Better Business Bureau of Eastern N.C. Wants to “Defend Our Defenders” From Payday Loans
By Desmond CarlislePayday Loan Writer
It’s a troubling fact that members of the military and their families are a target for shoddy, disreputable businesses.
The Center for Responsible Lending, located in Durham, N.C., is a major consumer advocate, and one that asserts payday loan firms single out the nation's troops for their vulnerable combination of a steady government income, youth and financial inexperience.
When it’s time to deploy, the nation's military families also face extra expenses such as calling cards, care packages and buying six months’ worth of toiletries at once. It can be too easy to take out a quick payday loan without looking at the terms closely enough.
To help protect military families from shady banks or business scams, the Better Business Bureau of Eastern North Carolina has proposed a series of seminars aboard military bases in their 33-county region.
“We recognize the special needs of military families,” said Beverly Baskin, the Better Business Bureau's regional president and CEO, who came to Camp Lejeune in June to discuss the process of bringing seminars to the base.
“I think it will happen, but I don’t know when,” said 2nd Lt. Timothy L. Patrick, base public affairs officer.He added that any seminars would be coordinated through Marine Corps Community Services, which currently offers monthly classes that tell military personnel how to invest, better take control of their personal finances, and buy a car.
“Partnering with the Better Business Bureau would be a good thing,” added Roy Ells Jr., a finance education specialist who teaches financial management classes aboard Camp Lejeune.
Ells supports BBB’s proposal, so long as its one of their staff who does the teaching about payday loans and proper money management, as opposed to a private business rep who is interested in marketing his/her services on base.
“We’ve had insurance and securities individuals who have abused coming on base,” Ells said.
Baskin said that she or someone on her staff would teach the seminars if asked to come to Camp Lejeune.
“You didn’t open the mailbox and find 20 different offers for credit cards,” said Baskin, the daughter of a career Army officer, who says the temptations are far more rampant these days.
She couldn't be more right. As evidenced by the increase in loan volume all across the county, and the concentration of loan outlets around military bases, it's all too easy to get military payday loans these days and for some, it’s devastating.
Years ago, before payday loan companies were driven out of North Carolina, a woman called the BBB, sobbing and suicidal over a $300 loan that had ballooned to several thousand dollars owed to a payday company. Baskin was able to calm the woman and refer her to a credit counseling agency. The BBB hopes to help consumers before they reach that kind of desperation.
Though payday lenders are largely disappearing from the state, predatory lending lies in wait with what Baskin calls “abusive” fees that can total more than five percent of a loan, shady refinancing called “flipping,” and fast cash advance loan contracts that bars borrowers from seeking legal action.
By the time borrowers realize what’s happening, it’s too late.
“The reality is, they’ve agreed to the terms and signed the loans. We want to get to people before they make those decisions,” Baskin said. “You look at a population that is so giving, but so vulnerable. That really slays me.”
