LoanShack

Experts say that gas prices have more than likely hit the bottom and the price of gas should be more than $3 a gallon this summer.

Even though prices at the pump normally rise this time of year the increase will annoy many motorists. Prices are climbing even after millions of Americans have lost their jobs but kept their vehicle in the driveway.

What’s making the price go upward isn’t American use though. It’s the crude oil that’s used to create gasoline. Crude is a global product that’s becoming more and more costly as demand grows in other parts of the world. As crude oil prices increases, so does the price per gallon of gas.

A gallon of unleaded is still cheaper than it was a 30 days ago. However, it’s 73.1 cents more expensive than the same time in 2009. Retail gas prices rose for the fifth straight day today to a new national average of $2.648 a gallon.

But motorists should not anticipate a revisit of the 2008 gas prices, where gasoline was above $4 a gallon in parts of the country. Americans simply aren’t burning enough fuel to push prices that high.

Is driving in a car or RV part of your summer vacation plans? Don’t let the price of gas be a main concern when setting up your trip. A payday loan from Loan Shack can help you out by giving you up to $500 cash before you embark on your journey.

Less than 1% of Americans will be audited by the Internal Revenue Service in the forthcoming year. While some of these audits are totally accidental, many audits are in fact instigated by the taxpayers themselves.

Below is a list of red flags that can cause your return to be chosen by the IRS for examination. Knowing what some of the flags are can keep you out of danger.

1. Mathematical Errors – Many returns are chosen to be audited simply due to basic math errors. So when filling out your tax return make sure that everything adds up. Even the smallest of errors can raise an eyebrow.

2. Failure to Sign Your Return - A big percentage of individuals simply forget to sign their tax returns. Failure to sign the return will almost assure that it will get further inspection. The IRS may wonder what else you may have forgotten to include.

3. Under Stating Your Income – Make sure you report all of your income. If you fail to report wages, you will be forced to pay back-taxes in addition to penalties and interest.

If you find yourself being audited by the IRS, be straightforward with the examiner and reply to all inquiries as promptly as possible. It’s usually a good idea to have an tax attorney there with you too.

Getting your hands on a loan, or even some quick cash, can be difficult in a down economy. But that’s where a growing South Dakota company says its business plan is hitting right on the money.

"We’re in the business of lending money and money is tight right now. Banks aren’t lending money, credit card companies aren’t lending as much money," Chuck Brennan said.

Brennan, a South Dakota native who now lives in Las Vegas, started the Dollar Loan Center, which is one of the fastest growing companies in the country. And with dozens of stores in South Dakota, Utah and Nevada, his payday loan company will soon go nationwide.

"Our original goal was to expand Dollar Loan Center across the country, but there’s just so many hours in the day and it’s hard opening up a lot of locations and with the online market, it’s instantaneous. We get licensed in a state and automatically we can do the loans in that state immediately," Brennan said.

Ten years after opening the first Dollar Loan Center, Brennan and his team are ready to roll out another company. The Loan Shack is exclusively online and gives them access to every state where payday lending is legal. And they say the demand for quick cash is picking up.

"We are seeing quite a few applicants now, but I think that has a little bit to do with the economy and has a little bit to do with the tightening of credit," Brennan said.

Which is why Brennan plans to offer even more features for the Dollar Loan Center and Loan Shack this spring, including a prepaid debit card.

"People are smart and they are finally figuring out that there’s not this evil payday lender out there. That it’s a good deal," Brennan said.

But some are still skeptical about the quick loans.  Andy Traub is a family financial coach.

"To compare credit cards to Dollar Loan Centers is really to compare one drug with a worse drug. They’re both not good for you. They are both, in the long term, not ways to get wealthy, but they are both options," Traub said.

Traub says while credit card interest rates rise because of tighter regulations, they still don’t compare to the high rates on payday loans.

"There is only one person who wins in a payday loan center situation and it’s the person who owns it, and I don’t think we’re very far away at all from them being the next one’s who are regulated just like the credit card companies being regulated," Traub said.

But Brennan says his companies provide a service for a group of people that credit card companies and banks have a tough time handling.

"That loan is for a couple of weeks, so you know what your fee is going to be. If you are borrowing $500 for a week, it’s going to cost you about $30. If you borrow $500 on a credit card, you might keep paying the interest and paying the interest and all of a sudden, you are a year down the road and you still owe the $500 and you’ve paid a bunch of interest on the account," Brennan said.

But Traub says the same scenario can be applied to payday loans, which is where people get into trouble.

"From what I’ve read and what I know of payday loan centers, people comeback multiple times throughout the year. They don’t pay on time," Traub said.

But with more customers coming through his doors, Brennan will continue to expand his business online and on the ground because he says it’s an option that works.

"If you use the product properly, the Dollar Loan Center or payday transaction isn’t the worst thing to do," Brennan said.

Because in a slow economy, quick cash can be hard to bank on.

The headquarters of Dollar Loan Center and Brennan’s collection agency are both located near downtown Sioux Falls. He also has opened his Loan Shack headquarters in Sioux Falls, which he says will bring dozens of financial services jobs to the area over the next two years.

Ben Dunsmoor
© 2010 KELOLAND TV. All Rights Reserved.

Originally aired on February 3, 2010

If you live in or around the beautiful town of Billings, MT, here is a list of some fun events you may want to take in this coming weekend.

1. International Guitar Night -  Saturday, January 30th. 7:30pm at Alberta Bair Theater, 2801 Third Avenue North, Billings MT 59101.

2. 2nd Annual CHEC Gourmet Banquet and Silent Auction – Friday, January 29th. 6:00pm – 8:00pm at Faith Evangelical Church, 3145 Sweetwater Drive, Billings, MT 59101

3. Jesus Christ Superstar – Friday, January 29th. 8:00pm at Metra Park, 308 Sixth Avenue North, Billings, MT 59103

4. Winter Warm-ups: Sailing the Portage in Red Lodge – Saturday, January 30th at Beartooth Nature Center, 615 East Second Street, Red Lodge, MT 59068

5. Adult Art Workshop: Jim Poulson – Saturday, January 30th. 11:00am at the Yellowstone Art Museum, 401 North 27th Street, Billings, MT 59101

Today the U.S. government officially banned over-the-road truck drivers and bus drivers from text messaging while behind the wheel.

Ray LaHood has made the limiting of driver distractions a main focus of his as U.S. Transportation Secretary. LaHood singled out data by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which shows that drivers who are text messaging while driving take their eyes off the road an average of 4.6 seconds out of every six seconds. He continued to say that at 55mph the driver travels the length of a football field without looking at the road.

The fine for texting while driving for these truckers and bus drivers could be up to $2,750.

Some Americans see this as a decision that could ultimately ban cell phone use by all drivers.

What do you think? Good move or more unjust government involvement?

Even with the down turned economy, it seems that the general public is still looking to get their movie fix in. The weekend of Jan. 8-10 had a combined weekend gross of over $143 million. Below are the top 10 movies and their respective weekend gross.

1. Avatar – $48,500,000
2. Sherlock Holmes – $16,610,000
3. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel – $16,300,000
4. Daybreakers – $15,000,000
5. It’s Complicated – $11,007,000
6. Leap Year – $9,165,000
7. The Blind Side – $7,750,000
8. Up in the Air – $7,100,000
9. Youth in Revolt – $7,000,000
10. The Princess and the Frog – $4,700,000

I took my 8-year old to see Alvin and the Chipmunks this weekend. Cute movie. The coming attractions showed some other good looking kids movies coming out in the coming months. One cartoon movie from Dreamworks called “How To Train Your Dragon” looked especially good. We’ll be going to that one for sure.