When It's Good to Be in Uniform

[Ntypical]

Below is a little article I found.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21689515/

"It seems there's a new federal law that's designed to protect service members from being taken advantage of by so-called payday lenders."

I am sure that you have all seen the adds for these lenders in the paper, or on TV. What they do is totally legal. But legal does not always mean right. They prey on young adults that are not smart enough to read the fine print. It is kind of like that crap with adjustable rate mortgages, but on a smaller scale that ends up being much more expensive.

"The new law caps the annual interest rate at 36% for people in the military and their families."

Wow thirty six percent! That sounds a bit high for a cap doesn�t it?

"According to the Deseret News, payday loans in Utah had interest rates averaging a whopping 521%, and car title loans averaged 300%. Yowza!"

A little blast from the past.

Way back when, I was a team leader with 3/8 STA, one of my scouts got one of these car title loans and did not read the fine print. His initial interest rate was four and a half percent. Within two months it rose to over six hundred percent. Because he was unable to pay it went to collection, the command was notified and he was NJPed. Reduced from LCpl to PFC, fined half a months pay for two months, 45 days restriction, 45 days extra duty. Because of this NJP he lost his secret clearance, was kicked out of STA and sent back to a line company. This guy was a fairly intelligent guy, he just made a mistake and did not read the fine print. Then when he got into trouble he kept it quiet. By the time the Command found out there was nothing they could do to help him, and were required by the order to NJP and reduce him.

Moral of the story is be careful, not everyone out there is honest.

[Tyvek]

Yeah. I made the mistake of getting a Title Loan on my truck... I had no choice really, I needed the money, I only borrowed $300 and I have paid back nearly $500 and I still owe close to $250.

[Ntypical]

Thats rough. How long have you been paying on it?

[Tyvek]