The richest man in Babylon, and I blame that book a bit.

It makes money lending out to be some sort of heroic deed, of course it is not.

Investment, not lending is the heroic deed, not these pound of flesh style merchants.

There should be no bank loans, only bank investments, no credit cards only payment systems paid for and controlled by banks. And we need to electronic cash as well, someone needs to sort that out.

We need excessive property buying to be seen as a bad thing, land lords need to be vilified not seen as some necessity.

And we need to celebrate both production and consumption, we don't need financial services, we need products that can be used, things to do, places to go, and to be entertained.

Is it really all that hard, just go round and identify those who don't bring anything to the party, and get rid of them, everyone has to work to make the party happen, if they are not doing their bit in one place, they should be sent out to find a place where they might make it happen.

A long time ago I worked for those guys and can confirm that they are indeed shameless crooks -- they cheated me out of a month's salary and a promised pay rise. Pity that British justice wasn't up to the job.

-A.

With a name like "cash2day4u.com"... how could anyone NOT think they were skanky?

I know some landlords ought to be strung up, but there is a genuine market for people who don't want to own a house. The tenant doesn't have the expenses of maintaining the property, doesn't have to sell the property when leaving and so can move quickly, might not want to stay long, especially if on temporary assignment somewhere.

You may think me too harsh and unsympathetic by what I say next, but you know it's the truth:

Anyone who gets a "loan" from a complete stranger on the Internet, especially with a domain name like cash2day4u, deserves what they get. Someone you don't know (whom you've never seen, and really, you don't even know where they're located) tells you they'll lend you $200, and you say "Duuuuh, OK, but could you hold my sign while I find my bank account information and social security number."? We all know about phishing and about identity theft. We see the warning signs all over the place (including in our banks). Yet with everything warning people about phishing and identity theft, and the steps to take to reduce/avoid it, these people still don't learn.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that the people who fell for this are the same ones who click on links (and actually buy the merch) in spam in phishing emails.

Oh great! More prolonged extradition cases!

Mine's the one with the McKinnon slogan.

Dave, I think you might be in the wrong place.

Chris, harsh and unsympathetic, yes. The truth? Well, if you think it OK for rich clever scoundrels to illegally take money off poor stupid victims -- because they're stupid -- then yes, it's the truth.

-A.

I know some that took out 15 payday loans from the UK and the Caribbean. They then closed out their bank account and had a spending spree. He told the people so long have a nice life.

So, you suggest that it's ok to rip someone off as long as they're sufficiently stupid? Exactly how smart, then, does one have to be before one deserves sympathy? Let me guess... Exactly as smart as you are. Thought so.

Ass.

It's stupid to borrow like this.

It's stupid to break the law while you're lending the money.

After all, if the article is correct, the lender risks jail time and big lawyers fees, and the borrowers don't have to pay back the loan.

Re: "Duuuuh, OK, but could you hold my sign"

"Now I want you to jump into this here pool of sharks and tell us if it hurt when they bites you."

Love that skit. ^_^

What the FTC needs to do is go after the "legal" credit card companies who lure people into borrowing and then triple their interest rates if a payment should happen to "get lost in the mail."

"What the FTC needs to do is go after the "legal" credit card companies who lure people into borrowing and then triple their interest rates if a payment should happen to "get lost in the mail." "

You think thats bad, you can have your rates go up if you pay ever thing off to quickly or don't use the card often enough.