[Newsbot]

Title: Stricter rules force closure of Alberta payday lending stores, says industry boss
Category: Provincial Politics
Posted By: DrCaleb
Date: 2018-01-15 10:10:54
Canadian

[DrCaleb]

[Thanos]

"We need massive unregulated usury to survive" isn't much of an appeal to the public or government.

[DrCaleb]

Robert A. Heinlein Robert A. Heinlein:

“There has grown up in the minds of certain groups in this country the notion that because a man or corporation has made a profit out of the public for a number of years, the government and the courts are charged with the duty of guaranteeing such profit in the future, even in the face of changing circumstances and contrary to the public interest. This strange doctrine is not supported by statute not common law. Neither individuals not corporations have any right to come into court and ask that the clock of history be stopped, or turned back.”

I've heard stories that people borrowed $100 - $200 to put food on the table, or pay a bill one month, and rolled the load over for a couple months . . . and ended up paying $12k on that original C note.

It's time to end this bullshit, and it's also time to get someone, even the banks, involved in lending to high risk creditors without it costing an arm and a leg.

[Thanos]

That's a bridge too far because even here in Soviet Canuckistan the banks end up writing the rules that the governments rubber-stamp for them. The punishment for having shattered finances from a failed business or a job loss in a recession lasts longer than the punishment for murdering someone. A murderer usually gets out in fifteen years or so. Someone who has to declare bankruptcy or gets the collection agencies after them is doomed for their entire life. Hate to think about what it's like for folks in the US where there's zero regulations over usurious lending and abusive collection practices. Those bastards are probably responsible for more suicides than all the PTSD from the last four major wars combined.

[herbie]

Hey the economy of my town is so fucking good even the Cash Store went tits up!

[bootlegga]

Thanos Thanos:

"We need massive unregulated usury to survive" isn't much of an appeal to the public or government.

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

Robert A. Heinlein Robert A. Heinlein:

“There has grown up in the minds of certain groups in this country the notion that because a man or corporation has made a profit out of the public for a number of years, the government and the courts are charged with the duty of guaranteeing such profit in the future, even in the face of changing circumstances and contrary to the public interest. This strange doctrine is not supported by statute not common law. Neither individuals not corporations have any right to come into court and ask that the clock of history be stopped, or turned back.”

I've heard stories that people borrowed $100 - $200 to put food on the table, or pay a bill one month, and rolled the load over for a couple months . . . and ended up paying $12k on that original C note.

It's time to end this bullshit, and it's also time to get someone, even the banks, involved in lending to high risk creditors without it costing an arm and a leg.

While I fully support limits to payday loans, the problem is that many of them are just moving online and operating out of the States or even overseas, which makes enforcing these rules next to impossible for the government.

And in deference to your Heinlein quote, I agree that the government isn't expected to guarantee profit to corporations, but they also aren't there to stop people from acting impulsively/rashly either.

That responsibility ultimately falls on the individual.

[herbie]

Got a 35 yr old kid who won't stop using those outfits. No permanent address, no bank account, loses his ID at least 5 times a year, etc.
Sent him $100 through the local outfit years ago, he got $65. And that was after the dumb twat called cuz he couldn't remember his password. The dog he had as a kid.... duhh

Didn't get birthday gift this year, he asked me to drive to the nearest one 160 km away and do it again. Had to tell him no way, fucking grow up. Haven't heard from him since August...

[housewife]

When I was working down town I met a guy who cashed government cheques at one of those places. First off I don’t think he mentality mature enough to have a cheque he was in assisted living place but was never seemed clean or properly dressed for the weather. I spent a lot of time trying to get him talk to his worker and fix his problem with the bank so he wouldn’t have to use those places. I hope he did. No idea how old he was but mentally I always thought between 7 - 10. It was heartbreaking to work there and see so many taken advantage of.

[Thanos]

The extra problem for a person like that is that they'd probably be in trouble with the bank, like being in arrears as the grind of constant fees and cost of living increases steadily chip away at the pay cheques and assistance funds that remain stagnant. So if they took their cheque to the bank they'd lose all of it to make up the deficit. The cheque-cashers for those in a situation like that are the better option because even if they get charged $4 for every $100 in the cheque, plus another service fee, they're still retaining most of the cheque's funds whereas with the bank they end up losing it all.

This is why I think the banks should be obligated to provide a fee-free overdraft of, say, $500 to $1000 for every chequing account customer. It lets the customer cover the bills without being nailed by the wildly excessive NSF fees (typically $45 per NSF these days, which is absolutely criminal to be allowed to charge) and doesn't force them to go to the cheque cashers just to be able to keep their pay or assistance money for themselves.

[housewife]

No Thanos he told me he got kicked out. He was a smelly loud kid in a fifty plus body. People can’t deal with that reality that not everyone conforms to their “normal”

[Thanos]

You know him so I'll believe you. My only point would be that the regular banks would look at someone like that as being as much of a pigeon to fleece as the cheque cashers do. As bad as the Money Mart's are the rest of the financial industry isn't better in the slightest at not kicking people when they're down. Maybe even worse because the cheque cashers don't bother to trick a customer into thinking they're "special". More than any other business out there it's always the interests of the bank first, even if it means the literal financial destruction of the customer. When the chips are down any customer in a difficult spot makes a quick transition to just another victim of the banking sector.

[herbie]

Instead of your overdraft idea I think the feds should require banks to cash gov't issued cheques for free so long as picture ID is supplied.
Or the Post Office should provide a free account and bank card w no overdraft, no cash handed out.

[Thanos]

Yeah. Or a national government bank that provides the basic banking services either for free or at a much reduced cost. This isn't bank nationalization commie talk to freak the free marketeers out, it's just an idea to provide a lower cost/no penalty/no interest alternative for those who have gotten nailed by the for-profit banks too often. If our tax dollars end up bailing out banks on a regular basis then why shouldn't the government provide some kind of opt-out venue for those who've simply had enough of getting ripped off all the time?

[BRAH]

_______________

Meh, there's always the private businesses.