“Loan-Sharking” equates to usury, which is charging interest above an established legal rate. “Pay Advance”, “Check Advance”, “Deferred Deposit”, “Payday Loans“, or any other label like it is lower than loan-sharking. It is a legal, multi-billion dollar industry that you do not want to get lured into. As a young military in Korea years ago, I remember none of us had much money. Gambling and “other pastimes” took the little we had before month’s end– but there were always the “friendly”, black-market loan sharks offering 50% interest loans very close by. Guess who was also 5 feet away from the pay station on pay day… the Korean version of Don Corleone, of course.
It has not changed much over the years or location or title. The Payday or cash advance lender still preys on the financially struggling individual. The pay back still revolves around payday. The rates are still exorbitant. What has changed is that it is now legal, the “APR” exceeds 350%, and the client is not restricted to the military. The prey are now thousands of struggling, hard working folks who are having a tough time making it to the end of the month. Many toil on very low paying jobs, have serious medical debt, gambling addictions or worse. But they all are collecting pay stubs and maintain a checking account. So the hard working, debt-burdened consumer sees a warm, friendly, office with an innocent name such as Pay Advance. “Is this an opportunity or what?” Sure it is… for the lender. Here’s a scenario from real life copied from e-mail sent to me. “I owe nine check advance companies (companies that will let you write a check for cash with a fee included) a total of $3000. I also have approximately 15 checks I have bounced as a result of trying to pay off these check advance companies. The total amount due of all the checks with fees is approximately $1500. I have people calling me all the time and they are also calling my boss at work. They tell me I can not make partial payments on my checks and almost all of them want their money within ten days or they will turn it over to the county courts office.”
Online payday loans cover the unexpected expenses while avoiding costly bounced check-fees and late payment penalties.
Online payday loans require you to make a post dated cheque containing the borrowed amount and the interest charged on the loan amount to the lender. The amount of online payday loans ranges from 1000 to 1500. These loans are opted for a period of 2-4 weeks till the borrower gets his next paycheque. In case you want to extend the loan duration then you are allowed the same.
Therefore, it is not an “excessive APR” because it’s a fee and any comparison to usury is comparing apples and oranges. So how could it possibly be loan-sharking? DUH. What is wrong with me. But here is another little tidbit. Collectors cannot take partial payment for advance check pay back because advance pay is not considered a loan. Advance check operations fall under non-sufficient fund (NSF) laws, which means they can demand the local district attorney’s office to act as their collection agency.
No wonder these operations are flourishing. They have it all going for them. Authoritative Words From Others. The Consumer Federation of America calls it legal loan sharking: “The Consumer Federation of America describes them [Payday Loans] best: ‘Payday loans are single-payment, short-term loans based on personal checks held for future deposit or on electronic access to personal checking accounts. In a typical transaction, a consumer writes a check for $117.65 to borrow $100 cash, with the total amount due by next payday or in up to 14 days. The $17.65 finance charge computes to a 459% annual percentage rate.’”
All said and done a payday loan is just a cash advance and the facility is also known as: cash advance loan; post-dated check loan; or deferred-deposit check loan. According to the Federal Trade Commission it is “costly cash.” A payday loan varies from USD50-500 at very high interest rates. Ideally you must run your life with financial planning but in an emergency a payday loan can be availed if you are sure you can repay the whole amount on pay day.
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