i KNEW payday-loan places sucked...but this is beyond the pale

i was listening to one of the local hip-hop stations on the way to church this morning and a payday-load place ad came on the radio. starts out sounding innocent enough...girl gets a call from her friend asking, can we go out to the club tonight and the receiver of the call says she cannot afford it. the girl on the other end of the line says, "call your momma and see if she can help you out again..." then it just gets bizarre. the call receiver puts her friend on hold and calls momma...and says, "momma, I am short for the RENT this month, can you lend me $200? then momma suggests that she too is having problems and they should both call this payday-loan place...

so...the ad targeted at the black community wasn't enough...they had to have this girl LIE to her 'momma' about the RENT so she could go to the club??? why the hell do people put up with this shit?

sP

Yep, those ads are being targeted and extremely misleading. There's no requirement for them to mention the interest rates or how they can throw in all sorts of added charges that can lead to a person paying nearly 50% of what they're borrowing...especially if the money they're borrowing isn't covered by the check and the vultures can continue to pile on interest upon interest.

Some states have strict laws to prevent some of the predatory lending...and IRC some states prohibit these places from advertising without some kind of full disclosure.

As one who worked with radio for many years, I've seen this type of stuff...it used to be tobacco...or alchool companies targeting young ears...especially minorities.

not even really that it was a loan...just 'call us if you need money...you can even apply on-line'

sP

or whatever state office deals with fraud. Maybe there is a law in your state that is being violated. Many times these ads can and do run and no one's the wiser...the station takes the money (gladly) and don't bother to check to see if they've broken laws. The FCC is useless, but this may be a violation of a local or state law. I'd note the station and the time you heard the commerical...it doesn't hurt to make the call...ya never know, you may save someone from betting into the waters with these sharks.

at least in the form they now exist.

desperate to pay 3600% interest so they can go clubbing rioting in the streets. After the legislation was passed, limiting these firms to, a still outrageous, 35% (IIRC) 2/3 of them closed up and left, the rest are still operating and seem to do just fine.

I think there is a need for poor people to have access to credit. I just wish there was a way that the poor could get credit at lower rates than the rich, not higher. There should be some sort of government backed micro-lending that would help responsible poor people get out of a bind (and learn financial responsibility). I think it would pay for itself easily.

return the SBA to it's origins, instead of the corporate welfare agency it has perverted into. Financing new, small, business (that still employs about 60% of the workforce, IIRC) and helping them to thrive, ensures a vital and expanding economy. There is a way, and we had it for about 5 seconds.

Another result of "something's better than nothing", nothing frequently yields the better result.

And they deserve every bit of it.

Some people steal with a gun. They do it legally with pen and paper.

is in your post...i mean, i know it IS legal for them to do this...but DAMN...

the purveyors of these places should rot...

sP

The powers that be obviously think it is just fine for them to operate the
way they do. One has to think they must be getting a piece of the action.

Every major religion forbids usury, which is what these places are committing. But they're regulated by state law, and the Congress - that wonderful, God-fearing, God-loving organization that's dictated to by the rightwingnut evangelicals, among others - sees fit to ignore those religious prohibitions.

Killing someone with a lethal injection - that's OK, because, well, it makes us feel good. Forget that Commandment.

Trying to stop women from safely terminating pregnancies - that's OK because all life is sacred except for the ones we have to kill (see above).

Letting people be ripped off by usurious lenders - that's OK, too, because it doesn't affect us and the people who use those places don't vote, anyway.

Maybe because some people feel if some bitch can own so many fucking houses, he doesn't know how many he's got, then others think that well by golly I deserve to go to the damn club and escape my reality? :shrug:

The commercial was targeted at blacks. It disappeared immediately. I like to think there was a public outcry. It was so BLATANT. One young women suggesting the other get a payday loan to get a dress today rather than waiting until payday. YIKES! That $30 dress will end up costing the young woman $75 in interest in fees.

$40 for a bounced check. In Biblical times they called that Usary and stoned the Usarists.

Strange.