http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4715201Hmmm.
The primitive who's a floor supervisor at a Target (or something) discount store:
TwixVoy (513 posts) Thu Dec-25-08 02:41 AM
Original message
What is going on with these cash advance/pay day loan places?
Maybe it's just my city, but these pay day loan/cash advance places are starting to operate like gas stations. One on every corner.
I am guessing they are banking on peoples desperation in a huge way. A scene I find most interesting.... there is a small strip center near my home. Every business there has now gone out of business and the spaces are empty - with the exception of the one last standing business, the cash advance place.
The 510-pound giant primitive, who had all those health problems:
Gentle Giant (1000+ posts) Thu Dec-25-08 03:00 AM
Response to Original message
1. They are a bunch of ****ing sharks and the absolute scum of the Earth.
My wife and I both know this from personal experience. The only way to handle them is to stay the **** away no matter how desperate you think you are or how able you think you'll be to pay them back.
Citizen Number 9 (528 posts) Thu Dec-25-08 03:56 AM
Response to Reply #1
2. They supply a vital service at a time when the customer needs it the most.
Often, having a few hundred dollars available can mean the difference between sliding into disaster and having everything be okay.
Most of them only loan until next payday and they try to make sure you are making enough to pay back.
The giant primitive, again:
Gentle Giant (1000+ posts) Thu Dec-25-08 05:03 AM
Response to Reply #2
6. Um... er... I think I kinda know exactly what "vital service" they provide.
That was, sorta kinda, my point.
And then when payback time comes and you discover you don't have enough to pay them back, and can only pay the interest, or maybe the interest and part of the principal, they soak you again next pay cycle.
Or - and this is the good part - if you find yourself too broke to pay anything, they'll just spam the living shit out of your bank account trying to electronically debit the money out of it, causing you an NSF fee every single day until you either beg a "payment arrangement" out of their legal department or you close your bank account and open another one with another bank. Then the real nightmares start.
You think any other financial institution has nasty collection departments, just ****ing try and deal with these people (especially Dollar Financial Group. I listened in on our extension unit while my wife was on the phone being reduced to tears by some overtly adversarial ****ing nutbag who sat there in his little cubicle belittling her and describing how inadequate she was as a human being because she couldn't pay them in a timely manner.
I have an idea for you: Why don't you go have yourself put in a desperate financial situation out of the blue with nowhere to turn. Then go take yourself out at least two of these "vital service" loans, and try to juggle the payments as you sink deeper and deeper in with no way to take control of your life back. Get back with me and tell me how much fun you had.
OnceUponTimeOnTheNet (1000+ posts) Thu Dec-25-08 05:05 AM
Response to Reply #2
7. on second thought, nevermind.
Selatius (1000+ posts) Thu Dec-25-08 05:08 AM
Response to Reply #2
8. The APR that they afford their customers is absolutely appalling, often times in excess of 200%.
Yes, they may offer "bridge loans" to make it to the next billing cycle, but it does not come without a hefty price.
depakid (1000+ posts) Thu Dec-25-08 03:56 AM
Response to Original message
3. Responsible state governments send 'em packing-
Unfortunately- as with most criminals, they're not so easily deterred- and require diligence to keep in line.
Oregon's payday lenders are reaching even lower depths of roguery in their attempts to evade regulations approved last month by the Legislature.
Cory Streisinger, director of the state Department of Consumer and Business Services, says payday lenders are "redefining" their services to escape the interest-rate cap and fair lending practices imposed by the new payday-loan reforms.
Streisinger last week told the Senate Interim Committee on Consumer Protection that a number of payday lenders are interested in switching their lending licenses.
Here's how that would allow them to dodge the reforms taking effect in July 2007.
Oregon law allows two categories of lending licenses. Payday loans require a short-term lending license, which will have a 36 percent annual interest-rate cap—instead of no cap—under the just-passed reforms. A regular consumer-financing license has no interest-rate max.
Unlike short-term payday loans, consumer-finance loans are required to have a term of at least 61 days. Traditionally, borrowers repay part of the principal each month along with interest payments that tend to be below the 17-percent annual cap for federally licensed lenders. But payday lenders are charging up to 372 percent interest for the longer-term loans.
More: http://wweek.com/editorial/3228/7557
Interestingly enough, these sort of predators like to prey on so called Christians:
https://www.christianfaithfinancial.com/leads/leadform.... ;jsessionid=930BFE63F102C9643838B2C5453F956A.w3
and in fact, the more so called Christian the state is- the more predatory lenders:
Study Says Payday Lenders More Prevalent In Areas Of High Christian Conservative Power
A law professor and associate professor of geography set out to create the most comprehensive map of U.S. payday lenders to date. What they found, to their surprise, was "a surprising relationship between populations of Christian conservatives and the proliferation of payday lenders."
And it's not a side effect of a poor population that happens to be Christian, according to the authors: "Our research showed that the correlation between payday lenders and the political power of conservative Christians was stronger than the correlation between payday lenders and the proportion of a population living below the poverty line."
http://consumerist.com/357220/study-says-payday-lenders...
Not much of asurprise, really.
I dunno.
Here in Nebraska, there's more strigent restrictions on such places than in Christian conservative states such as Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, California, &c., &c., &c.
You know, those Christian conservative states.
lapfog_1 (1000+ posts) Thu Dec-25-08 03:57 AM
Response to Original message
4. Have you ever read the fine print and see the actual APR the charge.
I go to them to reload my internet debit card (a "credit" card I only use for internet shopping). and I wait in line behind the payday loan customers... they almost ALL roll them over (pay off the interest but not a dime of the principal). And they have to do it every two weeks (or maybe every week). It's sick.
But those companies make huge profits on the ones who pay. huge. At a time when T-Bills are paying ZERO percent interest. If you are an investor, where would you put your money... into a fund for payday advance loans that collect over 200% APR or T-bills or Mortgage backed securities. Sure, some of the payday borrowers are dead beats that won't ever pay (and usually are charged with check fraud since they have to write a post dated check for the full amount when they get the loan), but the majority pay the interest.
It's sad.
Reminds me (this Christmas day) of "Potterville" from It's a Wonderful Life.
zeemike (1000+ posts) Thu Dec-25-08 03:59 AM
Response to Original message
5. They used to be called loan sharks and were illegal
Un till the free market took over.
Now they are just another business sucking the life out of poor people.
Hekate (1000+ posts) Thu Dec-25-08 05:19 AM
Response to Original message
9. Legalized loan sharks & a sign of desperate times. All they need is Vinnie to come break your legs ... for not paying the vigorish and they'd be more true to their roots.
In a sane society they would be illegal as hell.
What we really need are microloan banks for the US, such as the Grameen Banks founded by Professor Muhammed Yunus in Bangladesh.
You know, I'm not in favor of these businesses, as they're an abomination, but it scarcely troubles my soul when I notice the primitives using them.
