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 Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 1:25 pm Subject: Is there ever an escape?
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| Quote: | January 30, 2008
Is There Ever an Escape?
Can one feasibly escape the so-called “debt trap” of cyclical payday loan use? Is over-reliance on fast cash loans – those controversial short-term, high-interest personal loan products – like nothing so much as a sinkhole full of quicksand, ever sucking its victims deeper towards certain doom? The answer to those parallel questions depends on whom you ask. Certainly, the critics of cash advance lending are doing their part to perpetuate the belief that payday loan customers are victims. It’s a tactic that has proven quite effective in states like Virginia, Ohio, and New Hampshire, the governments of which are all currently considering prohibitions against these credit products on the basis that they amount to predatory lending.
Hundreds of thousands of Virginians utilize cash advance products annually. Whether it’s a broken-down car in need of repair, an unexpected doctor’s bill, or any one of an unlimited number of possibly life emergencies that can tend to crop up, consumers tend to find that a fast cash loan is there when they need it. Many payday loan stores maintain round-the-clock hours, and/or offer coordinating internet services for maximum convenience. There is no credit check associated with these products, so the credit-challenged need not worry about being turned down. However, it would be disingenuous to believe that taking advantage of an available service automatically makes a person happy to be doing so, and there is ample evidence to the fact that not all (or even close to all) fast cash loan borrowers are happy to be using these products.
Hope is starting to be found, however, in the fledgling class of payday loan alternatives being offered by banks and credit unions. Some consumers have also found relief in credit counseling services. |
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goudah2424
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Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 1:26 pm Subject:
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| Quote: | Counselor to URB Board: Lenders Trap Consumers
As the final week of Nova Scotia’s review of cash advance lending drags toward a conclusion, the Utility and Review Board is considering the advice of a credit counselor who believes that payday loans are a danger to consumers. The Board called Linda Wilke, a consumer credit counselor with Counselling Services of Atlantic Canada, to testify on consumers’ behalf after complaints began rolling in that they had not adequately investigated this standpoint. The Board is made up of provincial regulators who have been charged with the matter of determining whether cash advances constitute predatory lending, and then determining what interventions –if any- would be appropriate to protect citizens from these products.
Wilke’s stories about consumers dragged into debt by payday loan obligations were numerous, and heart-rending. The credit counselor told tales of consumers who used these expensive, short-term personal loans for such frivolous purposes as weddings, shopping, and going out on the weekends. These consumers, she claimed, were mostly unaware of the hidden terms implicit in their fast cash loan contracts and the stiff penalties they would face for defaulting on their obligations. Because of this ignorance, she says, consumers would get so in debt that they could not possibly hope to get out. Wilke reported having one client who was so embarrassed by her biweekly trips to give money to her payday debtors that she parked around the block from her destinations, lest someone recognize her.
Wilke says that she advocates stricter legislation of payday loans, especially those measures that will prohibit consumers from being able to access personal loan rollovers. She says that a twenty-four hour cooling-off period is not sufficient – she’d prefer a two-month required waiting period. |
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How I make some extra cash
I earn at least $20 extra every month doing offers. And you don't have to pay a cent.
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goudah2424
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Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:18 pm Subject:
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Two month cooling off would be great!
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stargzr
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Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 11:58 pm Subject:
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socksfullofrocks
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