Arizona Governor Jan Brewer continued to show signs that she may be supportive of allowing payday lenders to continue doing business within the state, saying on Monday that she would consider a law to extend payday loans in the state.

“Well, the legislature, of course, is a deliberatory (sic) body,” Brewer said, according to the Verde Independent. “And if they want to go in there and discuss payday loans I think that’’s what they were elected to do.”

Brewer also denied that she was ignoring public sentiment on the matter by continuing to give payday loans another chance in the state.

In 2008 the Payday Loan Reform Act – which proposed an extension of a special law enacted in 2000 with a “sunset clause” in 2010 that allows payday lenders to charge more fees than the state normally allowed – was denied at the ballots with nearly 60 percent of votes going against it, according to Ballotpedia.

“Actually, it’s my understanding from what I read in the newspaper and from the little bit of briefing from my staff that the payday lenders… are going to go in and they’re going to make some modifications,” the governor said, according to the Independent.

Earlier on Monday Brewer said she had no problems with the fact that some of her political associates had been recruited by the payday loan industry to lobby on their behalf.

Former Arizona state attorney general Grant Woods is one of the more prominent state officials to come out in support of payday loans, recently telling Capitol Media Services that he felt the short-term lenders filled an important role, the Yuma Sun recently reported.

With all of the controversy surrounding the concept of short-term loans, Woods told the Sun that payday loan officials had worked appropriately with lawmakers to make a resolution that would satisfy them while helping consumers as well.

“These are two-week loans, not annual loans,”” said Woods. “With about 94 percent of borrowers paying off within that time frame.”

He added that he would be presenting a plan to state lawmakers proposing that borrowers who are unable to pay back their loans within two weeks would receive an extra 60 days to pay it back without incurring any extra fees or interest rates.

“I don’t know any industry, any business, any bank, anybody who will give you 60 days, no fee, no interest,” he added.

Despite Woods’ stumping in their favor, the state remains divided on payday loans. Last year voters rejected a motion created by payday lenders to repeal a law enacted in 2000 that would force them to close on June 30, 2010.

A leader of the Community Financial Services Association of America has come out in objection to recent comments categorizing payday loan customers as ignorant to the agreements they were making with lenders.

The response by Tommy Moore, the CFSA’s executive vice president, was published in the Southeast Missourian four days after a November 15 article in the publication on a local foreclosure seminar featured comments by Mary Gosche – a human development specialist for the online marketplace Missouri Exchange – in which she said short-term loan borrowers didn’t understand the details of the agreement they were making with the lender.

“Payday advances play a necessary role, providing hard-working people with a reasonable, well-regulated option for meeting unexpected or unbudgeted expenses and other short-term financial needs,” Moore wrote.

He added that analysts estimated that 19 million households utilized payday loans in 2008 and that borrowers who took out payday loans were “educated, hard-working, middle-class Americans who face unbudgeted or unexpected expenses between paychecks and want and need access to short-term credit.”

Responding to a second comment in the article by Denise Wimp, the director of telephone helpline First Call for Help, in which she said that borrowers depended on short term loans to make their rent payments and held them back financially, Moore added that the average payday loan taken out by borrowers was $300 and carried fees of approximately $50.

Weeks after imposing a moratorium on any new payday loan businesses, city officials from Columbia, South Carolina are hesitating to move forward on a vote that could ban the businesses from opening near each other.

According to local newspaper The State, City Councilman E.W. Cromartie said he didn’t know yet of what effects proposed legislations limiting payday loan businesses in the city would have.

“I need to get that information before I make a decision,” he added.

The legislation, which had been initially proposed one year earlier, would impose limitations on payday loan businesses that would not let them be in business within a half-mile of each other. Supporters of the proposal say it would prevent businesses from crowding into economically challenged areas.

However, according to Jamie Fulmer, a spokesperson for payday lender Advance America, the only thing the laws would accomplish is forcing workers out of their jobs, creating more of a financial burden on the city.

“We’ve seen similar legislation passed in other states where a great number of providers of payday advance products closed their doors,” Fulmer said, according to The State.

In order to further research the legislation before making a decision on the matter, City Council voted to impose a moratorium on licensing any new payday lending businesses for the time being.

Funerals are one of the pricier, emotionally draining, and sometimes sudden events that one will ever find they need to plan, regardless of their current financial status.

However, for those facing economic hardships that still must find a way to fund an entire funeral service for a loved one, a payday loan may be a way to quickly get the cash without damaging one’s credit.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, funeral arrangements can be "among the most expensive purchases consumers will make," with the cost of arrangements and casket potentially topping $6,000.

The report added that even those who seek to cut costs for services or supplies still end up overspending because of discomfort and worry that being too thrifty could be seen as a reflection of their feelings for the deceased.

In an effort to bring down the expense of funerals, some major retailers such as Costco and Walmart have begun selling caskets for as low as $900 while other models can run costs into the thousands of dollars.

Unfortunately, the alternative for those who are unable to afford the cost of a funeral may be what was recently uncovered in an article from the Chicago Tribune that chronicled the increased amount of indignant burials taking place in the city because of bodies that go unclaimed at the morgue.

With the economic crisis still very much a reality to many families who are struggling with their finances as they deal with limited funding, payday loans are more than a possible solution to some of their problems, they”re a necessity.

Cheryl, a 52-year-old woman who has dealt with a reduced paycheck for more than a year after sustaining an injury, recently told the Columbus Dispatch that short term loans had been "a lifesaver at times" in letting her continue to provide for her family.

"I don”t have a choice but to come here. I have a child to take care of and bills to pay," she said. "I get very good service here."

Representative Joseph F. Koziura, a Democrat from Lorain and the chairman of the House Financial Institutions Committee, said payday loan businesses had likely benefitted from banks that charge overdraft fees and try to get customers looking for a loan to pay high interest rates.

"The system is built on making money on fees now instead of the old-fashioned loaning money and putting money in the system. That’’s 90 percent of the reason we”re screwed up," he said, according to the Dispatch.

According to Moebs Services, banks withdrew $36.7 billion in overdraft fees from consumers” accounts in 2008. That number could rise to as high as $38.5 billion in 2009, Bloomberg reported recently.

A payday loans expert has written an editorial response arguing that short term lenders serve a vital purpose to their users and don’t swindle their customers.

The editorial was written by Advance America director of public affairs Jamie Fulmer, and was published on Thursday in the Alabama-based Montgomery Advertiser. It was released in response to an article published last month in the paper that highlighted bad experiences with payday loans and called the industry a “broken product.”

In the response, Fulmer argues that payday cash advances could be an “effective credit option for many people” for those facing with short-term monetary problems.

Fulmer also wrote that contrary to the primary article’’s assertion that short term loan borrowers were families who did not have the resources to pay back the loan fees on time, the advances from the company are paid off by customers within two weeks 95 percent of the time.

In response to the two overwhelmingly negative experiences with payday loans in the first article, Fulmer said that 90 percent of customers had been satisfied with their performance, much higher than approval ratings for bank loans.

A top ranking Republican on the U.S. Senate Banking Committee is speaking out against the formation of a new consumer protection agency that has the potential to the payday loan industry with its new regulations.

Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama recently voiced his displeasure regarding the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency last month, arguing that it could make the nation’’s credit systems unstable by stripping the Federal Reserve of its consumer protection duties, Reuters reported.

The CFPA, as currently drafted, will centralize the consumer protection responsibilities overall consumer credit agencies – including those who offer short term loans such as payday lenders – and govern them with newly implemented laws.

The formation of the CFPA has been a big sticking point between Shelby and Democratic Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, who agree on many other financial issues. Dodd feels that the formation of the agency would help to “make the financial system work,” according to Politico.

While spokesman Jonathan Graffeo said that Shelby did support some type of consumer protections “where appropriate,” he added that Shelby believed that the creation of the CFPA was “neither necessary nor wise” and would only “make the system less safe.”

The formation of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency is an “absurd” notion that does nothing more than add a “new bureaucracy” that will limit consumer credit agencies” innovation, according to a recent editorial in a Utah newspaper.

The editorial published in the Deseret News on Monday argued that the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, which was passed last month by the House Financial Services Committee and will have the power to regulate all consumer credit agencies such as payday lenders, would harm the industry by removing risks that stifle new ideas.

While it argued that the CFPA would not harm some aspects of the industry that are firmly rooted in the economy, it would make it harder for companies to introduce new ideas.

“If a bank were to offer something new that no one had thought of previously, what then? The new agency would have the power to set rules, ban products and hand out penalties,” the paper argues. “As its charge would be to minimize risks, the natural inclination would be to curb innovative thinking.”

The formation of the CFPA has also come under fire from those who issue payday loans because of the potential implementation of rate caps on short term lenders that would limit their profitability and send them out of business, hurting the consumers who are depending on the loans.

The Mortgage Bankers Association has come out in opposition of the House Financial Services Committee’s decision to create a new oversight committee to regulate the credit industry, which includes the payday loan industry.

In a statement released following the passage of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency by the subcommittee last month, MBA Chairman, Robert E. Story, Jr. released a statement expressing “regret” that the agency had been approved.

Story said the MBA supported a uniform reform of lending standards across the country, and had even developed its own proposal that would minimize regulatory gaps by creating a federal regulator for independent mortgage banks.

“Instead, the bill, as approved by the committee, would continue today’s patchwork of state and local laws that present implementation challenges for lenders who operate in multiple states and lead to increased costs for consumers,” he added.

He concluded that the creation of a national regulator for mortgage banks would not only provide better protection for consumers, but would empower existing regulators to continue overseeing financial institutions.