Eturnalshift wrote:
I'd place more weight on the individual taking the loan rather than the government and/or bank. As far as I'm concerned, predatory lending wouldn't exist if people would understand what they're signing. (If you sign and agree to something without actually reading/understanding what you're signing then there is no one to blame but the person behind the pen.)
Agreed, morons applying for personal loans who have no way of paying them back, or applying for business loans with a god awful business plan/idea should be sterilized.
However, it is
on those banks to realize "this person probably can't pay this back, and will drown in the interest, we shouldn't lend them money". Predatory lending is a real thing...and you know what? When everyone is defaulting, the banks simply go to the government and say "uh, hey...we gave out all these loans to people who had no business getting them, coz times were good...now they can't pay us back and so we can't pay other people back...and we're just kinda fucked, halp?"
Then the government says OKAY, and gives these banks TAXPAYER dollars (because they are "too big to fail"), all while the executive assholes at these banks get to chill out with their fat salaries. I'm surprised this doesn't piss you off. You want to blame the individual...but they are the one's APPLYING for the loan...it is the greater responsibility of the bank to say "wow, this person is very risky...if we give them money...we probably won't get it back." ESPECIALLY because these banks then fuck themselves and get bailed out by YOU AND ME.
How is this not the responsibility of the banks, the people with the money?
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Look at it this way:
If some crack head came up to me, and asked to borrow $20 bucks. And I made him sign a little contract that said "ill lend you this 20 bucks, and charge you interest on it. If you don't pay I'll take your piss-stained pants" Then, the crack head takes the 20 bucks, spends it on crack...and I keep charging interest, but he never pays it...so then i can't get my money back, and he has nothing really of value except his piss-stained pants (which I thought would be worth so so so much, because I ASSUMED the market for piss-stained pants would continually rise...instead of falling, which is what actually happened)...so I'm now losing money..
Then I come to you Eturnal, and tell you about this...and say "so I'm kinda fucked, can you pay me the money the crack head was supposed to give me"
What would you say? Who's at greater fault? The crack head who asked for money and "signed the contract" that stipulated I could take his piss-stained pants (which I overvalued)...or me, the educated rich person, who gave it to him in hopes i could collect a ton of interest off him and make a huge profit?