MARK WAITE / PVT Two other companies specializing in loans, Speedee Cash, at far left, and Sun Loan Co. are located just down the street from the proposed Dollar Loan Center. Advertisement

Pahrump Regional Planning commissioners last Wednesday night weren't enthusiastic about approving a zone change for the Dollar Loan Center at 321 Frontage Road, but conceded they were bound to consider only zoning issues.

The applicants, David Galyeen and Kjelden Cundiff, were also given a waiver requiring a distance of at least 1,500 feet from similar businesses.

Two other companies down the street offer loan services. Speedee Cash offers instant cash for car titles and holds personal checks until pay day, while Sun Loan Co. doesn't accept collateral but offers signature loans of from $150 to $1,000.

Dollar Loan Center will refurbish the building that formerly housed Frantec Motor Sports and Audio, an auto-customizing service, into a 1,545 square-foot office building, while the garage will become a drive-through exiting into the back alley. The company will offer unsecured signature loans.

SV Holdings LLC purchased the building and will engage in extensive improvements to the property, increasing surrounding property values and establishing an attractive and professional standard for other businesses along Frontage Road, the application letter states.

Planner Beth Lee said the conditional use permit is allowed within the general commercial zone. Nye County doesn't have a listing for finance companies in the zoning code.

"We didn't want to be categorized as a payday lender because we're not," Dollar Loan Company representative Bruce Cooey told the RPC.

But he still faced questions about the nature of his business.

"For someone who doesn't have perfect credit, for someone who has impaired credit, they don't have the option of going to Wells Fargo or Bank of America. Our rates are typically half the payday loans'," he said.

Under questioning, Cooey said Dollar Loan Center's interest rates average just under 200 percent. Using his calculator, Cooey estimated that by comparison, Advance America, the largest payday loan company in America, charges $85 up front to borrow $500 for 14 days, which would amount to an annual interest rate of 443 percent.

But unlike payday companies, the representatives said the borrower won't have to pay the fee up front, doesn't have to present collateral, isn't required to have a personal checking account, and loans are payable up to one year with only a signature required. The maximum loans will be for $2,000.

Dollar Loan Center representatives said there were substantial differences between their operation and check-cashing or payday loan businesses based on the licensing requirements of state law.

"With no disrespect to you, I view your industry as predatory in that the industry tends to, in my estimation, prey upon people who have a demonstrably poor financial responsibility," RPC member Nevada Tolladay told the three representatives from the loan company.

But Cooey retorted, "I challenge anybody to walk into a bank and say they need a $1,000 loan with no collateral." He said the company can help someone get their car repaired to have transportation to get to work, for example.

"In spite of my reluctance toward the industry that you are part of, I'm obligated to make a decision here based on the findings before me, and with extreme reluctance I will support this," Tolladay said.

Nye County Planning Director Jack Lohman said the commission is limited in what it can do.

"We looked at this thing purely from a zoning perspective," Lohman said. "We felt it was appropriate in that area for a number of reasons. It's a legally licensed business that's allowed to go into this zone."

Besides the master plan amendment, zone change and waiver, there's a conditional use permit required. The required considerations for approval of a conditional use permit include a finding that the proposed development would be an improvement to the community.

RPC Chairman Mark Kimball said commissioners could have imposed conditions on the conditional use permit but did not do so.

The motion to recommend approval passed 5-1, only Jacob Skinner was opposed.

"I don't know if it would be doing Pahrump any good," Skinner said of his dissenting vote.

Dollar Loan Center has been operating in Nevada for nine years and now has 13 locations in the state.