16.2.12

Loan sharks...

 We all know that capitalism is cannibalism.
Watching TV the other day (a daytime pop music programme on some freeview channel aimed, I'm guessing, at 16-24 year olds) I noticed that there were 'payday loans' being advertised that charged an APR of 5500%. I think the popular journalistic cliche for such rates is 'eyewatering'.

It got me thinking about how such companies, targeting low income groups and the financially insecure can be allowed to operate. The 'payday loan' industry in Britain was worth £1.9bn in 2010.
Reading a bit more about the subject of debt and loans I was astonished to read that an APR of 5500% is actually quite generous.
If you were a customer of  Santander (who made a £3 bn profit in 2010) and you happened to be £100 over your agreed overdraft limit for 28 days you would  have to repay £200.
That equates to an  APR of 819,100%.
 It is, to quote Hamlet, a fucking rotten business.
Throw out the Argos catalogue.
Be free.

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