PAYDAY LOANERS SHOULD BE PUT IN PRISON..... USURY

[HowHasItComeToThis]

SEE http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Business/2008/05/11/tripple-digit_interest_trapping_borrowers/5102/

[LiberalFighter]

1. Guillotine

[Chipper Chat]

2. Even my own bank does it (Wells Fargo)

Big bold come-ons on your checking account page enticing you to get a "paycheck advance loan." Read the fine print and it is 25% interest!
Yeah - sooo easy.

[lligrd]

3. 2000% Interest?? The Loans Are Fine It Is The Triple Digit

(and beyond) interest rates that should be illegal!

[Wapsie B]

4. They used to put mafia hoods in jail for loan-sharking.

No worries. Bankers just made those pesky usury laws go away and cashed in on the business themselves. A pox on all their houses.

[lyingliarsandlies]

5. ?

Why? What you fail to understand is that unless the person taking out the loan is mentally retarded, each individual has the objective choice of whether or not to take out such a loan.

Stop trying to regulate how people choose to live their lives.

Seriously...

[alarimer]

6. Oh, nice right-wing talking point there

The old "personal responsibility" canard.

It is obscene that these companies get rich by taking advantage of the desperate and uneducated. It is fucking usury and it used to be a sin and also a crime. They are loan sharks on par with the mafia.

[Downtown Hound]

7. That tyrannical liberal fascism at it again!

The nerve of 'dem libruls trying to dictate how people should live their lives by trying to save them being in debt forever. A little financial slavery is what makes me proud to be an American and know that I am free to work the rest of my life for shit pay to pay off a debt that I needed to take out because I didn't have enough money that week. Gawd bless 'Merika!

[Locrian]

17. aah yess...

Ahh yes. The old "I got mine, everyone else is stupid, so fuck em".


At the very least realize that it winds up affecting your bottom line. Everyone in the US is down 30-40% in world terms due to the dollar falling. It's an example of "not caring" what happens to everyone else and looking out for #1.

[izquierdista]

8. Usury?? What's that?

While you weren't looking, the bankers were going through the law books with a power eraser. The old laws against usury have been diluted, constricted, watered down, and shredded. There really is no law against loan sharking any more; it's all been legalized.

[tucsonlib]

9. While I Don't Disagree...

I think a more interesting question would be: What Does the Proliferation of These Businesses Say About the State of the U.S. Economy?
Now, I'm not necessarily blaming this all on the Bush administration, but back in the 90s I don't recall seeing payday loan storefronts on every street corner. And since they must be profitable or they couldn't stay in business; Doesn't this indicate that there are millions upon millions of American workers who: 1. Have absolutely no savings. 2. Live paycheck to paycheck - one step away from homelessness. And 3. Have no other way to obtain credit.
Tragic and depressing on so many levels.

[MercutioATC]

10. Nope. Usury is legally defined. These business don't violate the law.

There's absolutely no requirement that people use these services. The people who do use them are mostly extremely high credit risks.

As long as these companies adhere to the law (and they do), I have no problem with them. For some people, they make the difference between fixing a furnace or spending a month in the cold...or getting a fuel pump replaced rather than losing a job.

[lligrd]

11. The People Who Do Use Them Are The People Who

need them the most and those least able to afford exorbitant interest rates. It is abuse pure and simple.

[MercutioATC]

12. How is it "abuse" if it's a voluntary service?

If the government reduces the interest they're allowed to charge, they'll just close up shop. How will that make money more available to people who want it?

[lligrd]

13. Would You Consider Handing A Suicidal Person A Rope

to be perfectly legitimate? Same thing!

[MercutioATC]

15. Fine, then there will be absolutely no way for these people to get loans.

Yes, there are people who aren't responsible with payday loans, but there are many more who are. For them, the service often represents the difference between making an unexpected repair on their car and losing a job.

[salin]

14. according to the article - some are offshore and do NOT follow the law

and if 2000% is legal, it is a sign of far too much influence of the greedy upon Congress. That rate is far beyond
what is legitimate to cover the risk factor of making the loan.

[MercutioATC]

16. The anti-payday-loan people manipulate the numbers...

There is a legal definition for usury, and it uses a specific method in the way interest is calculated.

The effective interest rate of some of these payday loans may be 300% or higher, but that represents all of the fees and interest charged when people break the terms of the loan.

A payday loan is a short-term loan (usually a week or two). The interest charged on that loan is within legal limits. If somebody breaks the terms of that loan by not paying it back, they are charged a penalty and have the option of refinancing the amount for another term. Yes, interest and penalties do add up, but only for those who don't abide by the agreement.

If you choose to get a mortgage and subsequently stop making payments, what does the mortgage company do? It charges late fees and interest and you occasionally have the option of extending the loan to make up for missed payments. How is that criminal, as the OP suggests?

It's also important to remember that the customers of payday loan businesses are, for the most part, unable to get a loan anyplace else. They're extremely high-risk borrowers. If their car's fuel pump dies on Monday and they don't get paid until Friday, how do you expect them to get to work? If you eliminate payday loans, where are these people going to get loans?