|
|
Article: Payday of reckoning. (Frontlines).(protection against high-interest loans)
- Article from:
- City Limits
- Article date:
- May 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 City Limits Community Information Service, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
WHEN THE UNIVERSITY Kim Saunders used to work for started paying her monthly instead of weekly, she knew she needed help with her car loans. So she called Advance America, which had filled mailboxes across Saunders' North Carolina neighborhood with its promotional literature offering short-term cash loans--fast.
The deal: The company would loan her $295 for a fee of just $50, provided she paid it all back in two weeks. Well, two weeks later, Saunders says, she was no richer and couldn't pay back the loan. So she delayed repayment, and Advance charged her an additional $50 fee, as promised in its contract.
Nearly a year later, she has paid the company ...