21–30 of 46 posts
I hate to be cynical, but it's a bit rich to keep cashing the checks for five entire years and then having some come-to-Jesus moment. Did the change of heart go alongside some new boss who didn't like the work product? Or perhaps a plan to just move? It's easy to dis something on the way out the door.
It's easy to call this kind of lending predatory, but when you leave the problem of poverty to private businesses to solve you end up with high-interest loans and payday loans. If the government banned this kind of lending and didn't provide an alternative, poor people would have no lending options. Regulating this kind of lending (e.g. by tightening the already regulated limits on interest rates) can only go so far…
In a world without interest the poor seldom need loans.
Banks exist to make our life better when we need extra spending cash. If we ban lending to the poor than it will be one more thing that only the rich will have.
I agree that the lending rates are insanely high, but that's largely because of defaults. The rates for secured goods (car, house) are insanely low, even when the defaults are taken into account. Car loans from credit unions are below 2% because they're secured.
The real problem is that the easiest way to cure defaults is to start saying "No" more often. But no one likes to be told "no" and that's unpopular too.
I have a story similar to this. There was a profound moment in my career when I was working as a consultant for a company I wont name, but they were in Canary Wharf, which is the financial center of London, UK. I was in a glass high-rise building, and had been working there for about 4 weeks. The project I was working on was at heart, selling loans and credit to people who couldnt afford it - all hidden by opaque lan…
A core belief I have, and I try to spread it where possible, is that a person owes it to themselves and to those around them to live in such a way that they have personal freedom.
This is precisely the way in which debt is pernicious. This man is trapped in a debt cycle - just as those below him are.
We really don't need a lot to get by. But people find ways of trapping themselves - golden handcuffs - it's the house, or the car, or the kids, whatever.
It's easy to call this kind of lending predatory, but when you leave the problem of poverty to private businesses to solve you end up with high-interest loans and payday loans. If the government banned this kind of lending and didn't provide an alternative, poor people would have no lending options. Regulating this kind of lending (e.g. by tightening the already regulated limits on interest rates) can only go so far…
> poor people would have no lending options Then they borrow from criminals, which historically provide services the government bans.
Yes... That's why they're called.. criminals?
Capital One’s secured card helped me build credit when I arrived in the US years and years ago. Interest rates were high but I wasn’t shocked by that given I was someone with no credit history.
A decade+ out I have rebuilt my credit to excellent and secured cards were instrumental in that. Ironically my two secured cards from when the rebuild started have both been aquired by Capital One ;D
Earlier quoted context omitted.
In a world without interest the poor seldom need loans.
That's not really so. If you have a bunch of bad luck in one month, you sometimes need a line of credit to get to the next. Did you have a flat tire? Did the baby need three trips to the doctor because of croup? Banks exist to make our life better when we need extra spending cash. If we ban lending to the poor than it will be one more thing that only the rich will have. I agree that the lending rates are insanely hig…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
In a world without interest the poor seldom need loans.
That's not really so. If you have a bunch of bad luck in one month, you sometimes need a line of credit to get to the next. Did you have a flat tire? Did the baby need three trips to the doctor because of croup? Banks exist to make our life better when we need extra spending cash. If we ban lending to the poor than it will be one more thing that only the rich will have. I agree that the lending rates are insanely hig…
Not in a society that looks after it's people.
>Did you have a flat tire? Did the baby need three trips to the doctor because of croup?
You shouldn't be paying for healthcare, guaranteed minimum income and social connections should suffice for the other stuff.
>If we ban lending to the poor than it will be one more thing that only the rich will have.
We shouldn't ban lending to the poor, we should ban lending with interest period.
Capital One’s secured card helped me build credit when I arrived in the US years and years ago. Interest rates were high but I wasn’t shocked by that given I was someone with no credit history.
These days my credit score is ~780 and I do some casual churning for travel points.
I have a story similar to this. There was a profound moment in my career when I was working as a consultant for a company I wont name, but they were in Canary Wharf, which is the financial center of London, UK. I was in a glass high-rise building, and had been working there for about 4 weeks. The project I was working on was at heart, selling loans and credit to people who couldnt afford it - all hidden by opaque lan…
If you'd stayed and worked your way up the ladder, that would have been your fate too.
So much respect for quitting - rare, and much appreciated when it happens.
It's easy to call this kind of lending predatory, but when you leave the problem of poverty to private businesses to solve you end up with high-interest loans and payday loans. If the government banned this kind of lending and didn't provide an alternative, poor people would have no lending options. Regulating this kind of lending (e.g. by tightening the already regulated limits on interest rates) can only go so far…
> poor people would have no lending options Then they borrow from criminals, which historically provide services the government bans.
Conversely, criminals, by definition not being bound by any such structures, can come take not just your wages or savings, but also you kidneys, your wife or daughter, etc.
This is not to say that all criminal lenders are or would immediately become as bad as the worst stereotypes about the mafia, but whom do you think it would be a better to owe money to, when considering your long term ability to get out of debt, or even the long-term survival of yourself or family & friends? Predatory Payday Providers, or Big Tony?