North Carolina had a brief brush with payday lending. But it was banned by the State Attorney General Roy Cooper in 2006. However, banks are not bound by state law, and Regions Bank from Alabama is offering payday loans in North Carolina in a program they call "Ready Advance." Some are worried that Regions Bank will open the door for other banks to do the same. Host Frank Stasio will be joined in the studio by Ellen Harnick, the Senior Policy Counsel for the Center for Responsible Lending.
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
Shawn Wen joined the staff of The State of Things in March 2012 and served as associate producer until February 2014.