Tough Times Call for Common Sense (Part I of III)
There is absolutely no one that has not been touched by the
credit crisis in the US. No matter who you are, you have
either paid higher taxes, or purchased higher priced
gasoline, or even got less of a handout wherever they went
in need of one. Food banks are at record lows, donations to
churches and charities have dropped drastically and every
day people are losing their homes.
However, even knowing how tough things are for people and
how long it will most likely take them to come back from
this – there are still those out there that are looking to
prey on the innocent and take them for what little they have
left. In your quest to gain financial freedom, or even in
just to pay the electric bill, there are some things to
watch out for.
Payday loans are one of the worst culprits of the money
scam. They loan you money for about two weeks, until your
next paycheck comes in, and you give them a postdated check.
Then when you get paid, you have to pay them back, with
interest that can be as high as 520%. So if you borrow $100,
you might initially pay them $120 for the loan and the
processing fee, but then you could be looking at owing an
additional $620. Now, let’s say you can’t pay that back,
which you probably can’t, and now you are looking at
extending the loan term and you will pay another fee to
extend it.
If you don’t pay it, you could be looking at them cashing
your postdated check at which point it will bounce and now
you are paying the bank and the lender bounced check fees.
You can only roll it over twice and can only have two at a
time. It is a vicious cycle, and once you take the first
one, chances are you will never get out of it.
Next Time: Title Loans and Rapid Refunds
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