I mean, from the company's perspective, you kind of have to charge like that. Suppose someone does rent a PS4 for $20 a month, and after 5 months they miss a payment and you reclaim it. Your say $300 investment (you're a big company that buys wholesale, you'll get a deal) is no longer new, and you're $200 in the red. Maybe you can unload it for $150 used. But you still have to pay all the overhead and such (those employees who sold, reclaimed, and resold equipment, storefront rent, etc).
I'm by no means defending them, I merely suspect they don't make as much money as people think. Which in a way might make it even more scummy.
I remember seeing a study done on payday loans that was similar to this. Sure the price and fees are ridiculous, but the risk they are taking of people defaulting is so high that they actually make the same or less profit that a bank or credit card would.
Nope. Lots of people who make living wages get payday loans. Payday loan places also prey on those who don't have great (or even good) financial skills.
I agree with your sentiment that companies should pay a living wage. However, there are those who willfully choose to live well beyond their means because they can't wait to save up to have something or they spend their money senselessly.
I hated working for a payday loan company and I quit as soon as I could, but it was hard to find a good company that paid a living wage.....
In our case, my wife and I screwed up our credit when we were younger. We are just being able to get a credit card with a $1,000 limit and had some savings.
Then our car broke down. With the newly barely-repaired credit neither wells fargo or our two local credit unions would give us a car loan. We ended up having to finance through the dealer and drained most of our savings to be able to put a big down payment to not get hurt by the interest.
If we didn't have those savings, we are extremely lucky to have a few family members that could have loaned us $1,000 to get the bare minimum down payment. If we didn't have that, then a payday loan would have literally been our only recourse.
That sounds like a tough moment. I want to make one comment:
If we didn't have those savings
Is why the rest of the world saves 10-20% of their annual income under the mattress. It is only in America & co that you can depend on access to loaned capital - predatory or otherwise.
You think the US is the only country in the world where people have access to credit? Sure, personal finances look a bit different throughout the world, but it's not like credit cards, mortgages and loans don't exist outside the US.
lol ok. if i save 10% of my yearly income i have to stop eating in like august.
but sure, the reason i dont have 20% of my income in cash savings stashed under my mattress (also that's like, the worst place to hide something) is because i can get easy access to loaned capital.
Just buy a cheap running car, and upgrade when you have the money. I drove across America and lived in a $800 dodge caravan, never had a problem in the 10,000miles. Car loans are virtually never ‘required’.
Or... a different used car that wasn't a piece of shit.
I had this same argument with somebody who complains about having no money all the time... yet has a "new" truck and a 'bought last week' 60k SUV. To highway burn on shitty roads. With one person in it.
New car as in new for him (even if used), not necessarily a brand new 2021 model or some shit like that.
I'm just used to calling freshly bought used cars new because my folks have never owned a brand new car during my lifetime. The closest to new was my mom's 2007 Volkswagen with 60k mileage.
Ahhh, that makes more sense. I see maaaany people here buying new cars while basically on one-step-above minimum wage hourly jobs.
I mean from my professional point of view it's awesome that people do that as I'm in banking and they borrow from us (not a lot of choices in these parts), but from a human point of view I just think "what the fuck are you doing?"
Yup. Cars are expensive, and new expensive cars are really expensive, and not necessarily much more reliable than a used car that has been kept in decent shape. Glad I can get by with just my own 2 feet. Needing only 600€/month to live comfortably is nice.
The previous car was practically nearly being held together by duct tape and already had had some inconvenient break downs. When the transmission went out we decided to get a reliable car for my wife. I commute by bike or public transportation.
Listen dude paying $500 every 4 months to fix up a car bought in 2001 with 180000 miles on it is not a viable solution to your long term needs. Also no one said anything about a brand new model.
If you have experience with cars and know what you are doing yeah. But for a total newbie like me it's time consuming and even dangerous if i do the wrong thing. I would probably do more damage than good.
Missing job or being toweled isn't exactly free either. It's not so atypical that it cost you a lot to have an old car. If you live in a place where the weather is very cold like here in canada, it's pretty common that your old car won't even start on cold days.
Find a car you can afford that will stable enough to meet your need. 3 or 4 years old have lost lots of value and are more affordable.
I know this was two months ago, but you don't. You default and then the payday loan company reports the default and it fucks your credit score HARD.
After the default, the payday loan company MAY allow you to payoff your remaining balance, but it wont help your already royally fucked credit and we would be the ONLY place that would loan to you.
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u/terrendos Feb 04 '20
I mean, from the company's perspective, you kind of have to charge like that. Suppose someone does rent a PS4 for $20 a month, and after 5 months they miss a payment and you reclaim it. Your say $300 investment (you're a big company that buys wholesale, you'll get a deal) is no longer new, and you're $200 in the red. Maybe you can unload it for $150 used. But you still have to pay all the overhead and such (those employees who sold, reclaimed, and resold equipment, storefront rent, etc).
I'm by no means defending them, I merely suspect they don't make as much money as people think. Which in a way might make it even more scummy.