We’ve been using and evaluating payday loan software (LMS) since 1997. A lot of companies have come and gone. Still, there are probably 40 or more still in the “game” today. Prices vary from sub-$1000 to $10K and more for “off-the-shelf” payday loan solutions. You’ll spend much more on proprietary LMS.

I’m asked every day, “Jer, who has the best payday loan software?” I wish I could tell you but then, “You’d have to kill me.”

We have an entire chapter devoted to this subject in our “Payday Loan Bible.” Obviously, we want to sell our “Bible” in order to keep publishing this Payday Loan Industry Blog and to crack open the door for bigger consulting gigs. So, here are just a few things to consider:

• Your first question should be, “Where do I want to take my business during the next 2 – 5 years? How do I want to scale it?
• Do you plan on an Internet payday loan operation, a “brick-n-mortar” or some combo?
• In what country will you begin? This industry is “cranking” in the USA, UK, Canada, AU, SA, Latvia, Mexico, South America…
• Will you focus solely on payday loans or will you offer car title, installment lending, line-of-credit,  cash for gold, bill pay, money transfer…?
• Regarding licensing, will you employ the choice-of-law, the state-by-state, a tribe/sovereign model, CSO/CAB, offshore, province, multiple scenarios?
• You must have a web site today. Will the LMS provider build it? Will it be “phone friendly?” Will you have FTP “rights?”
• Will you build a network of web sites to generate  leads and serve as a funnel for your secured application page?
• Who hosts your payday loan software? You want web based or client server or…
• Support? 24/7? Toll free? Speak English? Email only?
• Does your LMS Interface with lead providers, ACH processors, call centers, sub-prime consumer data reporters and collection agencies?
• Will your payday loan software generate the reports you need for state auditors? (Ever been through a California audit :o)
• Lead filtering and re-marketing?
• You want built in scripts and templates for processing applications, due-diligence, collections…?
• How secure is your data? Who has access to it? There are severe penalties for breaching consumer compliance and privacy matters.
• Does the LMS provider charge transaction fees?
• Does it have a strong marketing engine for measuring advertising effectiveness, maintaining consumer origination data, reference and re-marketing?
• Video/picture capture of each customer?
• Depth of financial reports? Can you create custom reports?
• Data backup?
• And on and on and on…

Check out our “Payday Loan Bible” for more on this subject and all the pieces that will enable you to succeed in the micro-lending space.

Sponsored links: TrandotCom.com and eChecktrack.com

Jer – Trihouse