Morning Cephus....Really? I don't recall seeing my name in the OP...All I am doing is debating on a message board about a business that I feel is highly unethical. I don't see where that means that I personally have to have the entire solution worked out...
But you're complaining in this thread that the payday loan industry needs to be stopped from "abusing" people. Therefore, you have to have a better solution. Let's hear it. If all of these stores were to vanish tomorrow, what then? The people using them still need the money. How do you propose they get it? Liberal whiners, I understand, they just want the government to pass out even more checks so they can buy votes. What's your excuse?
But, I will say I do agree with some of the points that you and Tres lay out, they are valid...Such as no one forcing these people to take out the loans...That is a good point and I am hesitant to get into the business of 'saving people from themselves', however, I just don't like these places...
Who cares what you like? If this is just some kind of emotional reaction, you're doing it wrong. You need to identify a real problem and come up with a real solution. So far, you've done neither. You just don't like it. Too bad.
"People who use payday loans are struggling financially, and they usually have trouble covering ordinary livingexpenses from month to month. Most are paying bank overdraft fees, most carry credit card or other debt, andalmost all have credit scores that are at the lowest end of the scale.
Of course they are struggling financially, that's why they need the money! These people are financially irresponsible, that's why they're in the mess that they're in. Now while, in a perfect world, they'd just clean up their lives and live within their means, we know that's not going to happen in the short term, not unless you have a magic wand you've been keeping secret. For all of the "should be" wishful thinking we come up with, the fact is, these people have no other options and you want to take away the only option they have because you "don't like it".
Policy discussion in recent years has focusedon whether payday loan customers need more access to credit, and what rate of interest is appropriate for such loans. These are valid questions, but there is insufficient evidence to know whether consumers are better off with or without access to high-interest loans (even if the loans have affordable payments).
They had access to credit, they ruined it. They bounced checks. They didn't pay back loans. They ignored credit card payments. What makes you think that, if given the chance again, they wouldn't do the exact same thing again? Interest rates are based on risk and these people, because of their own actions, are extremely risky. They get high rates of interest because they EARN high rates of interest. It is a massive risk to place every single dollar in their hands. Anyone who doesn't understand that doesn't get basic economics.
There is, however, sufficient evidence to conclude that conventional lump-sum payday loans harm consumers compared with loans that have affordable payments. It is clear that the lump-sum payday loan has inherent structural flaws that make it unaffordable and dangerous for consumers, and that new policies to eliminate this failed product are warranted."
They don't qualify for loans with affordable payments, that's why they're getting payday loans. They default on even these loans with great regularity, yet now you want to give them something better that they will equally default on? Are you crazy?
that's debatable...Many, in fact I would say most don't fully understand how to budget, and spend day to day, therefore, understanding the long term effect on their bills is not too much of a thought at the time of taking out these products.
I know they don't understand these things, that's why they're in the situation they're in. Unless you want to mandate financial training for all of them, and who is going to pay for that, then I don't see where you're going to fix the problem. I know that the place I helped set up, we had a referral to low-cost financial counseling that virtually nobody ever took advantage of. They not only don't know how to do it, they don't care to learn.
that is true, and I am conflicted about my own position on this, but in the end I stand on ethical practices, and this industry is void of ethics. I know first hand.
Apparently not because I know first hand that it isn't. There may absolutely be some fraud, just like there is in the pawn shop industry, but that doesn't make the whole industry rife with fraud. Maybe you need some better experience.