A way of monetizing poor people': How private equity firms make money offering loans to cash-strappe
The check arrived out of the blue, issued in his name for $1,200, a mailing from a consumer finance company. Stephen Huggins eyed it carefully.
A loan, it said. Smaller type said the interest rate would be 33 percent.
Way too high, Huggins thought. He put it aside.
A week later, though, his 2005 Chevy pickup was in the shop, and he didnt have enough to pay for the repairs. He needed the truck to get to work, to get the kids to school. So Huggins, a 56-year-old heavy equipment operator in Nashville, fished the check out that day in April 2017 and cashed it.
Within a year, the company, Mariner Finance, sued Huggins for $3,221.27. That included the original $1,200, plus an additional $800 a company representative later persuaded him to take, plus hundreds of dollars in processing fees, insurance and other items, plus interest. It didnt matter that hed made a few payments already.
It would have been cheaper for me to go out and borrow money from the mob, Huggins said before his first court hearing in April.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/a-way-of-monetizing-poor-people-how-private-equity-firms-make-money-offering-loans-to-cash-strapped-americans/2018/07/01/5f7e2670-5dee-11e8-9ee3-49d6d4814c4c_story.html?utm_term=.a35798b2de1a
RestoreAmerica2020
(3,435 posts)Obama created an agency to protect all citizens from predatory lenders...something racist, bigoted guy in WH has since gutted.
Jake Stern
(3,145 posts)You don't know how he voted but you're going to preemptively kick him in the balls, you know, just in case.
I've been in his place and know all too well how sweet those offers sound when one is at the bottom.
MichMan
(11,908 posts)Loans at 5% that would be affordable to people. That would drive these lenders out of business
Not only would this help people with poor credit and no other options than the predatory lenders, they could also partner with unions and others to also register people to vote, and provide info about Democratic candidates and union membership advantages
Seems like a win-win for everyone