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16
Loans / Payday Loans - A Necessary Evil?
« on: March 06, 2014, 05:48:27 PM »
Payday Loans - A Necessary Evil?



Dan Hyde over at the Telegraph thinks that we should dispense with the seemingly popular sport of bashing payday loan companies and leave it to the borrowers to decide...

Yet that's all well and good if there was actual real choice in the marketplace and some aver that for some folks and their financial needs, the market place just isn't the best place to cater to them, so what to do?

The best part of Dan's piece is the comment section full of anonymous rabidity.

Quote
Payday lenders are like dung beetles. They perform a function in the economy that is only necessary because the economy is full of people who can't make ends meet and aren't worth lending to. Instead of yet another batch of complicated regulations, they should go to the root of the problem and start punishing all loss-making investments with increasingly serious electric shocks.

Charming.

Then there's the nice Bob  who hasn't quite grasped the spelling of the word "know".

Quote
Most of these people no full well what will happen if they do not repay the loan. They also no that the council or local charities will pick up the tab if they do ot bother to repay the loan and plead poverty

And on they go...

But here's the thing, where would such users of the likes of these payday lenders go if they didn't exist? Back street lenders, the tally man, the pawn shop?

Fact is that the poor and the in between pay packets are an easy target and will borrow from anyone who'll give them the money - they seldom have access to things like overdrafts or credit cards as credit for them is often difficult to attain via traditionally accepted means.

Governments over the years have paid lip service to the issue with the industry itself  being called out by high profile folks who have berated the practice and called for their disappearance.

Quote
The archbishop of Canterbury has told Wonga that the Church of England wants to "compete" it out of existence as part of its plans to expand credit unions as an alternative to payday lenders.

It's of course easy to argue that it's wrong to take advantage of those who have no choice and that options should exist that help bridge such a divide but in reality these things exist because of the need. Credit unions just haven't really thrived and can't seem to compete with the advertising of the payday lenders (although that may well change) who fiendishly target popular television slots or use Google to target keywords and low and behold sites like this to push their message to their intended audiences.

Maybe that's part of the problem too, the seemingly lack of ethical competition makes it easy for the 'bad guys' to win against the 'bad guys' as the good guys aren't even at the races.

Today at least, payday lenders are a necessary evil. They exist and are used because they fulfill a need. The better news is that from what I've read at least it would seem that that's slowly changing and the tide is turning and through a mix of more reasonable rates being made available coupled with the odd legislative tweak here and there, we may well see their ascendancy decline.

Have you ever used a Payday loan? What are your thoughts? Is it easy to police these things in the 21st Century? Does the existence of the Internet make this a little unrealistic even? Do say below!

 

17
Disturbing story here from the Telegraph concerning telephone number spoofing

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Fraudsters are targeting bank customers with a new scam using fake caller ID numbers.

The conmen call the customer and pretend to be a representative from their bank or credit card company.

They convince customers the call is from their bank because the caller ID matches a legitimate bank number, often the one printed on the back of a bank card.

The scammers then persuade the customer to hand over sensitive personal and financial information.


Disturbingly, these are freely available on the various app stores meaning it's pretty simple for anyone to do with a determined will. Sold as "fun apps" these allow you to simply change the number that the receiving callers see.


You'd think that phone companies might err on the side of caution and disallow the ability of people to do this but there's no sign yet, in fact it's completely legal according to these guys .


The American FCC states that it's illegal to use such things to defraud people! Which is kind of amusing in that the last I heard it was illegal to defraud people anyway, so I'm not sure what a regulation saying it is does to help really, but then IANAL :)


At the end of the piece, It's good sense to take steps to ensure that you aren't caught out by these people.


How?


  • Never give out personal information or agree to hand over your bank cards
  • If you receive a call from an organisation and you have any doubts and are concerned then call them from another phone but only after you've checked the accuracy of their number. Go online to the organisations official website and get a number direct from there.
  • Never ever, call them back from the same phone. Scammers often stay on the line and fake dial tones and respond as if you are a new caller, even though they're fully aware of who you are as it is often they who have just called you. They'd never even hung up and deficiencies in fixed line phone systems mean that they can stay on the line.
There's a good list of websites here that can help too. Spend five minutes checking them out, you might just save you or someone you love from financial loss.

About Identity Theft (A public interest website on identity theft)
Bank Safe Online(contains a whole range of information and materials concerning keeping your finances safe online)
Get Safe Online
Card Watch 
Insurance Fraud Bureau - Cheatline(if you know anyone involved in committing insurance fraud)
Land Registry Public Guide 17 - How to safeguard against property fraud
Operation Archway(City of London Police operation specifically targeting Boiler Room Scams)
www.identitytheft.org.ukIdentity Theft Prevention Advice for individuals
www.millersmiles.co.uk(a web directory of phishing scams and emails that have been sent historically and recently)


18
Timely reminder from Martin Lewis over at MSE today


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Hi, I just wanted to share my insurance claim story.

We were burgled last year and in the burglary our safe was stolen – this contained over £2,000 in cash. The insurance company refused to cover the loss as it said I couldn’t prove the cash was there. This argument went on for months and it was refusing to pay out for other losses too.

With Martin Lewis’ stubbornness ringing in my ears, I told it that if it was refusing to pay up on the basis I couldn’t prove the items and cash existed, then that must mean I was lying, this would be a fraudulent claim and therefore I needed investigating.

I gave it till 5pm that day to issue my cheque or I was going to the police station myself to ask them to investigate!

After six months of arguing, it rang me that day at 4.50pm to say it would be honouring my claim in full as well as replacing the existing damaged CCTV and alarm system with a £2,000 system as a goodwill gesture for the inconvenience caused by the delay.

I just wanted to share with others that if you are willing to dig your heels in and take these companies on, you can win."


Fair play to the lady concerned, she was pushed from pillar to post for months and eventually got what she had paid for.


Loss adjustors will usually use every trick in the book to reduce their outlay. If only they dithered so long in taking our initial premiums eh!?  >:(


Oh well :)


19
Credit Cards / Credit Cards Today - How do you use yours?
« on: March 03, 2014, 04:18:31 PM »
With interests rates at an all time low, the cost of borrowing has never been cheaper - but are we as consumers getting the best deals from the suppliers.

A look at the Google credit card tool today shows that whilst introductory offers are great (often 0% for the first 18 months) this soon changes shortly after with APR's quoted at between 13% and 52%!


It's a real minefield and quite easy to get sucked in to a well of confusion as the various suppliers seek to pull one in and get one onboard.


The stakes are of course high as people tend to stick with their bank or credit card for years after, simply because it's often a pain in the neck to switch or because folks are resistant to change generally.


What is your experience with your credit card company? Good, bad or are you indifferent to it all? Perhaps you clear your balance each month and use your card wisely? or maybe you're one of these folks who bounce from card to card using one card to pay another!?


Whatever your situation, credit cards are often a useful tool in enabling access to deals or credit that would be otherwise difficult to access - booking holidays, Theatre tickets, buying gifts or clothes, paying every day bills. The list is endless and not having a card can at times be mightily inconvenient and in some cases expensive!


How do you use yours?

20
Welcome to the Think cash Community / Think Cash Introductions
« on: March 03, 2014, 04:02:26 PM »
Hi - Please introduce yourself!

I'm Rob, I'm an administrator at ThinkCash!

ThinkCash exists to enable ordinary folks to discuss their everyday cash issues in a friendly community of like minded folks.

Discuss issues that are important to you; bills, money, investments, travel, employment, pensions and more!

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