Cash-Strapped NFL Players Seeking High-Risk "Lockout Loans" [View All]

[FLPanhandle]

http://www.thepostgame.com/features/201104/tpg-exclusive-cash-strapped-nfl-players-seeking-high-risk-lockout-loans#

As the NFL lockout enters its second month, players from at least 16 teams have already sought out extremely aggressive short-term loans with high interest rates, ThePostGame.com has learned.

According to a financing source, these interest rates range from 18 percent to 24 percent, and upon default, they can rise as high as 36 percent.

All of this comes as the NFL Players Association announced nearly two weeks ago it would begin payouts from its war chest -- a lockout fund designed to help keep players afloat during the work stoppage. But while that lifeline was created in part to keep opportunistic lenders at bay, the finances offered by the NFLPA -- as much as $60,000 for some players -- won’t solve all financial ills. And much to the chagrin of some members of the union, the high-risk loan market has begun to attract players.

"There are a lot of people out there pitching these things," an attorney who has advised players on such loans told ThePostGame.com on the condition of anonymity. "It’s almost predatory lending. It's people going to guys who they know are already in debt, or don’t have the ability to pay their bills during the year and at such obscene terms, that you say, 'Hey, no one would ever sign something like this.' But a lot of players are."

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Legal and financial sources with ties to players say many affiliated with the high-risk loan industry are soliciting individuals close to cash-strapped players. " are your gray-area guys who aren't agents, aren't managers, aren't financial advisors," the financial adviser said of the loan industry middlemen. "And getting fees of $100,000-$150,000 for getting players to sign off on the loans."



Two thoughts:

1) The union should help setup a line of credit for these guys beyond their $60,000 Union lifeline.
2) These guys must be living large with no savings if a $60,000 lifeline (more than the average US worker makes), is not enough.