PLS Check Cashing Not to Pursue More Hours

By Seth Daniel

The PLS Check Cashing business on the busy corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Tremont Street will not pursue a 24-hour, seven day a week, extension of its current hours, an attorney for the company said on Wednesday.

“There is no interest to go 24 hours at that site in the South End,” said Attorney Larry DiCara, who represents PLS. “I can tell you that because I work for the company. I don’t know where this rumor and information came from or whether it was just inaccurate information. The company did pursue a 24 hour permit at 1284 Massachusetts Ave. in Dorchester’s Edward Everett Square. That permit there is in hand. I don’t know where this information came from regarding the South End location…When PLS purchased that (South End) business, it had residential uses above and they don’t want to change that. They have no interest in expanding the hours to 24 hours at the Tremont and Mass Ave site.”

A spokesman for the state Division of Banks (DOB), Chris Goetcheus, said there was no application to the DOB for the Tremont and Massachusetts Avenue.

He also said that to change the hours of a check cashing company would not require a public hearing to be advertised in the DOB’s monthly newsletter. It only requires that the DOB be notified by the company of the change.

DiCara said the change to the Dorchester location followed all the steps, including notifying the DOB, and that they worked with the City and the local civic association on the matter.

In the South End, many resident immediately took to calling and e-mailing city officials as to the status of the Tremont Street location.

There was universal opposition from neighborhood associations all over the South End, including the Claremont Neighborhood Association where the business is based.

Steve Fox of the South End Forum was one very vocal opponent who said on Wednesday that the matter seemed resolved, but that the neighborhood firmly opposes any such changes – quite obviously – and it should serve as a warning to the temperature of the South End towards any such change.

“The rapid response of Southenders and the vigorous and universal opposition to expanded hours was visible to the company and will serve the South End well if this issue is ever raised or considered in any future business or operational plan,” he said in a statement. “Many thanks to those who gave voice to the South End’s view.”

The PLS Check Cashers currently closes at midnight and DiCara reiterated there is no plan to change that.

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