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Online installment loans have taken the subprime market by storm

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Re: Online installment loans have taken the subprime market by storm

#201

Post by sokamyung »

bryanlarsen wrote: post #71
mumblemumble wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't want to tut-tut the poor, but I do want to tut-tut consumer culture in general. There are a whole lot of people who _should_ be able to afford an unexpected car repair bill, and could quite easily do so, if they weren't spending $100 a month on cable TV, $800 every other year on a high-end smartphone, $500/month on owning an SUV when a $200/mo economy car would serve just fine, etc., and put the money into a…

> $100 a month on cable TV given that the average American spends 4 hours/day watching TV[1], that's well under $1 per hour of entertainment. There aren't a lot of hobbies or entertainment media that are cheaper. 1: https://www.statista.com/statistics/186833/average-televisio...

library books are essentially free. They pay dividends if you read something that imparts a skill instead of being brainwashed and dumbed down by TV you pay for.

Re: Online installment loans have taken the subprime market by storm

#202

Post by llamataboot »

andyjsong wrote: post #192
WhompingWindows wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whoa, they are buying purses and vacations on these loans? Can you characterize the loans for me -- how much, what interest rate, what % of defaults do you see? I'd be very interested in a detailed analysis, that sounds very important.

At least with the peloton purchase, it sounds like they are using Affirm. Generally if you have good credit, interest rate is zero. I've seen it on other high ticket items for sale online. In this case Affirm reduces the friction of buying higher priced products. The phone I'm typing on now was financed through symphony credit. Zero interest, and 36 monthly installments. I'm sure there are penalties if I don't pay ev…

I don't know - I have seen lots of zero interest offers - but never from Affirm. I have a 750+ credit score and last time I looked at Affirm for something (a glowforge I think), interest rates offered were above 21%!

Re: Online installment loans have taken the subprime market by storm

#203

Post by greenshackle2 »

andyjsong wrote: post #192
WhompingWindows wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whoa, they are buying purses and vacations on these loans? Can you characterize the loans for me -- how much, what interest rate, what % of defaults do you see? I'd be very interested in a detailed analysis, that sounds very important.

At least with the peloton purchase, it sounds like they are using Affirm. Generally if you have good credit, interest rate is zero. I've seen it on other high ticket items for sale online. In this case Affirm reduces the friction of buying higher priced products. The phone I'm typing on now was financed through symphony credit. Zero interest, and 36 monthly installments. I'm sure there are penalties if I don't pay ev…

That's not really what the article is talking about though.

That kind of loan is nothing new. My parents were buying furniture on zero-interest installment plans decades ago. They offer zero-interest financing as an incentive to buy.

The article is about installment plans replacing high interest payday loans, which is a whole other game.

Re: Online installment loans have taken the subprime market by storm

#204

Post by manthedudeguy »

geggam wrote: post #61
mikestew wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then I guess option B is all I’m left with.

OK little story here Abusive drunk family, plenty of legal issues as a child, ran over by a drunk driver, ( flatlined 3 times in ICU for a month and disabled ), divorced 2 times, 2 kids, married again, adopted 2 kids, worked my way into silicon valley, now I do ok cliff notes of my life. Judge me all you want but what I have learned is life is a fight to the death. You can lay down and let it run over you complaining…

"Everyone should have it as bad as I did!"

Re: Online installment loans have taken the subprime market by storm

#205

Post by geggam »

ianleeclark wrote: post #141
geggam wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Several things come to mind here. What is stopping them from starting the business ? Govt regulations ? Are you saying big govt is preventing you from starting a business ? Do you think more govt will fix the problem ? Govt regulations dont stop undocumented immigrants from coming here to work. They come from a place where govt regulations dont stop them from starting a business. What is the answer ? More social prog…

> What is stopping them from starting the business ? Resources, obviously. If someone is screwed enough to have to reach for pay-day loans, that indicates they don't have enough resources. Likely their other credit lines are maxed out and their social support nets are either completely dissolved or just as illiquid as the prospective borrower is. So they can't invest any starting capital into the investment. The seco…

You mean they cant go around cleaning houses / cooking for people or some other service job ?

Why do undocumented workers come here for the opportunity ?

Re: Online installment loans have taken the subprime market by storm

#206

Post by manthedudeguy »

geggam wrote: post #79
awinder wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think most people are downvoting you for being an asshole. There’s a way to make your point without being so incendiary and callous. “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”

I have very few friends. I have a discriminating taste aka standards. Something society has lost.

I would predict the reason you have few friends has less to do with your standards and more to do with other people's standards.

Re: Online installment loans have taken the subprime market by storm

#207

Post by greenshackle2 »

mumblemumble wrote: post #154
dfcagency wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is victim blaming. Do a little back of the napkin budget on $4,200/month (GENEROUS) take-home pay in say, Fremont, California. You run out of money real, real quick.

It is generous; I think that's about in line with median personal income in the US. If a person can't make ends meet on that kind of money in Fremont, that probably says more about Fremont than it does about anything else.

"In line" is a bit of a stretch, the median gross personal income for full time workers in the US is slightly below 4000 per month.

EDIT: The median personal income for all workers (including part-time), is of course much lower, more like 2700.

But it doesn't make that much sense to compare the national median income with a high CoL area, where you also expect higher salaries.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_income_in_the_United_...

Re: Online installment loans have taken the subprime market by storm

#208

Post by geggam »

Frondo wrote: post #182
geggam wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OK little story here Abusive drunk family, plenty of legal issues as a child, ran over by a drunk driver, ( flatlined 3 times in ICU for a month and disabled ), divorced 2 times, 2 kids, married again, adopted 2 kids, worked my way into silicon valley, now I do ok cliff notes of my life. Judge me all you want but what I have learned is life is a fight to the death. You can lay down and let it run over you complaining…

This is a bad way to run a society, that everyone is "in a fight to the death," especially for the wealthiest nation in history. We're sitting on enough resources to feed and house everyone, and the rich would still be fabulously rich. "I struggled, therefore struggle is okay" is not the answer.

I didn't quit and because of that succeeded in spite of the obstacles.

There is your example.

Trust me... being on disability was an option and quite tempting.

I wanted more out of life than to sit around letting others take care of me.

Re: Online installment loans have taken the subprime market by storm

#209

Post by throwawayhhakdl »

christophilus wrote: post #143
davidhyde wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your income level does not make you wealthy, it is your capacity to absorb financial speed bumps. At uni, I made less money than some of my peers but I felt wealthier than them. This continued into our professional lives and had nothing to do with our relative income levels. Back then I always had spare cash to spend when an opportunity arose. An unplanned weekend trip away, a celebratory night out, no problem. Sure…

This brings up a tangential question I've had lately. When I played video games (especially RPGs), I always ended the game with a mountain of unused resources at my disposal. I rarely used items, cash, etc, unless the ROI was plainly evident. Many of my friends would just burn through cash / items as soon as they had them, and were often in a bind during tough battles / situations. I wonder if this followed us into l…

I rarely spent a dollar in video game economies, but I attribute that to most video game economies not rewarding it well. It’s hard to design that, because players can find themselves out of cash and that might create dead ends if it’s necessary.

Though perhaps the Sims or tycoon games suggest otherwise. I was always running broke in those.

Re: Online installment loans have taken the subprime market by storm

#210

Post by geggam »

ceejayoz wrote: post #115
geggam wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not the only person with this perspective. Some very accomplished people agree with me. “Shallow men believe in luck or in circumstance. Strong men believe in cause and effect.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson You don't know that dying in a gutter was actually better than the other option for their life.

Emerson received a substantial inheritance from his first wife's estate, which gave him built-in income of about $30k/year (inflation adjusted). Lucky people often prefer to pretend it was all hard work, but that kind of financial cushion makes a big difference.

You saying he lucked into a marriage ?

Marriage is work. This I do know.

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