Time and Money: One State's Regulation of Check-Based Loans

Abstract

This article, which is part narrative and part essay, describes one professors experience working on “check cashing” (or “check-based loans”) cases at the Appalachian Research and Defense Fund in eastern Kentucky. Parts I and II describe the typical check-based loan transaction and its effects on low-income consumers. Part III recounts how the law of check-based loans has developed in Kentucky, during the professor’s time there and since. Part IV sets forth some observations about language and legal process, suggested by the preceding narrative.

Keywords: check based loans, check cashing, short-term loan, Truth in Lending Act, TILA, Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, RICO