to prove you know how to manage money, they only pay monthly :D That isn't going to be a problem for me. Inconvenient, yes, but not a problem.

You're a met?

"Short Term" loans are exempt from the interest rate cap.

No, I'm a chemical engineer.

One of my managers when I worked at Staples talked about how she had worked at a bank. After some people came in and overdrafted 10 times, she talked to her manager about it. The manager said that those were the bank's favorite kind of people, they would live off of a negative balance, write checks for like a month, and then come in and ask how much they owed and pay it off. Makes the bank tons of money in overdraft fees.

they dont really charge interest. Its pretty much, you give them money and they give you money. You are in a deal where you give them $100 and accept $80 in return. If you are willing to do it, its legal.

The usury laws are only in effect for loans of terms longer than a couple weeks. That's how they get away with it. The actual APR for the loan is usually around 750% or so. They have to post it somewhere. I had to get a money order cashed there (some small town gas station money order, not even my bank would cash it! They charged me 25% to cash it...) one time and I saw the interest rate.

thats just the check cashing..... the actual loans are up to 500 bucks wiht 480% interest max. you get charged the full interest, even if you pay early.