Consumerist
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wall street bailout
Government To Banks: Why Are You Making Predatory Loans With Taxpayer Money?
The bailed-out banks have found a new way to annoy the government, according to the Congressional Oversight Panel, the body named by Congress to oversee the federal bailout. Chair of the committee and friend of the blog, Elizabeth Warren, is concerned that the same people who are subsidizing the banks are being targeted by abusive lending practices, says the Wall Street Journal More » -
predatory lending
National Usury Limit Could Reduce Number Of People Paying Debt Until They Die
For about 30 years, there has been effectively no limit on the interest rates lenders can charge. This means some loans—especially payday loans, tax refund anticipation loans, overdraft protection loans, and car title loans—can have effective interest rates as high as 3,500%.
A new bill proposed by Senator Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) would cap the interest rate on consumer credit transactions at 36%. Is it time for the government to reign in the lending market? Yes, it is. More »
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mortgage meltdown
Meet The Savings & Loan That Destroyed Wachovia
60 Minutes recently took a look at World Savings Bank, the acquisition that ultimately wounded Wachovia so badly that it had to be acquired by Wells Fargo. What was wrong with an institution for which Wachovia was willing to pay $25 billion? Well, one whistleblower claims that World Savings was engaged in fraud and predatory lending — tricking its customers into signing up for dangerous "option-arm" or (as they cheerfully called them) "pick-a-payment" loans. More » -
pay day lending
Ohio Continues To Punch Pay Day Lenders In The Face
Check 'N Go, a pay day lender, is closing 36 of its 71 stores in Ohio after voters failed to repeal a law that stopped them from charging asinine interest rates. More » -
predatory lending
Car Title Loans Are Liable To Leave You Taking The Bus
You surely already know better, because you're a loyal Consumerist reader, but stay far, far away from the form of legalized usury known as car title loans! CNN has published an overview of the industry, noting that APRs frequently exceed 200%, and that added fees and loan "rollover" options help keep borrowers in a cycle of debt. More » -
smackdowns
Ohio Punches Payday Lending Industry In The Face, Breaks Its Nose, And Laughs
Gov. Ted Strickland, of the great state of Ohio, has signed a bill that punches the rapidly growing payday lending industry in the face. As we've mentioned before, the bill will cap interest rates at 28% and limits consumers to 4 payday loans per year. A typical payday loan charges around $15 per $100 borrowed on a 2 week loan, which works out to an interest rate of 391%. More » -
subprime meltdown
Countrywide Still Asking Consumers To Lie About Their Income
Countrywide would like you to believe that it put all that messy "predatory subprime lending" business behind it and is no longer coaching consumers to lie on their loan applications in order to qualify them for loans they can't afford... but are they telling the truth about telling the truth? One woman who recently contacted Countrywide about refinancing her home told NPR that sketchy mortgage lending is alive and well at Countrywide. More » -
usury
Arkansas Attorney General To Payday Lenders: Shut Down Or I'll See You In Court
On March 18, Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel sent letters to 156 payday lenders, ordering them to stop issuing new loans and void any current and past due loans or face legal action. McDaniel charges that the lenders are violating Arkansas's constitutional prohibition against usurious interest rates. More » -
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evil
Payday Lenders Convince Elderly To Assign Social Security Checks To Them, Hand Back Allowances
This writer is quickly growing convinced that payday lenders are the modern version of indentured servitude, trapping consumers in cycles of debt that simply cannot be broken in their lifetimes. The Wall Street Journal published a story last week about payday lenders who make loans to the elderly and effectively take over their Social Security or disability payments, handing back whatever remains after they take their cut. Though it sounds like it should be illegal, payday loan companies are partnering with banks to pull this off. More » -
subprime meltdown
Ameriquest Is Dead
Ameriquest, the lender the epitomized everything that was f*cked up about the subprime mortgage meltdown, is dead. More » -
predatory lending
Utilites And Payday Lending: Why Does AT&T Have 206 Payday Lenders Collecting Bill Payments?
One in four utilities bills is paid in person, and often the transaction takes place within a payday lending establishment, according to a new report by the National Consumer Law Center. The report finds that there are over 650 licensed payday lenders serving as bill paying facilities for 21 public utilities companies, including 206 working for AT&T alone. More » -
subprime
Ameriquest Employees Confess: Lying To Customers, Forging Papers
Yesterday's Morning Edition featured confessions from former Ameriquest mortgage employees. The confessions included startling revelations, such as: More » -
lending
BusinessWeek: The Poverty Business
Business Week's top story concerns the "subprime" lending industry in the United States. It's a good read, one of those articles that makes you feel smarter for having read it. It's shocking too, reading about a Navajo woman who makes $15,000 a year being lent $7,922 at 24.9% (to buy a 1999 Saturn with 103,000 miles on it) makes us slap our foreheads in frustration. But that's how it goes when you're poor. Your bank is a car dealer, your tax accountant is Jackson Hewitt and you're screwed. —MEGHANN MARCO More » -
subprime lending
Americans For Fairness In Lending Calls On Regulators To Rein In The Subprime Lending Industry
Newly-formed Americans for Fairness In Lending (AFFIL) has called on regulators to use the crisis within the subprime lending industry as an opportunity to "reign in rogue practices." [sic] I think everyone recognizes that the subprime lending crisis is caused by a number of factors, from uninformed and unwise borrowers to greedy mortgage lenders to banks that have turned a blind eye for too long. Maybe aggressive regulation—for at least a time—is the right way to ensure that everyone involved is forced to be responsible. More » -
foreclosure
Yet Another Should-Have-Been-Obvious Effect Of The Subprime Lending Fiasco
Credit counselors are bracing for the continuing fallout from the expected 1-3 million foreclosures during 2007. More » -
mortgages
NewsFlash: Middle-Class Borrowers Also Get Screwed
You could be forgiven for thinking that predatory lenders really only go after poverty-stricken borrowers. However, a recent study by the San Diego Business Journal found that 73% of predatory loans were made to middle and upper-class borrowers. More » -
credit cards
Student PIRGs Aims To Eliminate Irresponsible Credit Card Marketing on College Campuses
If you haven't seen Maxed Out yet, put it on your to-do list. And after you've watched it and are all fired up about the credit industry, here's something you can do about it. Student PIRGs has set up a website to collect stories about irresponsible credit card marketing practices on college campuses. Stop in and drop off your own experiences. More » -
law
Senior Democrats Propose New Predatory Lending Legislation
Following on the heels of a media blitzkrieg on the credit industry, including payday lending, credit card companies, and the subprime mortgage industry, Democratic legislators in both houses of Congress are moving forward with legislation to curtail predatory lending practices. From the NY Times article: More »
predatory lending
New York, 8:54 PM
Wed Nov 11
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