Payday Loans VS. Loan Sharks
The Huffington Post recently had an article about Payday lenders leaving Arizona. In their usual left leaning slant the article was cheering about these companies were leaving the state, and how awful they were preying on people to take out loans. Which got me thinking about what exactly is predatory lending anyway? Is the lender stalking you, forcing you to sign that loan for a paycheck you don’t have yet? Are they putting the proverbial gun to the borrower’s head making them take out the loan? Common sense says of course not. It should go without saying getting a payday loan is bad money advice! If I must resort to using payday loans to support my existing lifestyle, I need to cut back or make additional income. It’s not uncommon for a payday loan’s effective APY to be over 40%! Some people do use these loans because of emergency purposes, which in my opinion is fine, and was the original purpose of these loans. Is it the fault of the lender that the individual keeps coming back to use their service?
Expect Even Lower CD Rates
Want some insight into why savings, CD rates, and money market rates are low and about to get lower? The FDIC recently ruled banks that are not “well capitalized” will not be allowed to sell fixed investment products for more than 75 basis points (or 0.75%) above the national average. Whatever “well capitalized” means is subject to FDIC’s terms. This effectively puts a cap on the highest rate any bank can offer.
Mint Review: Should I Use Mint.com?
Mint.com
Mint is a FREE online personal finance (web 2.0) service similar to Quicken. Mint was recently acquired by Inuit for ah… mint. I decided to look at Mint to see what the buzz is about. For the past 6 months I’ve taken mint.com for a test spin with my personal finances. With Mint you have local software to install and is a service you can access with any web browser.
Learn MoreLending Club Review – How to Become a Bank
Click here for an update of the Lending Club reviewDid you ever wish when applying for a bank loan, that you were the loan officer sitting on the other side of the table? Well now you can with peer-to-peer (P2P) lending services like Lending Club. They offer a higher rate of return (over 9.6%) than many other traditional investments and you have some ability to manage risk. It’s similar in class to bonds, but is more like if you owned a bank and were the loan officer. You determine which loans you want to approve, and which ones to pass on. Sounds interesting? Keep reading for more details.
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