New York Attorney General Says Loansharks Are Gouging Military Families

New York Attorney General Says Loansharks Are Gouging Military Families
09-01-2004 7:03 PM
By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press Writer

ALBANY, N.Y. -- The state attorney general filed a civil lawsuit Wednesday accusing a sales catalog company of actually being a loansharking operation that preys on cash-strapped military families.

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said N.Y. Catalog Sales and its owner, John Gill, violated state loansharking laws in its three stores, two of which are outside the Fort Drum Army base north of Syracuse.

N.Y. Catalog Sales offers $50 in high-interest loans for every $15 that that customers spend on gift certificates and other items, Spitzer said. But the "vast majority" of customers buy the items to receive cash, he said.

Borrowers pay with a postdated check that the stores cash on the borrowers' next pay day. But often families need to borrow again to cover the cost and fall deeper in debt, Spitzer said.

http://sandiego.cox.net/cci/newsnational/national?_mode=view&_state=maximized&view=article&id=D84R7UT00

I'm not kidding.

Go Spitzer. Run the Guilianis out of the frame.

:kick:

We need an investigation.