My experience is that near every US Military base, especially on US soil,, there are many business that seem to do nothing but prey on young Enlisted people with terrible "deals" on junk replete with high interest, not to mention those blood sucking payday loan places.
Does this bug you? What kind(s) of scams do you see that are common pitfalls for young Enlisted?
2006-12-03 07:01:27 · 5 answers · asked by Middy S 2 in Politics & Government ➔ Military
I hate that crap. The car dealers seem to be the worst, but that was a while ago, I assume the electronics stores are just as bad now. It seems to be part of the environment at almost every base I've been to around the country.
2006-12-03 07:06:14 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
I have to agree, especially the rent-to-own stores. These stores and the payday loan businesses certainly prey on people with regular paychecks that are not as big as they want. The businesses also know that they will lose their military career if they do not pay the bills.
There are training classes in all services that discuss the dangers of doing business with these blood suckers. But they are grown ups so they can do it if they wish.
If you know of anyone in the military that wants to do a rent-to-own, make sure they know that the Base Exchange (BX), the Post Exchange (PX), and the Navy Exchange (NEX) have very good lay-away programs that are interest free.
2006-12-03 15:13:41 · answer #2 · answered by jpbofohio 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Near the Norfolk Naval base the car dealers were so detrimentally crooked that part of base indoctrination became how to not deal with them. Part of the unit department chief's job also became taking young and inexperienced sailors to buy their first cars... at least for a while. Freakin' sad but at least the base became proactive about the problem.
2006-12-03 15:24:52 · answer #3 · answered by In 2 Deep 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No kidding - some of the car dealers push 14% auto loan interest rates and then want a co-signer on top of it. Ridiculous. I'm sure there are classes on fiscal responsibiilty and that the service men & women are warned against such.
2006-12-03 18:04:08 · answer #4 · answered by Lake Lover 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Oh yes, it bugs me!!!!
This bothers me, too.
As a Phase IV AIT student, my husband is not allowed to leave base. He's not even allowed to ride a POV. That means that all of his time is spent on base, of course, and to get anywhere he either walks or takes a taxi ($2, anywhere on base).
Services on Ft. Gordon must make a haul off of this.
Think about it.
They want a bag of potato chips, they buy it from AAFES or DECA. They need a haircut, they buy it from AAFES. They want to go out to eat, it's AAFES. They don't feel like walking, it goes to the taxi service. They want to use the internet? Gotta buy it from CZee. Want to go to the IET center and play pool? Oohhh... that's a dollar.
There's no competition and all of their money is spent on base because--guess what???--they can't go anywhere else!!!!!!!!!!!!
That's exploitive.
(Not that it bothers me at all....)
2006-12-11 14:53:29 · answer #5 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋