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Dana Kirkland
Financial Writer, Tampa, FL

Dana Kirkland — Financial Writer

Dana Kirkland is a financial writer based in Tampa, Florida. She covers the products Floridians actually use when a paycheck falls short: capped payday advances under Chapter 560, tribal installment loans, and payroll allotment loans for federal and military employees.

Her approach is simple: translate the statute, show the real math, and say plainly when a product is expensive. Every dollar figure and deadline in her guides is traced to Florida law, a regulator's page, or a lender's own disclosure — never to marketing copy.

Dana is not a lender and does not issue loans. Her guides are educational: they explain how products work and what they cost so you can compare offers before you commit to one.

Her reviews follow the money: every offer is judged by its total repayment figure rather than its monthly payment, and every rule is quoted from the statute it comes from. When a product is expensive — and in this market several are — the guide says so in the first paragraphs, not the footnotes. Dana also maintains this site's fee tables and cost examples, re-checking them against Chapter 560 and lender disclosures with every update, so the numbers you read are the numbers a lender will quote you. Outside of writing, she volunteers with Tampa-area financial-literacy programs, teaching budgeting workshops in the same plain language that runs through these guides. She holds no lending license and accepts no compensation from individual lenders for coverage decisions.

Areas of expertise

  • Florida Deferred Presentment Act (Fla. Stat. ch. 560) — caps, fees, the 60-day plan
  • Tribal lending: sovereignty, installment structures, total-cost comparison
  • Federal payroll allotments for civilian, postal, and military employees
  • Short-term loan math: fee-to-APR conversion and honest cost examples

Guides by Dana

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