Financial Predators: Vermin, Rodents and Other Insect Pests

While there are predators all around us, we generally do
not think of our financial providers as predators. Typical
providers we might use include banks, financial centers
(the fancy name some banks call themselves today), credit
unions, mortgage brokers, and mortgage bankers to name a
few.

With thousands of people going online and starting
home-based Internet Marketing businesses daily, many
quickly develop a need for more capital to build their new
part-time, second-income enterprise. Some inexperienced
newcomers fail to budget properly and soon find themselves
in over their head.

Their next likely stop is to find a lender. I was stunned
yesterday to get in my post office box one of those new,
fancy, 6-by-9-inch oversized postcards with this screaming
headline on the slicked up front side: Get $5,000 by
tomorrow!

If I did not know better, I would have thought I was
reading one of the exaggerated opportunities that pops up
on my monitor every day, you know, the one that says "Join
Us Now And Collect Your $2,000,000" from "one of the
world's most rewarding financial associations." Yeah,
right. I could use an extra $2 million, and if I read
through the entire sales pitch, I would probably find out
that I really had to do very little to get it.

Sometimes it is easier to relate to the $5,000 you can get
tomorrow (yes, you read right, tomorrow). You see, the
lender in this case does not want a lot of legal paperwork
and collateral to hold you up. Heck, they just need your
signature!

This presents a wonderful opportunity to play Donald Trump.
There was a time when The Donald could borrow millions by
just signing his name on a dotted line. Sure, the $5,000
lender, called CashCall out of Fountain Valley, California,
presumably does a credit check and, even if you rent or
your credit is not perfect, the $5,000 will be in your bank
account tomorrow (this delivery process is commonly known
among the financial community and those who borrow such
sums in such ways as a bank wire transfer). And, of course,
your immediate money problems are solved! Viola! (as the
French would say).

Turns out the source of the money received actually comes
from First Bank & Trust of Milbank, South Dakota, a member
of the FDIC, mind you (this important fact is used to
apparently inspire confidence in the lender which is
probably in good standing with your federal government as
FDIC does stand for the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation, an independent agency of your federal
government).

Words cannot express how choked up I am with compassion
over the fact that a bank would lend someone $5,000 on
their signature only, and deliver the money into their
account the next day. Some banks are just too wonderful
for words.

A lot of folks would be overjoyed at the bank's generosity
and understanding in their time of need. Then again, those
same folks probably would be too excited about solving
their "problems" to read the fine print in the same offer.

Did I just say fine print? Yes I did. That is the really
small type on the bottom of the back of the life-saving
postcard that has the catchy headline (get $5,000 by
tomorrow!), and the prominent picture of ten $100 bills on
the front, that says:

"Example of loan terms: The Annual Percentage Rate (APR)
for a $5,075 loan is 59.90%, with 84 payments of $254.03."
This is what I call a 7-year, fixed-rate loan that will
bring the lender $21,338 in return. So, here is the deal:
You get a $5,000 loan and the privilege of repaying the
$5,000 you borrow plus another $16,338 in interest.

It caused me to wonder if they sell asbestos suits in
Milbank, South Dakota, surmising that some folks may
develop a need for them, depending, of course, on where
they might be going.

The next time your lender is being so nice to you, remember
the message of this postcard, and ask yourself, "Why is
this lender (or banker) being so nice to me?" The answer,
dear friend, is not that he or she has your best interest
at heart.

Why should I even give this seemingly obscure offer even
two cents of my time? Only to make this point: Since when
is helping a financially desperate person made better by
driving them deeper into debt, and then leaving them as
ignorant as you found them?

H. L. Mencken (1880-1956), who became a U. S. journalist
and literary and social critic, once said "You can never
underestimate the stupidity of the American people." Man,
was he right.

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Ed Bagley is the author of Ed Bagley's Blog, which he
publishes daily with fresh, original writing intended to
delight, inform, educate and motivate readers. Visit Ed
at . . .
http://www.edbagleyblog.com