Many unsavory ventures make their home in the seamy underbelly of the Internet, including some particularly unscrupulous payday lenders that use high fees and shady methods to drain borrowers' offline bank accounts. This month, the state Department of Business Oversight took an important step to protect Californians from such predators by warning banks and credit unions not to process transactions from unlicensed online lenders. It was the latest in a growing number of moves by state and federal regulators to weed out the worst purveyors of a risky form of credit.
