Car title loans?

[salin]

Just saw an ad for this - get a loan - give us your car title - but keep driving your car... no background check needed and more (I couldn't remember all of their spiel).

Never heard of this before. Of course I don't watch much tv.

Strikes me as though we are in an era where consumerism has run amuk - that there is a market for anyway to get more cash to spend - the ad wasn't focusing on spending for emergencies - what of the 'models' says... you can get money to buy... whatever you want...

Something about this add and this gimmick strikes me as bad - and as a symbol of something that I can't quite put my finger on (what it is symbolic of).

[Sammy Pepys]

1. garbage garbage garbage

Stay a thousand miles away from those types of places.

[RebelOne]

2. These car title loans have been around for quite a while.

It's a racket. You get a loan on your car and pay an exhorbitant amount of interest. I know. My brother had one of the loans.There are car title loan offices all over the Atlanta area.

[salin]

4. Why would one increase ones "car payment"?

Seems like a racket - bet these are much more prevalent in poorer neighborhoods.

[seriousstan]

3. Symbolic of financial fools and their money.

[salin]

6. like... republican voters?

[OldLeftieLawyer]

5. "Car title loans"

That's just a fancy way of saying "collateral."

It's what a mortgage is, and that's all. Nothing new. Why wouldn't a lender want collateral to guarantee its investment?

Language is often used to confuse - this is a great example. It's nothing but an ad for a car loan.

[salin]

9. So who gets rights for repossession

when one defaults on the original financing *and* the 'car title loan'?

[ProdigalJunkMail]

13. gotta have title to get one of these loans

and you won't be holding title if the bank 'owns' the car...no repo struggles...you have to own it outright...and THEN have it repo'ed by the title loan place...

sP

[salin]

16. Duh....

that makes sense. Have only ever bought cars - outright (and thus with the title) - usually used cars. *feel silly for the question/statement.*

Hi, btw! Hope you are well.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

40. doing great...thanks for asking!

I hope all is well with you and yours!

sP

[OldLeftieLawyer]

26. The lender

When someone borrows that money, using the car as collateral, the title is reissued in the name of the lender.

[BushOut06]

19. The actual loan isn't the problem, it's the high interest rates

Most of these places charge exhorbitant interest rates, knowing full well that you won't be able to repay the loan in time. Then in order to avoid losing your car, you take out another loan to pay off the first, and it becomes a vicious cycle that you can't escape from.

Add to that the fact that most of these places are in very low-income areas, and target the poor. You aren't going to see some guy getting one of these loans for his Lexus.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

29. Same as prices of crap in 7-11s,

and any local groceries in low-income areas. What I pay $2 for here in affluent, white America, people in poor areas will pay $5.

Ah, America. Gotta love it.

[Warpy]

7. Predatory lending alert!!!!

You "get" to drive your car, but you soon find out that if you aren't able to pay that loan off in the two weeks you signed up for, those interest charges mount up fast. They're not after your car, they're after those big interest payments, often 300% per year or more, to saddle you with a large debt you'll never recover from.

AVOID THEM AT ALL COSTS.

[salin]

10. Ah - the tend to be 'short term loans'?

Sounds like usury.

I do 'reverse' car financing - as in sock the money aside before buying the car - than buy the car without financing - hence never paid attention to stuff like this. Ugh.

[thatgemguy]

8. Predatory Lending

The target of these loans are people who can't get money any any other way. I'm sure the interest rates aren't all that favorable either.

Getting rich by exploiting the poor and disadvantaged, ain't that the new American way?!?!?!

[salin]

11. Want to come to a "meeting" with me tonight?

They will tell you all about the joys of becoming an Amway "Dealer" - all you have to do is buy the products first.. :eyes:

Yes it does seem to be the American way *sigh*.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

12. DON'T DO IT

It is usury.

It is a symbol of greed and a government that does not protect us. It should be illegal.

[salin]

14. Wouldn't think of it

heck I just bought my car (with no financing). I had just never heard of it - and even the ad for it made me feel a little slimed.

I am so very worried for my country and her citizens - esp with so many in so much debt... it is like looking at a history book and wondering how close we are to a big financial upheaval.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

21. This is the kind of stuff that keeps the poor

where they are. That and overlimit charges of 50 bucks a months and late payments of 50 bucks added to it, with 25% interest. Also "rent to own" places where you can "buy" a TV for $25 a month for a year. And the TV would cost you 150 at WalMart. They are a victimized class. Sharks in the water and they smell blood.

[salin]

24. Almost as if we are trying to change our society

into a third world nation with a HUGE underclass.

[BushOut06]

32. Reminds me of "rent-to-own" computer ads I used to see on TV

Some company was running ads where you could "rent-to-own" a computer for only $35 per week, for 12 months. Gee, that's only $1820, when you could go down to almost any electronics store and buy a better computer for half that cost.

[BushOut06]

15. They used to be rampant here in Central Florida

Several years ago, Florida passed laws to rein this sort of unsavory practice in after some reporters started doing exposes on them. There are still a few car-title loans around, but they're nowhere near as prevalant as they used to be. Now the big thing is paycheck loans, not sure if you caught my AMSCOT rant awhile back.

[salin]

17. Must have missed it -

as I am not sure what AMSCOT is/stands for.

I am familiar with the paycheck loans - a gazillion of those around my house (I live in a 'transitional' neighborhood.)

[BushOut06]

20. AMSCOT

There have always been these places that do paycheck loans. Usually these places were in strip malls, or shabby looking standalone units. Nowadays, AMSCOT has pretty much cornered the market, at least in parts of Florida. They're very polished, professional looking buildings - look at us, we're a legit business, and are almost as prevalent as McDonald's or 7-11. Seriously, there are parts of Orlando near the airport where you can't go more than a few blocks without seeing one of these places. They also have an aggressive marketing campaign, touting their "no upfront fee tax preparation". Hmmm, how much you want to bet they charge up the ass AFTERWARD?

Nothing makes me want to go Project Mayhem like these AMSCOT businesses.

[salin]

22. I can not imagine rationalizing

working for such a place. Paycheck loans & tax preparation all in one place... how quaint.

Can we bring back usury laws?

[depakid]

18. Loan sharks

Instead of breaking your arm or leg when you can't pay 500% interest, they just take your car instead....

[salin]

25. DIdn't we once have usury laws?

Oh- that would be regulation - and we can't do such a thing.

[Left Is Write]

42. Seems to me we did.

Wasn't it illegal once upon a time to charge 23, 24, 25% interest on credit cards? My daughter - a young adult with just one credit card on a reasonable rate - gets offers all the time for cards with interest rates that make me gag. I always tell her to rip the offers into bits and get rid of them.

[depakid]

43. We sure did

Syayes used to be able to write consumer protection laws for usurious credit card interest. Congress preempted their right to do that- just like they preempted California's banking and financial privacy laws.

Yet another missed opportunity for Dems to have contrasted themselves with the far right.

[DrGonzoLives]

23. It's basically a "payday loan"

Except you get more money and they can take your car if you can't pay. Another way of scamming the poor underserved by the U.S. financial system.

[salin]

28. I would guess that the value of the loan is quite a bit less than

the value of the car. Ugh.

Sidenote: bet you aren't missing the nuttiness of hoosier politics about now... :hi:

[DrGonzoLives]

33. No, I'm back

Thankfully, actually, Chicago is a worthless shithold better off on the bottom of Lake Michigan. Now I get to work on taking John "Scumfuck" Hostettler down again.

[salin]

36. Welcome back

Would love to see Ho-stettler lose.

[ProfessorGAC]

27. It's A Horrible Deal For The Consumer

The interest rates are high, the late fees are punitive, and the term is long. Rotten deal.
The Professor

[salin]

30. Where there ever regulations that would have prevented

some of these "financial products"? - Seems that some bump against what I would consider usurous.

[ProfessorGAC]

31. Yes There Were

Usury laws were almost all buried between 1980 and 1994. Some states still have them, but hardly any.
The Professor

[salin]

38. Why isn't this talked about? Why isn't this an issue

espcially in light of the bankruptcy bill. Read a series of articles on some of the very shady home equity loan outfits that stalk lower income urban (often elderly) areas - made blood-boiling angry.

[SoCalDem]

44. And.. the car continues to depreciate

If the loan amount is high compared to the value of the car (like a wreck..or major engine issue), I wonder if they could just claim it ansd sell it out from under you...

[electricmonk]

34. Al Sharpton is shilling for one of those companies

I see the commercials here from time to time. My respect for Al went way down after seeing those ads.

[salin]

39. No respect

for Al if he is involved as a spokesperson for such misery.

[degreesofgray]

35. It's just one more way to prey on the poor

and nobody is doing anything about it. Payday loan sharks are just as bad. Edwards was the only candidate in 2004 that ever said anything about predatory lenders, IIRC.

[catmandu57]

37. We do have a rather sizable underclass

already and growing everyday. Poor people know what they're getting into, they know the consequenses of not paying the little on time. The true targets are the working poor and lower middle class who don't know what these sleeze balls are capable of doing.
They walk in with their eyes closed and after a good reaming, they're poorer and wiser, I wish it weren't so, but...

[Left Is Write]

41. It's a very dangerous idea.

It's just like loan sharking. I see these ads all the time - and they are encouraging consumers to get these loans to take vacations! Stupid, stupid, stupid. They prey on people who really do not understand the ramifications.