Last week I got to observe the inner workings of a pay day loan establishment. Let's just say I was doing "research". Well, I spent a good 2 hours in this particular establishment observing and man, people are hooked on those things like crack! Folks from all walks of life were strolling in to a)pay on their loan; b)pay off their loan; c) pay off their loan and reapply; d) get a new loan. I couldn't believe the volume of customers that this particular business had going for themselves. Who knew that 400% interest would appeal to that many folks! I was particularly amazed at the number of people who come in, pay their $345 (maximum loan amount is $300 + $45 finance charge) and then IMMEDIATELY re-new their loan, basically get the same money they just handed over returned to them, only to repeat this cycle on their next pay day.
I've been fortunate enough to not have to rely on the use of a payday loan to get me through any rough patches but it just seemed like this was the lifestyle for the majority of the folks coming through the doors of this fine establishment. I wonder if any of those people know that getting caught up in pay day loans is dangerous, because often times folks don't have the money to pay them back when the time comes. I also wonder if any of the folks actually care that they're being charged 400% interest for this loan so that they aren't "broke til payday" anymore. Somehow I doubt that as well. I wanted to tell those people to not get the loans and that there were other ways to save money but that surely wasn't my position to do, especially since I was there as a visitor of an employee. Either way, I appreciate where I am in life and that in the event that I'm broke til payday, I know that if I had to, there are people in my life who wouldn't charge me 400% interest to get me through my rough patch.
Brown..out!
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