This courtesy of Mother Jones:
Payday lenders are awful, horrible scum who prey on the desperation of the working class. Payday loans are awful, horrible deals wherein a borrower gets a small amount of cash at an exceedingly high interest rate and agrees to pay it back in a short amount of time, typically two weeks. If a borrower can't pay it back then they're hit with an avalanche of fees and end up having to borrow more and then its a vicious cycle all the way down. According to the Center for Responsible Lending, the average borrower ends up paying $1,105 to borrow just $305.
I hate this kind of thing, because it preys on the most vulnerable of us.
I have had to intervene on behalf of a client in the past, and have also reported disreputable lenders to the Better Business Bureau, and in one case to the police.
Once again John Oliver has hit this out of the park.
Title Loans are just as bad, at 300% interestThese two sharks typically set up shop near military bases, and prey on young servicemen and their families. Saw a special on TV about this. Not surprisingly, a member of the government was involved in one firm that dealt this way, and he thought it was just fine. Despicable people.
ReplyDeleteArizona voters outlawed such loans in spite of the industry's attempts to make them think such loans should be approved. One of the few times in recent years I have been proud of my state.
ReplyDeleteJohn Oliver is changing the face of U.S. journalism in the best possibly way. I'd love to see him take on the religious right/dominionism/tea party and the separation of church and state.
ReplyDeleteThese lenders are the lowest of the low. Slightly above them are the rent a centers and then there's SOME reverse mortgage companies. There was a case where a woman was kicked out of her home and stripped of any interest in the property because she was three years younger than her husband, who passed away suddenly. The mortgage company sued his estate for his "delayed maintenance", and won because it was a stipulation of the contract he signed She was given eight hours to collect her clothes and leave, and it was all legal. She's homeless, penniless and living on the kindness of strangers (read "She's a goner").
ReplyDeleteThese predators have no conscience.