My Citi Finance experience today- A den of snakes! long rant!

[Wcross]

Ok, my computer is outdated and is experiencing severe video display problems. I decided a new one is in order but cash is tight right now. I keep getting these "pre-approved" personal loan offers from Citi finance. I called them up and asked what the rate would be for a personal loan and was told 15-29 percent. I will be getting a bonus from work early next year so I decided I could live with a 15 percent loan for six months then pay it off. I went down there and applied for the loan (2500). The guy gets me in the "closing room" and proceeds to tell me the APR will be 29.94% with a 169 dollar "origination fee" and a 90 dollar "servicing fee".
I asked the guy how they determined the rate and he said the "computer" determines the rate. I then asked about the offer in the mail saying that I had 14 days to change my mind and would I be liable for the origination fee- he said yes. I let him go through the whole process and he brought the check in. You should have seen the look on his face when I told him I wasn't going to go through with it. I then asked him how he sleeps at night screwing people over for a living.

The thing is, I didn't think my credit was all that bad. I own my own home free and clear, I have one car note for 280 bucks a month and one credit card which is close to its max of 1000 dollars and a line of credit for 1000 that is at 500 bucks. I have never been late on a payment nor over the limits. My annual gross is 50k and I have been on my job for over 13 years. I checked my credit report on line and it looks good- nothing out of line. I wonder what they charge people with "damaged" credit!

[Carni]

1. Citi finance as in Citigroup? Thank bush and our saudi friends

Remember that Saudi Arabian shiek that offered the 10 million dollar check to New York after 911 and then gave a long winded spiel about Bin Laden? (Rudy G. refused it/he must have missed the Roves memo about bush's friends in Saudi)

That same guy is the major stockholder in Citigroup.

I believe he owns 10% of the company--

Seems these Sharia law guys in Saudi don't have an aversion to charging interest just paying it.

http://216.239.41.104/search?q=cache:x5bwbz9z7bkJ:islamic-finance.net/islamic-ethics/article-12.html+tawheed+monetary+interest&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

Islamic banking, based on the Islamic law of contracts, derives from the Law of Tawheed, i.e., "belief in the oneness of Allah, (and the teaching) that no one should claim for himself what is basically the creation of Allah or the product of another man's efforts and skills." Therefore, Islamic banking is based on- avoidance of fixed-rate interest, and on acceptance of deposits and investment funds on PLS (profit and loss sharing).

Islam condemns riba (fixed interest), which "reinforces the tendency for wealth to accumulate in the hands of a few, and thereby diminishes man's concern for his fellow men," guarantees gain without the risk of loss, and hampers investment and employment ("Islam and Financial Intermediation," pp. 110- 11). In even more explicit terms, riba is said "to impede the productive circulation of wealth, concentrate wealth in a class of economic drones, create an imbalance between production and consumption, increase the cost of production at the expense of consumers, impose rigidity in costs and a bias toward short run planning in investment, encourage unproductive speculation, and trigger credit imbalances and inflation" (Crane, p. 19).