Didn't usury used to be against the law? Or a quick tip to get out

[lectrobyte]

of deployment. And I guess all those Support The Troops magnets don't help them to get paid any better, too...

Pentagon Targets Payday Lenders

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,,-6050596,00.html

excerpting a bit:

The $45 charge for his two-week loan would amount to an annual interest rate of a staggering 459 percent.

Patton said the Navy is worried that payday loans are contributing to the surge in the number of sailors who cannot be sent into duty overseas because of financial problems.

Under Navy rules, sailors whose debts are more than 30 percent of their income cannot be sent overseas, because their financial problems could distract them from their duties or, worse, make them vulnerable to bribery.

[nnyvet]

1. Burn in hell

People like this who take advantage of servicemembers need to be shot.


And servicemembers need a pay raise.

[newyawker99]

11. Hi nnyvet!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Union Thug]

2. These places target working poor and working class neighborhoods...

Look at the geographic distribution of 'payday loan' (aka legalized loansharking) offices sometime.

While this story is about fleecing our military, the bigger story is in how these loansharks are preying on the most economically vulnerable in our society. These bastards charge more in interest than the mob - and they should be chased out of our neighborhoods like the low-lives they are.

[TheFriedPiper]

3. It's expensive to be poor

I think I will make that my new bumpersticker!

[lectrobyte]

4. Oh yes, the payday lenders are scum. It was interesting to me that

troops aren't being deployed because of financial problems, though, too.

[wryter2000]

6. I wish they could all be thrown in jail

And take every cent of their ill-gotten gains. They're a blight on humanity. Fucking blood suckers. (Apologies to vampires.)

[Bandit]

5. It was during the Nixon adminstration that usury laws went bye bye

Used to be anything over 10% was illegal. Now most credit cards are charging over 30% on cash advances. Jesus would have thrown the money changers out of their place of business but Christians today are not true Christians I guess. :shrug:

[wryter2000]

7. If I understand it correctly

Throwing the money lenders out of the temple was the only place in the Bible where Jesus got angry.

[ProfessorGAC]

9. Only The Federal Laws

I think New York and Illinois (where i live) tossed them out at the same time back in the mid-80's. The states followed the federal law repeal in dribs and drabs.

Before that, they weren't set at a value, (at least not here) but as some multiple of the prime rate. I think it was 3x the prime rate, but i'm not completely sure about that.

So, when the prime rate was 5%, nobody could legally charge over 50%. If prime was 6%, the limit was 18%. And so on.

The usury laws, at the state level, more went bye-bye during the Reagan years.
The Professor

[Lydia Leftcoast]

10. I recall a cartoon in the New Yorker or somewhere similar

shortly after credit cards started charging 20% interest.

Two men are in adjacent prison cells. One of them says to the other, "I'm in here for charging 15% interest."

Yes, the interest rates that are common today used to be illegal.

Your corporate-owned government at work.

[ThomWV]

8. Every Day I Was In The Army My Debts Were 100% Of My Income

And most of my working life too ....

[anarch]

12. yeah, but that was before they made poverty illegal

I'm fairly certain that if the Bush administration had its way, they would pass a law making military service mandatory for anyone with debt over a certain amount...and then still make them pay off the debt, too, with interest.