My 2 Second Shelf Life

Payday Pratfalls

While reading Funkaoshi, I ran across his comment and link:

"If you need money to pay your medical bills or get your car fixed, get a loan from the Mafia. You'll get a lower interest rate and better terms." On credit card debt in America.

Basically saying that most North Americans are equivalent to indentured slaves to certain companies.
The Mister and I laughed the other day because the toll highway (407 ETR) sent me a bill for $00.01.

It actually cost them money to send the bill to me.

"Hahahaha", we laughed.
And The Mister said, "Oh, just ignore it".

Not on your life.

I'll send them their $00.01, because that one red cent, can turn into interest fees, and then after 30 or so days ....into a substantial late fee.
Think I'm joking?

I'm not.

I once was charged a $30.00 late fee on a $6.37 bill from the 407ETR that I ignored.
Back in the day when they could hold back your tag if you didn't cough up what you owed them, regardless of whether or not their bill was wrong.
Oh yes...and at that time, their customer service lines were always busy, and only actually open from 9am to 2pm or something ridiculous like that.

So, when I heard about the Payday Loan dilemma the other day, I was not in the least bit surprised.
Apparently, it's easy to fall into the trap of interest and late charges with them, just like the bank can hook you with your overdraft if you're not careful to only use it when you need to.

The CreditInfo Center is calling them "Legal Loan Sharks"...but then, isn't that every credit card company?

Here in Canada, a class action law suit was filed against an Alberta payday loan company for giving loans with interest rates and fees that equated to 15,000 per cent a year.

Shocking?

I don't think so.

The more I read, the more I think that the Mafia is more ethical than credit companies are.