Reid About It

I got a flyer in the mail for a local loan company. Apparently, I've been pre-approved for a good sized loan, and they wanted to let me know about it.

All I have to do is show up and sign the papers, and they'll hand me a check for $9001.70.

Nine thousand dollars? Wow! This sounds like a great deal for anyone who has outstanding debts, wants to invest, or is suffering from a rapidly terminal disease. Or anyone who is stupid, can't read, or whose grasp of economics ends with "you have to buy four houses before you can get a hotel."

Here's the catch, which is printed in small print so fine it would make an eagle squint. The second you sign this check your payments start, and you owe them about $270 a month for the next sixty months.
By simple calculation, This $9000 loan will cost you $3200 a year for five years, which is probably four years and ten months longer than the original nine grand will last most of these people.

Chances are, anybody that will take a $9000 loan without reading the fine print will spend the money quickly on big TVs, rims, and building additions onto their trailer.

How is this possible? This makes the dirtbags at "Blue Hippo" look like the Salvation Army. At 25.52% interest, the words "loan sharking" come to mind.

This is the kind of sound financial transaction that's put our economy in the toilet, but I can't decide which is worse, the people who make the loans, or the people dumb enough to take them.

It should be against the law to offer a loan like this, and also against the law to accept one. I fully support the authorities entering this business at any point, without a warrant, and deporting anyone on the premises on either side of the desk.