Communities Against Payday Predators (CAPP), a coalition of labor, veteran, consumer and church groups, is attempting to rein in payday lenders, who currently charge interest rates as high as 391-percent. A bill by state Rep. Sherry Appleton (D-Poulsbo) would have capped the rate at 36-percent, but the committee chairman with jurisdiction has refused to hold a hearing.
A bill that would slash the interest rates charged by payday lenders appears dead after a key committee chairman said the proposal won’t get a hearing.
“I want to do this in baby steps,” said Rep. Steve Kirby, who leads the House Insurance, Financial Services and Consumer Protection Committee. “I have to be a little more thoughtful on these issues than someone who is not on the committee and just puts a bill out there.”
Rep. Kirby has introduced his own reform bill which I believe has something to do with prohibiting payday lenders from breaking the kneecaps of defaulters. I suppose that’s a start.
“It is certainly a better attempt at good regulation than what is being proposed by Rep. Appleton,” said [Money Tree CEO Dennis Bassford], who leads one of the state’s largest payday-lending chains.
He and Money Tree Vice President David Bassford donated $1,200 to Kirby’s last political campaign.
Um… and there are those who argue that public financing of elections would endanger our Democracy.
UPDATE:
As has been pointed out in the comment thread, there are now more payday lenders in WA state than there are Starbucks. Not bad for a local industry that didn’t exist 12 years ago.
Oh… and guess which legislative district has the highest number of payday lenders? Rep. Kirby’s 29th LD. I’m just sayin’….
A man walked into a very high-tech bar. As he sat down on a stool he noticed that the bartender was a robot. The robot clicked to attention and asked, “Sir, what will you have?”
The man thought a moment then replied? “A martini please.
The robot clicked a couple of times and mixed the best martini the man had ever had. The robot then asked, “Sir, what is your IQ?”
The man answered “Oh, about 164.”
The robot then proceeded to discuss the ‘theory of relativity’, interstellar space travel’, the latest medical breakthroughs, etc….
The man was most impressed. He left the bar but thought he would try a different tact.
He returned and took a seat. Again the robot clicked and asked what he would have?
“A martini please.”
Again it was superb. The robot again asked “What is your IQ sir?”
This time the man answered, “Oh about 100”. So the robot started discussing NASCAR, the latest basketball scores, and Pamela Anderson’s new show.
The guy had to try it one more time.
So he left, returned and took a stool…. Again a martini, and the question, “What is your IQ?”
This time the man drawled out “Uh….. bout 50”.
The robot clicked then leaned close and very slowly asked,
“A-r-e…
y-o-u-r.
p-e-o-p-l-e…
g-o-i-n-g…
t-o…
n-o-m-i-n-a-t-e…
H-i-l-l-a-r-y-????”
Payday lenders, as bad a they seem to most folks, are actually a necessary business for a lot of people who need short-term financing. If a guy goes to a credit union or a bank, they’ll laugh him out of the place if he askes for a loan of $80 until next Friday.
Sure, a lot of them make a ton of money off of the less-fortunate, but they also assume a lot more risk than ordinary lenders. If there’s going to be attempts to introduce additional regulation on this business, I hope legislators take time to realize these lenders serve as a vital source of short-term funding for people on the edge, with little back-up resources. Over-regulating these businesses could result in them leaving the market. The unintended consequences of this would be detrimental to the very group lwamakers want to protect.
Libertarian…where are your numbers to backup the claim that payday loans are riskier? Didn’t think you had them…as it turns out payday loans have a default rate below 5%. That’s right, less risky than a conventional bank who only can charge up to 25% interest without committing usury.
Having these loan sharks leave the market would be splendid. 11 other states have banned them all together and in WA the have only been legal since 1995. A cap is a compromise.
If it was such a risky business, as you assert, there wouldn’t be more payday lending shops than Starbucks in Washington in little over a decade of being legal.
Oh, ya, before loan sharking was legal, we got by just fine.
I think that these wingnuts obsessed with Hillary are a riot. If they are so convinced that Hillary has no chance of winning the presidency, why aren’t they delighted with her nomination?
Check your facts,
Actually, I work for a financial institution and go through payday lenders’ financial statements, among other tasks. I think they perform a function that traditional banks and credit unions don’t want to do. If we eliminate these sources of short-term financing, who will be hurt to most? The businesses themselves, who will move on to other areas, or their customers?
Flaky klake @1 Go spam some wingnut board with your Hillary jokes. It’s just clutter here.
@5 (continued) klake — I trust you realize that if Hillary becomes president we’re going to rub your face in it mercilessly.
@2 Anybody who has to charge 391% interest to provide a “vital service” should find some more constructive way to serve society. These greedy motherfuckers are nothing but leeches on the butts of the poor!
Many financial services proponents are currently quoting a Federal Reserve Bank of New York funded study (“Defining and Detecting Predatory Lending”) that makes the novel assertion that payday loans are not predatory and payday loan sources enhance the welfare(!) of their clients by making loans to people of modest means that they, otherwise, would not have available to them.
This is a bit like saying that gambling casinos enhance the welfare of their patrons by providing entertainments they would lack otherwise. It assumes that usage of a service is evidence of its benefits, while ignoring the cost to the consumer.
In the unlikely event that lenders wish to be altruists, ending their penchant for redlining neighborhoods from mortgage loans thereby providing paths to long term security through home ownership. That would truly enhance the welfare of their clients.
Let it be known that Kirby is a Democrat … and let it be known that we liberals will criticize Democrats when they’ve got it coming.
@7 should read “@1” not “@5”
@5 (continued) Anybody who needs 80 bucks badly enough to pay a loan shark $78.20 interest to borrow it for 3 months needs some serious training in managing his/her financial affairs.
The businesses themselves, who will move on to other areas, or their customers?
Is it “helping” people to charge 391% annual interest, or letting them continually roll over payday loans?
Sounds more like selling an alcoholic bum a bottle of Ripple under the guise of “helping” them.
9. make that last paragraph start
In the unlikely event that lenders wish to be altruists, ending their penchant for redlining neighborhoods from mortgage loans thereby providing paths to long term security through home ownership would be a good starting point.
Kirby owns a furniture business in Tacoma. He has said before that he doesn’t want to do anything that will prevent people who need cash to buy his junk from getting it. No wonder he’s killing anything that legalizes loan sharking – uh payday lending I mean.
Mike @ 4 says: I think that these wingnuts obsessed with Hillary are a riot. If they are so convinced that Hillary has no chance of winning the presidency, why aren’t they delighted with her nomination?
Earth to moonbat: she HAS NOT been nominated, she only hopes to be.
Do you understand the distinction?
I know people who have to use these payday loans, however, and they think it provides them a needed bridge under certain circumstances. They may be good in some cases, but by my rough figuring, a $700 two-week loans is costing some borrowers $100. Appleton wants to cap that fee at $10.
Ten bucks may not cover the cost and risk, but I think the cap should be closer to that figure than the current vig.
@16 A little bit more than that; she’s the runaway front-runner in all polls. Suck on it, wingnut. A Democrat is going to be president in ’09 no matter WHO we nominate.
Ya gotta love those Credit Unions that give ‘payday’ loans for very modest fees and extremely low interest.
Predatory lending in the early 1900’s gave birth to the CU movement. It is predatory lending that seeks to kill the CU’s. I’m not entirely in favor of “expansion of membership fields” but again, it is predatory financial ractices that fuel the movement.
Isn’t Steve Kirby a DEMOCRAT? And isn’t Kirby’s 29th district the most heavily DEMOCRAT legislative district in all of Pierce County? Go figure …
Hey Libertarian-
We don’t have working families in the street trying to save loan sharking in Washington. I know people in banking, they hate payday lenders, not because they take away business, but because payday lenders don’t follow the same rules as every other institution that loans things – banks, credit unions, credit cards and even pawn brokers.
Bankers also hate payday lenders because it harms their employees productivity if they are worrying about payday loans. they also have to field calls about garnishing wages.
Payday lenders put so much strain on their consumers that the Republican Congress has even stepped in to place a cap on payday loans to military families…that cap is at 36%!
If a pro-business congress protects military families, the “progressive” WA legislature should protect all consumers.
It’s early Rog, and the only people who are paying attention to those polls are life-free political wonks like us.
Remember at this point in 2003, the runaway favorite for the Democratic nomination was Dr. Howard Dean.
#1 (and all the responses thereto…) I was watching a discussion on CSPAN the other night put on by the National Review, with the panel composed of what they evidently consider to be leading female conservative pundits. This included the magazine’s Washington bureau chief (didn’t get her name), Michelle Malkin and Laura Ingram.
I noted with some interest that all of them were pretty much in agreement that Hillary would be the Democratic nominee next year, and that they felt that what would get her there (her “centrist” outlook on just about everything) would be what would make her the easiest for a Republican candidate to beat. (“Well, what does she really stand for? Anything?”)
By the way, Klake…the joke really is funny. Thanks.
1200 BUCKS? THIS GUY WAS BOUGHT OFF THAT CHEAP?
Steve Kirby can’t even file his PDC reports on time …
Maybe I should file HB 1020 as an initiative … Then CHALLENGE the DEMOCRAT party (which purportedly backs the bill) to circulate the initiative petitions …
HB 1020 is the payday lending bill (interest capped at 36%) which the DEMOCRATS in the state legislature won’t allow to get a vote, much less a hearing …
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinf.....;year=2007
Hey check you facts,
So your solution (and most “progressive” types’ solution) is to abolish the business? Put them to death in a painful fashion?
You guys should all get together and form your own payday loan outfit since you’re so worried about the poor people who have to use payday lenders.
No, wait: maybe it would be better if we didn’t have these businesses so the poor would simply not have any access to funding. That would make things better.
Yeah, that’s better….
Right!
I don’t expect a libertarian to agree on the topic, because “laissez faire” is the general libertarian response to ANYTHING of this nature, whether it’s payday lending, drug laws, campaign finance laws, or any restrictions on free market activities with willing buyers and sellers.
HB 1020 is the payday lending bill (interest capped at 36%) which the DEMOCRATS in the state legislature won’t allow to get a vote, much less a hearing …
Not much of a surprise, as far as I am concerned. Chairmen have fiefdoms, by tradition in the Leg, and they can pretty much squelch bills if they want to. If Appleton wants her bill considered, he has to convince a majority of the committee to bring it up:
http://www.leg.wa.gov/house/ge.....0rules.htm
Only such bills as are included on the written notice of a committee meeting may be considered at that meeting except upon the vote of a majority of the entire membership of the committee to consider another bill.
The chair gets to decide what’s on the agenda, absent that.
There needs to be a law requiring lawmakers recuse themselves from voting on anything that they accepted campaign donations for – both here and in our federal government too!
Once you take the money – you are no longer impartial whether you are Democratic, Republican, Independant, or just another slug legislator!
26 C’mon Richard, put your challenge to the Repubelick’s Party, instead.
30.
Can a Washington legislator get a bill directly to the floor for a vote? Not that it would matter much if they could. This issue isn’t likely to compel anyone to back it just for the good of the downtrodden.
These fiefdoms hurt everywhere. Just this morning, I heard Bernie Sanders basically agree that John Dingle in the House and Carl Levin in the Senate will continue to make reinstating CAFE standards a non-starter. I hope Pelosi is successful getting this issue into an environmental committee and out of the Commerce Committee.
Theoretically yes, by voting to suspend the rules. 2/3rds majority. Good luck with that.
Look, I think there are some times when having a Payday lender around might be a good idea. I like the idea that many of them are 24 hour operations, unlike banks and credit unions. For young people who haven’t had time to establish savings or get credit cards, it might be the difference between being able to get a car repaired so they can go to work the next day, or not. In those occasional instances, I don’t think the fees are too burdensome.
But there is little enforcement of rules limiting “rolling over” payday loans from week to week, which in the end results in the types of annual interest rates which are so obscene. Although limited to $700.00 loans, some payday lenders have skirted the rules by sending the borrower to their own branch down the street, and then pretending it is a new borrower (and a new $700 limit). And, of course, for some young people they find themselves bouncing back and forth between two different payday lenders, taking out a payday loan from one to pay off the other, and the next week repeating the process in reverse order.
And if the Money Tree which is about 1-1/2 mile away from my house is any indication, a lot of their business seems to be check cashing for immigrant laborers, at a pretty hefty fee. I guess these laborers don’t have bank accounts, for any number of reasons, so that is the only way they have to cash their paychecks.
Here’s another game that seems to be to be taking advantage of ordinary folks – all the “get rich through real estate investing” that you see as info-mercials on TV. Like that “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” guy. He shows up on PBS hyping the value of buying rental properties. His show is pretty good and financially feasible, but I think this guy understates the risk involved in real estate. In my opinion, he suckers rubes into jumping into the real estate market without the proper fiscal experience and stomach to ride the inevitable downturns.
Sure,everybody is hot-to-trot these days to buy and sell houses and commercial buildings, but there inevitably comes a time when the real estate market slows and even dies for a time. In the late 60′ and early 70’s, you could have bought just about any house on the market in Western Washington by simply agreeing to take over the payments from the poor schmucks affected by the Boeing troubles. In 1978, when I bought my first house, houses were selling almost as fast as they could be listed.
Then, in 1983, sellng a house in Washington was an ordeal. You had to bend over backwards to get rid of a house. The same thing happened to me in 1996. It took a year for my ex and me to sell our Tacoma house, and we sold it for $16,000 LESS than what we paid for it after owning it for over three years!
Real estate is a very, very volatile investment. Yes, over time, if you’ve got the financial strength and stomach, you can make a ton of money. But you have to be willing to ride the downside of the biz, too.
All these yahoos on TV telling us we can make a gazillion bucks in real estate may have made a bunch of money in the past, but what they’re doing now is hyping books and tapes telling you how to do it, too. Their goal is to further enrich themselves first. If you happen to make money following their plans, well that’s just a happy coincidence that will help them sell more books and tapes!
Beware!
roger @18…actually she isn’t the front runner in the iowa polls…..romney is. isn’t that interesting?
“delighted with her nomination?”
just what has she been nominated for? legend in her own mind status? and i ,for one, would be absolutely delighted if she were actually nominated. not going to happen though. i’ll bet you all right now that it will be obama and edwards….in whatever configuration.
hillary, sadly for the republicans, has way too many political cooties to make her viable.
payday loan businesses should be heavily regulated. right now what you have is nothing more than legal loan sharking, and predatory lenders have created huge problems for everyone in the past.
roger, are you this heartless to suggest that people can’t get down on their luck and be desperate?a couple of big medical bills roger and you could be there…….
in your eyes they are just losers that need to be taught how to manage their finances? roger, alot of people in this country live a very hard scrabble existence. they are doing the best they can, and they are working hard. why allow a business to rip them off like this? and you bitch about the profit that oil companies make but not this?[ you bitch while at the same time collecting your dough that you made off oil stocks….typical progressive]
come on!
Hillary is more of a Republican than Guilliani (sp).
Maybe she should switch parties, and pull the old Clinton triangulation move…..Run as an “R” so all that R mud can’t be thrown, pull all the independents her way and of course make an appeal as a mom and christian to the conservative right…..
she’d be a lock……..(hahah)or (har har)
Yes! The perfect solution! Never happen, but the very idea put a big grin on my face.
It solves the “money=speech” debate, too. Yes, some far-right types will still be willing to bankroll candidates, but at least we won’t have Safeco trying to buy their very own Senator.
No, the unions won’t like it much either, as the only way that they’ll be able to support candidates is to recommend to their members that they should send a few bucks of their own money, but on the whole, that’s a pretty good trade.
There’s also the added advantage that the campaigns will have a lot less money to spend, so maybe we won’t have a full year of fifteen second ads that say almost nothing, but say it over and over and over and…
Wow! I love it! I really wish that there was even the slightest chance that it would pass.
Progressive plan for payday loans….
1) legislate the business out of existence
2) Creat new entitlment for short term cash advances from state agency ( insert name here )
3) Register to vote while filing loan application ( no need to prove citizenship)
4) Raise taxes on business to cover lost revenues on defaulted loans
( taken from my right wing play book published by Sean Hannity)
If Goldy identified Appleton as a D, he also should have identified Kirby as a D. I would hope for even handed reporting on D and/or R by the names.
Bob in Sea Tac @ 41
Goldy is obviously hoping that folks will confuse State Rep. Steve Kirby with KVI-570 talk show host Kirby Wilbur, and come away with the idea that the REPUBLICANS are responsible for protecting the payday lenders.
If that fails, Goldy can point out how the Washington State Democrat Party platform calls for the reduction of payday loan interest rates to a reasonable level. When it is pointed out that only about 1/4 of the Democrats in the legislature actually are in favor of implementing this idea, Goldy will propose that MORE DEMOCRATS should be elected to the legislature.
If the percentage of Democrats in the legislature can be increased from the current 65% of total membership, to at least 200% of membership, then 1/4 of the Democrat members will constitute at least 50% of total membership, and this long promised Democrat reform can finally be passed.
What are you saying? Are you saying that a State represenative is representing the interests of prominant business interests in his district? He is encouraging lawmakers to NOT hobble a service that many of his constituents use?
When will politicians learn that you can’t just go protecting local business interests like that? What’s next? Supporting local workers, or even families?!?!
MONEY grows on a TREE for CHRISTINE GREGOIRE — bought and paid for by PAYDAY LENDERS:
Candidate/Committee Date Amount P Contributor City State Zip Employer Occupation
GREGOIRE CHRISTINE O 07/14/2004 $1,350.00 P BASSFORD SARA BELLEVUE WA 98004 MONEYTREE STORE DESIGN DIRECTOR
GREGOIRE CHRISTINE O 07/14/2004 $1,350.00 P VAN DER HYDE DAVID SEATTLE WA 98103 MONEYTREE DIRECTOR
GREGOIRE CHRISTINE O 07/14/2004 $1,350.00 G VAN DER HYDE DAVID SEATTLE WA 98103 MONEYTREE DIRECTOR
GREGOIRE CHRISTINE O 10/11/2006 $1,000.00 P BASSFORD DAVID BELLEVUE WA 980047048 MONEYTREE VICE PRESIDENT
GREGOIRE CHRISTINE O 10/11/2006 $1,000.00 P BASSFORD DENNIS MERCER ISLAND WA 980404215 MONEYTREE PRESIDENT
GREGOIRE CHRISTINE O 10/11/2006 $1,000.00 P BASSFORD SARA R BELLEVUE WA 980047048 MONEYTREE STORE DESIGN DIRECTOR
GREGOIRE CHRISTINE O 10/11/2006 $1,000.00 P DENISON ROBIN SEATTLE WA 98188 MONEYTREE, INC. MANAGER
GREGOIRE CHRISTINE O 07/14/2004 $650.00 G BASSFORD SARA BELLEVUE WA 98004 MONEYTREE STORE DESIGN DIRECTOR
GREGOIRE CHRISTINE O 10/11/2006 $500.00 P CLARK AGARTHA S DES MOINES WA 981987304 MONEYTREE COO
GREGOIRE CHRISTINE O 08/24/2004 $250.00 P BURTON DONALD SEATTLE WA 98116 EVERGREEN MONEYSOURCE PRESIDENT
GREGOIRE CHRISTINE O 10/11/2006 $250.00 P GANDARA DAVID SEATTLE WA 981258157 MONEYTREE, INC. DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY DEV
GREGOIRE CHRISTINE O 07/14/2004 $150.00 P THOMSON MARK OLYMPIA WA 98501 MONEYTREE DIRECTOR
GREGOIRE CHRISTINE O 10/08/2004 $100.00 G BASSFORD DAVID BELLEVUE WA 98004 MONEYTREE VICE PRESIDENT
GREGOIRE CHRISTINE O 10/08/2004 $100.00 G BASSFORD DENNIS MERCER ISLAND WA 98040 MONEYTREE PRESIDENT
GREGOIRE CHRISTINE O 10/08/2004 $100.00 G BASSFORD SARA BELLEVUE WA 98004 MONEYTREE STORE DESIGN DIRECTOR
GREGOIRE CHRISTINE O 10/08/2004 $100.00 G CLARK AGARTHA DES MOINES WA 98198 MONEYTREE COO
GREGOIRE CHRISTINE O 10/08/2004 $100.00 G KING THOMAS SEATTLE WA 98199 MONEYTREE CFO
GREGOIRE CHRISTINE O 06/14/2004 $100.00 P THOMSON MARK OLYMPIA WA 98501 MONEYTREE COMPLIANCE OFFICER
Total Named Cash Contributions for this report: $10,450.00
I guess I won’t get to post the detailed list I was hoping for. But Christine Gregoire is bought and paid for by “Payday Lenders” — $10,450.00 in contributions just from Moneytree employees.
Gregoire also got $2,950.00 from Dollarwise employees. $9,850.00 from payday lenders with “Check” in their names. $3,500.00 from employees of payday lenders with “Check” in their names. $500.00 from CZ Payday Loans. $1,000.00 from McCarthy Finance, Inc. (Check Masters). $2,900.00 from employees for McCarthy Finance, Inc.
At least $31,150.00 to Gregoire from “Payday Lenders”. SO we know who Gregoire owes her political soul to …
I guess we won’t be hearing anything more in the liberal blogosphere of Washington about “Payday Loans”. Goldy inadvertently confused Steve Kirby with Kirby Wilbur, and thought the Republicans were trying to block reform of “Payday Loans”. Now that Goldy realizes that Democrat leaders — and especially Her Excellency — are strongly backed by “Payday Lenders”, this is the last we will ever hear about this.
geez richard you were right…again.
*crickets*
$31,150.00???? why that’s quite a sum for gregoire and all from a group that preys on the unfortunate.
but, are you really surprised though that a white woman that headed up a WHITES ONLY sorority and cheated rossi [who is part native american ] out of the governor’s race….are you really surprised that she is such a piece of trash? white trash, i must add.
Just sent the following to my electeds:
Please ask Rep. Kirby to stop thwarting the democratic process and hold hearings on HB 1020. If HB 1020 is a bad bill lets hear why it’s a bad bill in public, on the record and let people testify to the horrors of it.
[my name goes here]
PS: as far as I’m concerned payday lenders should be shut down completely.
Christine Gregoire should return the “Payday Loan” money.
Gregoire’s most recent C4 monthly campaign finance report, filed with the Public Disclosure Commission on January 9, 2007, shows her campaign fund has a Cash-On-Hand balance of $1,228,908.50 (after taking a small amount of liabilities into account), as of December 31, 2006. This is plenty of cash, and she could easily return the $31,150.00 in “Payday Loan” contributions if she wanted to.
Gregoire — come “clean” (as Joe Biden would say), and return the “Payday Loan” money.
Comments from David Postman’s blog two months ago from some of HA’s regulars:
Payday lenders are vultures and their contributions to her are disturbing. What legislation will they want from her?
Doesn’t she get the fact that everyday Americans are sick and tired of these political payoffs?
Posted by sgmmac at 05:33 PM, Dec 08, 2006
Gregoire should give the payday loan money back. Payday loan money is every bit as dirty as tobacco money.
Posted by me at 06:02 PM, Dec 08, 2006
Payday lenders SUPPORTING Gregoire?
Here are some excerpts from the Washington Democrat Party Platform of 2006:
“We oppose … Excessive usury fees by payday lending corporations for Washington State payday
consumers” (Page 17, Lines 19-20 — on Page 19 of PDF)
“We support … Legislation to prohibit predatory practices in payday lending” (Page 18, Line 26 — on Page 20 of PDF)
http://www.wa-democrats.org/pa.....ummary.pdf
Posted by Richard Pope at 10:45 PM, Dec 08, 2006
They squandered their money. The Gov is no lap dog.
Posted by Particle Man at 12:02 PM, Dec 09, 2006
Though I have no love for the payday lenders, I support their right to legally influence the political process. Now, if Gov. Chris Gregoire were to do an ‘about face’ and start SUPPORTING the payday lenders, I would be suprised and amazed.
Posted by Will at 05:35 PM, Dec 09, 2006
http://blog.seattletimes.nwsou.....y_id=13390
I guess I had sorta forgotten about Postman’s coverage of the payday loan story, since that windstorm hit less than a week later (December 14, 2006). Rather than remembering Gregoire for raking in the big bucks from payday lenders, I instead remember Gregoire’s Friday morning press conference, on December 15, 2006, just a few hours after the winds had died down. I was freezing my ass off without any heat or power, listening to the radio with batteries. And instead of talking about the most serious natural disaster to hit this state in over a quarter of a century, Gregoire instead proceeded with some nonsensical drivel about her plans for the Alaskan Way Viaduct. Plans which she has flip-flopped on at least twice since her extremely poorly scheduled pronouncement seven weeks ago.
I did post this on the Postman’s blog
“Payday lenders are vultures and their contributions to her are disturbing. What legislation will they want from her?
Doesn’t she get the fact that everyday Americans are sick and tired of these political payoffs?”
And I meant every damn word of it. I have seen these scoundrels abosolutely destroy soldier’s lives with these mafia loans. The problem is that once in the downward spiral there isn’t an easy way out. I’ve seen soldiers and their families without electricity, food and water trying to pay off these loans. They never tell you about the loans until it’s a disaster and then you have to jump through hoops to get the soldiers help.
I have an employee who got trapped by these “payday loan” maggots.
He’s a good guy who found himself in a bad situation and needed some help. So, he turned to one such company (that has the word tree in its name) for help. He initially borrowed $800.00.
Shortly after this his performance at work started to suffer. He was so worried about how he was going to meet his obligations that it affected his entire life.
When he finally came to me for help he figures that he spent almost $2600.00 in interest to them and he still owed them money.
I willingly paid off his loan and I am not charging him any interest. In fact I am not asking him to repay me at all.
I have a hard time believing that these companies provide any value to our society. They take money from the very people who need it the most, they hurt productivity, and they don’t give a rats ass about anything but profits.