There’s a television commercial that endlessly plays on late night television promising you fast, easy, money.  It’s a 30 second advertisement that actually plays twice in 15 second increments.  The commercial plays once and then instantly re-starts to annoy you with a repeat of what you just heard 15 seconds ago.  I was finally able to capture a screenshot of the “loan” company with my iPhone, and I was shocked to learn the hard-to-read fine print of their financial terms for a $10,000 USD “next day loan” deposited straight into your checking account.

If my eyes don’t fail me, reading the terms of the loan in the screenshot, if you want their money, you will be charged an 89% interest rate on $10,000.

You will make 84 monthly payments.

Your monthly payment will be $743 USD.

At the end of 84 months, you will have paid back $62,412 USD — on a $10,000 loan.

Is that wild and outrageous or what?

I always thought Octomom was the worst loan shark out there, but now I’m thinking there are other, more devious, elements in the ether seeking to dethrone her.

I would love to know who, exactly, would qualify for an instant $10,000 loan.  If you have $743 a month to pay back the loan, why would you need so much money so fast?  I also wonder what the fine print says when you default.  How do they claw back their loan?  If you need a 10k loan, you most likely don’t have many assets available to use to even to pay down even the vig!

Is this considered predatory lending?  Or is this just a good, sound, business practice to offer late night television viewers what appears fast access to a lot of easy money with hard-to-read fine print?  Even when the paperwork is signed, I would be concerned with the borrower’s ability to read and actually understand the harsh terms of what feels like a publicly compromised sharked loan.

I don’t think these $10k borrowers could come up with a thousand dollars in the snap of a finger — and I am also convinced they ultimately have no way to ever pay back an 89% loan rate at $743 a pop for 84 months.

5 Comments

  1. David,

    Quite right! I have always told Elizabeth that if we ever won the lottery one of the things we should do is form a ridiculously low rate loan society that banks (no pun intended) on the good nature of people to ultimately pay back their loans and works with them to do so rather than charging an outrageous 89% very clearly predatory loan. I am so disgusted with it.

    1. Sounds like you’re ready to start your own micro loan company:

      http://www.kiva.org/

      I agree these late night get money fast commercials are bad for the soul. They only tell you about the $10k they’ll loan you in the commercial. The pretty spokesmodel doesn’t reveal the rest of the terms. You have to try to see it yourself in the superfine print.

  2. I think it is a shady company that hides behind the security of reservation law (or lack there of in this matter) to charge an outrageous interest rate for profits. Casinos aren’t enough now apparently and they need a better scheme to get rich fast. Dang the whiteman for legalizing gambling outside of indian reservations. But I agree with you folks, even if someone could afford it, why?

    1. That’s a good poing about the Indian Reservation getting to set such a high vig rate. Would a mainstream bank be allowed to charge that interest rate? I wonder if you can pay off the loan early — or if you have to pay it back over the full 7 years?

  3. Pingback: False Expectation vs. False Representation « Boles Blogs

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