It’s sometimes argued that the pervasive payday lending industry provides a service that other lending institutions are not willing to offer. Payday loans, they say, can be a lifesaver to those who — in an emergency — have no other quick recourse.

That may be true. But it is not the whole story.

This is how it works: on a two-week payday loan of $300, a borrower writes a postdated check for $300, and the payday company gives him $255 in cash, keeping a $45 fee. this amounts to a fee of $15 per $100 — an eye-popping annual percentage rate of more than 400, according to a report by the Center for Responsible Lending.

Typically, a borrower continues to renew that $300 loan about 10 times in a year and pays $45 every two weeks. He ultimately pays $450 for a $300 loan over the course of one year. What might have started as an emergency turns into chronic income shortages.

From a capitalist perspective, extracting such usurious fees from already financially vulnerable individuals is a sure way to drive them into economic ruin. Visionary capitalism aims at creating and growing markets. Predatory lending is misguided and self-defeating capitalism.

Not only does predatory lending destroy markets — meaning people’s capacity to consume products and services — but it also engenders social, economic and safety problems. It engenders poverty. From an ethical perspective, this extraordinary profiting is exploitative.

It has never been more essential for us to recognize that one sector of our local community reflects the emotional, social, financial problems of the larger one.

People in the throes of financial hardship develop high stress levels; stress increases domestic violence. Study after study has shown that economic insecurity correlates with crime, violence, and the degradation of neighborhoods. These already common outcomes may become more common as cities across the nation continue to see high unemployment rates and, no doubt, the need for loans regardless of how exorbitant the rates may be.

All this is happening at a time when empty city coffers force the closure of libraries, neighborhood services and community, arts and sports facilities. how will the penned up stress and frustration of the unemployed and underemployed and overindebted find release?

For the benefit of the entire community — for our common good — realistic solutions and viable options must be created. Alternatives to payday loans do exist, but more are needed, and borrowers need to be made aware of them.

United Way, Catholic Charities, Start2Save Opportunity Fund and Sacred Heart Community Services are among the organizations directing people both to better borrowing options and to savings programs that increase the financial stability and long-term economic independence of families and individuals.

The San Jose City Council has taken the preliminary step of including payday lending among the top 10 priorities of the staff work plan for fiscal year 2011-12. We must objectively analyze the long-term consequences of payday lending in San Jose, which has 38 payday loan outlets — about half of the number in all of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties combined.

Failing to act would be the equivalent of throwing the needy to the sharks.

IVONNE MONTES DE OCA is president and founder of the Pinnacle Company, a San Jose based marketing and communications group. she wrote this for this newspaper.

While it’s not really a concrete skill, many college staffers say they see students struggling with one issue that may seem simple: communication.

And they say phones and computers are to blame.

Pauline Dobrowski, associate vice president of student affairs at Stonehill College in Easton, says the problem can crop up quickly when tough topics need to be tackled between roommates.

David Zamojski, assistant dean of students and director of residence life at Boston University, says he’s heard about roommates talking about a contentious topic via text message.

“You’re so much more effective when you’re communicating face-to-face,” he says.

The best ways to tackle this topic before he or she leaves for college? Dobrowski says to first make sure that you and your child are communicating effectively – that can carry over to how they communicate with other people.

To help teach communication, Elizabeth Cleary, assistant director of parent services at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, suggests walking through a scenario. start with something like, “Your roommate is playing music and you want to go to sleep …”

They are routines you probably take for granted ““ throwing in a load of laundry, keeping track of your debit card statement, remembering to eat vegetables with dinner so you get nutrients.

Then you realize your college-bound high-school senior has used only paper money, eats three meals of Pop-Tarts and may not even know where the washing machine is.

Rather than frantically trying to teach your teens life skills as they’re packing up next August, college staffers say it’s best to start the instruction now. then your son and daughter will be a pro by the time they head off on their own.

Doing laundry is one of the weaknesses that Pauline Dobrowski, associate vice president for student affairs at Stonehill College in Easton, says she sees in incoming freshmen.

“It seems simple,” she says. “But a lot of (students)might be used to throwing their laundry in the big family laundry bin and having it magically appear in their room folded two days later.”

David Zamojski, assistant dean of students and director of residence life at Boston University, says it’s a problem he sees popping up again and again as well.

“I’ve seen my share of freshmen arrive who didn’t know how to do laundry (and) who were very confused when they pulled out a (damaged)load that was washed in hot water with whites and colors,” he says.

For kids who know how to operate the machine already, Dobrowski suggests stressing how often some objects should be washed, so that mildewy towels aren’t being used over and over again.

Freshmen often struggle with financial tasks like balancing a checkbook or using systems in place at many schools through which parents can add money to a student debit card, according to Elizabeth Cleary, assistant director of parent services at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Cleary says she herself struggled her freshman year when her parents put all the money for the first semester on her school debit card.

“September and October were great,” she says. “November and December, not so much.”

Students who are now paying for car insurance or their cellphone bills become used to going online to see payment information, Dobrowski says, and miss paper notifications that come in their mailbox.

Cleary suggests sitting down now with a student and making a budget sheet or mapping out in another way the money he or she will have to spend and how long it needs to last.

Beyond money management, there is time management. College officials recommend getting students used to better time management this year, preferably by buying them a paper planner or setting up an electronic one. Richard Shadick, director of the counseling center for Pace University in new York City, says he often sees freshmen struggling when teachers don’t remind them five times about a due date.

College “faculty members tend to be a bit more hands-off,” he says.

Janet Logan, a Cotuit mom who has one daughter at Harvard University and one entering Boston University this fall, agrees.

“Preparation for time management is something kids can never get enough of,” she says. “That’s huge. the parents aren’t there anymore.”

Besides academics, Cleary says she sees students struggle with keeping dates straight.

“Even if students are more comfortable using a calendar on their phone or online … they should still plug in school dates: when your classes are canceled, when Thanksgiving break is,” she says.

Cleary has seen UMass students suddenly realize that Thanksgiving is the following week and they never bought a plane ticket home.

“Students are still adjusting to the fact that their parents aren’t booking these things for them,” she says.

Students should also start focusing now on eating right, which can be a health and a financial issue, Dobrowski says. she says she sees students’ diets change as their sleep schedule changes.

“a lot of students are up later,” she says. Discuss “what it means to tack on a fourth meal” late at night, both for health and wellness but also in terms of cost.

In a senior year that’s already full of college applications to fill out and school celebrations to participate in, teaching your child these skills can seem like another chore to check off the list. Shadick recommends linking learning these skills to the fun idea of going to college.

“Play on the student’s excitement,” he says.

Bring kids along the next time you go food shopping or show them how you pay the car insurance, Dobrowski suggests. “There are natural times when these things are happening.”

Cleary agrees. “when they take the credit card out to pay the (college) application fee, that’s the time to have the budget conversation,” she says.

Approach the whole idea of life skills casually, Zamojski says.

“make it light, make it enjoyable,” he says. “It can be a bonding experience.”

He suggests that teens participate in any overnight programs the college offers so they can see students doing laundry or going to an ATM to take out money for pizza.

“that may open students’ eyes to realities at college,” he says.

And college staffers say that parents should emphasize to students that this teaching will help them in the long run.

“It’s a life skill, not just a college skill,” Cleary says.

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My husband and I have around 30K student loan, interest is about 8%.
Right now we are paying monthly payment, sometimes pays extra in the good days, and hoping to pay it off sometime in the next 5-6 years.
But another hand, because student loan could be one of the income tax deductible, so we are not sure if we should keep the student loan as long as it takes and just pay minimum each month.
Which way actually save us money?
Use student loan as deductible each years or pay it off as soon as we can?

Since you can deduct the interest and it comes directly from your highest tax rate, you can make the calculation like this.
I will assume a 25% tax bracket.
8% x (1-.25) = 6%
So if your interest is fully deductible then you are paying 6%. Not bad but not great either.
FYI, my wife has about 36k in student loans at a 2.75% interest rate. You should check on a consolidation loan at a lower rate.

You never want to pay interest just to get a tax deduction.

Pay it off as soon as possible.

if somebody had your credit card type say a master card and they also had your expiartion date and youre last 4 digits can they do stuff

what kind of stuff do you mean??????????

i need it again because i threw the other one away and i want to look for anthing new thats shown on my report.also the score. tell me how step by step

Actually, you can get your credit report for free three times a year. You can get one from each of the three providers (Experian, Equifax and TRW). Just go back to the website (annualcreditreport.com), and link to one of the providers that you did not use before.

The credit score isn't free. You can get it at a commercial site like myfico.com. but, if you are not in a hurry to apply for a loan, get your free credit report first, check it for errors, and don't bother paying for the score until any errors on the report are fixed.

Yes, just visit the same website (annualcreditreport.com) and go through the same process to retrieve it from this same bureau. You should see a screen that says you have already received your free one from this bureau for this year, but you may pay to view the report again. You can also choose to view your FICO score with this bureau (which I did because I wanted to buy a home and knowing this was crucial), but it's at least $7.95. do remember that your credit reports and scores will be slightly different for all 3 bureaus. like another user said, you can also visit other bureaus for their report if any version will do. You should check all 3 yearly; however, as errors in reporting are common.

♥ please help cause when i go to freecredit report.com it asks for your credit card number where can u go without using your credit card #

annualcreditreport.com You can get your credit report free once a year

Wondering if you know of anyone that does loans for a person with bad credit. (bad credit, low score, and too many inquires) it can be secured with a high interest rate. I really need the money for bills.

Don't go there, the interest rates are out of this world. You would do much better if you were to borrow from friends, relatives or close friends.Trust me, I have been there and back.

You could get a payday loan or a title loan on your car. The interest rates are super high though, and with the title loan you could lose your car if you don't pay it back on time.

Get a pay day loan as long as you know that you can cover those expenses. good luck!

me… i charge 1000000% per hour plus expenses

I had some medical bills from 4/10/01 that I didnt not pay in full. I was harassed for awhile by collections and then left alone. This debt was never reported on my credit record and has never showed up. Today on 2/14/2007 (6 years later) I receive a letter from a collections agency telling me to pay up or be reported to the credit agency. I am afraid to call because I heard making contact with them could cause the statutes of limitation to start up again. My question is, if I ignore them, can they really report this to the credit bureaus since the debt was from 6 years ago? Is this just a scare tactic at this point- keep in mind I havent heard from them in 5 years until now all of the sudden.

It has to come off seven years from date of first delinquency (last payment or date of service if no payment was made) so even if they put it on your report it can't stay there long.

They have 7 yrs. They sold the account in most liklihood and the new owners are trying to get anything they can. you must decide if you want it reported or if you have the money to pay them at least a portion to get rid of them? I would do this and I did do this. Write them a certified letter, typed and state that you have received no information on these bills and have nothing showing the debt. since you aren't aware of it you have spoken to your lawyer and he told you to ask for the original itemized bill for the debt before you pay it. now, most likely they don't have it and the hospital or Dr. has written it off yrs. ago and did not keep records. if they can't come up with proof then they may give it up. if they do it's a different story. They have the next yr. until the seven yrs. to report it and then it will have to be removed, by law. It's a tough call. if you have no plans to buy anything big in the next two yrs. ride it out…. if you are buying a home it may cause you problems. you can always settle for a fourth of the debt if they start up again after the letter. also put at the botton cc: and a lawyer's name to make it look good, and file and copy it. Mail it and do not call unless you have decided to pay less than the full amount to keep it off your record. I would ride it out unless I were really buying something and a lot of times car dealerships don't look too much at old medical bills, just depends.

So im gonna invite 4-5 girls and my mom said she would give each girl some money and each girl said they would bring some money too. but my mom says that we have to give money also becuase its my party? so how much should i give or should i give any at all?

Well from experiences, my friends invites, mean she'll take you on a shopping spree, and you bring your own money to buy your OWN clothes. No offence, but dont you think you're spoiling them a bit? And its not a party, but more of a "hanging-out with friends" idea. whenever i go shopping with my friends we bring our own money, and we still have a BLAST.

I don't think you should give money. People would feel bad to go to someone else's party and get money from them, don't you think? if they don't have their own money, their parents would always give them some. if you want to, you can give them gift cards as their parting gifts or something.

It is a "shopping spree" party, so it is better to give money. It should range from $35+, and of course they can bring thier own money too.

dont give them money at all thats dumb!