I found something disgusting in a co-workers desk today

[TwixVoy]

I was cleaning out the desk of one of my assistant department managers desks today. (she recently left the company, and left some things behind)

She is a single mom and has two kids she was trying to support. I knew she was having a rough time financially, and she was taking loans to as needed to pay her monthly bills.

Anyway I found in her desk a loan agreement from a pay day lending place in which the stated APR on the paper was over FIVE HUNDRED percent. All I could think is "how the fu** is this legal?".

How could anyone get out of this trap? How can a 500% APR be legal? She was always incredibly stressed about things. I am sure worrying about a 500% APR didn't help.

After we win in November this loan sharking needs to be one of the first things made illegal.

[Phredicles]

1. Sounds like that short-term loan outfit Cary Coleman advertises for;

not by choice, mind you. He got a loan from them, couldn't pay it back (who saw that coming?), and so they agreed to let him work it off in commercials.

Moral: Anyone who advertises that they'll lend you money "just based on trusting you" has something up their sleeve.


ON EDIT: I want to emphasize, however, that Gary Coleman would still have made a better governor of CA than the steroid-swilling lummox we're stuck with.

[madaboutharry]

2. I don't know how that could be legal.

O.K. I am pretty bad in math but wouldn't that mean for a $100 loan she could end up owing $50,000? I am finding this hard to believe.

100 x 500 = 50,000.

[BlooInBloo]

4. Wow. That is pretty bad at math. lol! 500% of P = 5 x P

[sam sarrha]

6. got off easy.. 1000% isnt uncommon.. they are everyehere around military bases

[whistle]

11. How is that legal to allow such blood-suckers to prey on military people

[sam sarrha]

21. nothing is immoral to a ReThuglican except gayness, womens private medical issues and what liberals

do in the privacy of their own bed rooms.. did you know a married couple in GA will do 2 tears in state prison for any sexual activity except the missionary position...?? and a couples neighbor taped a couple do'n doggie position through an outside window and recorded an image from a mirror reflecting into their bedroom.. it was really fuzzy due to the shear curtain.. they were turned in by the Christians and did 2 years in prison..

[madaboutharry]

7. you don't need to ridicule a person.

n/t

[TwixVoy]

5. A $100 loan

at a 500% APR would be $500 in one years time.

A $1000 loan at 500% APR would be $5000 in one years time.

[madaboutharry]

9. Well, that is good to know.

n/t

[BlooInBloo]

13. Is that the principal + interest, or just the interest?

:P

[Warpy]

12. No, 500%, meaning 5X the original loan

an amount that is compounded yearly.

[sam sarrha]

3. it's legal because the Fuck'n ReThuglicans made it legal, an the Democrat coporate whores keep it

that way..!!!!!!!!!

[2KS2KHonda]

8. I don't believe there is (now) any 'legal' limit on APRs as long as they print it somewhere in the

paperwork. The sad thing is that a lot of people have not the first clue what those numbers actually mean.

[LiberalFighter]

They create loopholes such as if the business is not hdqtr in the state.

or something like that.

[ET Awful]

15. Actually, it all depends on the state, in some states, they're illegal period.

In others, the laws vary.

In fact, for some states, if a person gets an on-line payday loan, it's uncollectable by the lender if payday loans are illegal in the state where the borrower resides.

[Union Thug]

10. Once this was called loan sharking. Now it's an acceptable business practice..

Frankly, I'd rather give my money to the mob than to these fucks. At least mobsters have a sense of honor. These guys are just capitalist predators who deserve to have their heads cracked like a crab shell.

[undeterred]

14. Sounds like a "Christian" loan

When you have no alternatives, that's what you do.

[malcolmlandry]

16. They are needed sometimes

When I was hooked on meth, I used those payday advance outfits all the time. They didn't force me. I signed up for the loans on my own free will. I would have gotten the cash legally or otherwise. I say let those places stay in business.

[undeterred]

18. I agree.

There should be laws to limit the interest rate and fees, though.

[blondie58]

20. I've gotta admit, I've used them some, too

as the lady in charge of the money told me- "this is better than bouncing that check, or having overdraft fees taken."

BTW, welcome to DU, malcolmlandry!

It does bother me how many of them have cropped up- seems that there is one on every other corner.......

[flvegan]

17. It's usually 10% week, I believe.

Which, btw, is the same vig the mob used to charge.

Just sayin'...

[donco6]

19. Don't know if it's legal, but that's what they charge.

We have lots of employees here who have been suckered into those things. The payday loan places pop up like rotten mushrooms all over my school's part of town.

[DebJ]

22. Only 500%? I had to get one of those loans a few years ago, and

I kept the document just out of amazement: 931.67% for a loan of $100 for 10 days.

[caseymoz]

23. Federal laws prohibiting usury were repealed before 1980.

That's why you have all these disgracefully high APR's in mainstream lending. It really made the credit card business boom.

It doesn't help the situation that our education system is now so poor that many people can't calculate compound interest and so can't understand how deep they can sink.

[Crabby Appleton]

24. They recently capped the interest at 28% in Ohio

Payday lenders in Ohio--a mushrooming industry which grew into more than 1,500 storefronts statewide in a decade--had argued back that they were providing a desirable product. Besides, they said a 28 percent cap would be an industry death knell forcing storefronts to shutter and costing 6,000 jobs in Ohio.

However, Republican legislative leaders said Monday that any payday lending jobs that may be lost by the bill essentially aren't worth trying to keep. "We want to replace jobs that are taking advantage of people with jobs that help people," said Senate President Bill Harris, an Ashland Republican



http://blog.cleveland.com/openers/2008/06/payday_lending_bill_is_signed.html

these payday loan operators are despicable scumbags.