Is the Financial industry proud of the way they Shylock themselves and pray on the weak at Christmas?

Question

There are so many short term loans advertised now for the Xmas period, using marketing and advertising tricks along the way that would have made Geobbels very envious; they are praying on those that need the money the most by generating unnecessary need and selling lies to them...

Here in England, very respectable loan companies, Tesco for example, are offering 'fantastic deals' in the newspapers that work out at an APR of 22600% !!

How can such a well regulated industry be allowed to do this?

It is simply a new form of greed and predation and ironically could be considered the very antithesis of the Christmas creed of selfless giving...

I bet the finance industry has a very merry Christmas, at what cost for the poor fools that feel they need industrys help

Answer 1

Bah humbug!
Could you possibly lend me a bunch of fivers so I may knock some humour into those who predate this section, yet failed to answer this question...

Answer 2

I know in the USA, we have short-term loan companies who offer people payday loans and such for insanely usurous prices. It isn't limited to holiday seasons, either. A lot of people make it from paycheck to paycheck by living loan to loan. It's sick, I admit, but it makes money for the shareholders, which makes the CEO happy, which makes the employees below the CEO happy.

It's very simple in the USA; all a company has to do is link itself legally to a bank in a particular type of state, in which there is no regulation on interest rates. Most states have usury laws, but some still don't -- and while most banks won't dirty their hands charging 300%+, they'll happily collect earnings from places in the lower part of town who do that and then some.

When it comes right down to it, the only way to stamp out such injustices is to stop falling for them. All people have to do is live within their means, work on expanding their means, and forego immediate gratification for delayed gratification.

Since I doubt most of the world will do that anytime soon, these places will continue making a killing on the "can't wait" crowd... and I'll continue stewing about how I had the chance to invest in one back in the day, but didn't.