Is it a sin to work in a payday loan place?

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Str84ward

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Hello,

As a young man preparing for his future, I am exploring other options on top of my current job to boost my income. One of the options is to work in a Money Mart.

However that being said, Money Mart and these other cheque-cashing/payday loan places are notorious for their high interest loans, even earning the reputation of being loan sharks.

Can a devout Catholic justify working at one of these places? Will I be committing the sin of Usury if I work here? In addition to payday loans, these places provide other services too such as money-wire transfer and also currency foreign exchange (something that I studied in the past).

Can an expert please chime in?

Thank you!
 
I’m definitely no expert either, but a job there would certainly be yucky. Say you were to take a job working in an adult video store. You would be supporting and facilitating the sins of both the owner and the customers. In a payday loan establishment, the customers are not necessarily sinning (some might be borrowing money out of legitimate desperation, but others might be borrowing for a frivolous reason and seriously harming their families), but the owners most definitely are. Any way you slice it, it’s a bad scene. There has to be another job available somewhere. If you have an interest in wire transfers and currency exchange, apply to be a bank teller.
 
crisismagazine.com/2011/catholics-and-usury-a-tragic-history

For a more broader perspective. Let’s just be thankful the kid has a job. I work in medical collections. How sinful of me to try to recoup money for a hospital who will no doubt just continue to raise their prices because people refuse to pay what they owe in society.

Believe me, people have told me I am the nicest collector that they’ve ever spoken to but I still get cussed at, yelled at, etc just for doing my job. It’s “character building”. :rolleyes:
 
total_Catholic said:
crisismagazine.com/2011/catholics-and-usury-a-tragic-history

For a more broader perspective. Let’s just be thankful the kid has a job. I work in medical collections. How sinful of me to try to recoup money for a hospital who will no doubt just continue to raise their prices because people refuse to pay what they owe in society.

Believe me, people have told me I am the nicest collector that they’ve ever spoken to but I still get cussed at, yelled at, etc just for doing my job. It’s “character building”. :rolleyes:
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There is a MASSIVE difference between your job and someone who provides payday loans. Just as much of a difference between a bank or other creditor lending money at a reasonable interest rate and someone building a fortune by exploiting the desperate and siphoning exorbitant fees. It’s like comparing a priest who encourages stewardship and a televangelist. Not even the same ballpark.
 
1neophyte said:
It’s like comparing a priest who encourages stewardship and a televangelist. Not even the same ballpark.
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It’s interesting that the prefix “tele-” is understood to refer not to the telephone, but to television.

Are you possibly relying upon stereotypes?

Would you write a pejorative comment about used automobile salespeople in general? How about those who sell used trucks, used mobile homes, and/or used recreational motor vehicles? Is it morally imperative to have a bricks-and-mortar home? How about people who lived in tents and worked as shepherds? If they had failed to acquire official status as citizens of Rome, then did they deserve worse treatment than the Apostle Paul received after he appealed to Caesar, and was taken to Caesar?
 
PseuTonym said:
It’s interesting that the prefix “tele-” is understood to refer not to the telephone, but to television.

Are you possibly relying upon stereotypes?

Would you write a pejorative comment about used automobile salespeople in general? How about those who sell used trucks, used mobile homes, and/or used recreational motor vehicles? Is it morally imperative to have a bricks-and-mortar home? How about people who lived in tents and worked as shepherds? If they had failed to acquire official status as citizens of Rome, then did they deserve worse treatment than the Apostle Paul received after he appealed to Caesar, and was taken to Caesar?
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You’re clearly much smarter than me, so can you please help an ignoramus out and explain why the tele- thing is interesting?

The immorality of charging a 40% or higher interest rate is not a stereotype. There are both honest and dishonest used car salespeople. There are not honest people who provide predatory loans. I don’t know when or where I implied that people in brick and mortar homes were morally superior to shepherds living in tents, but I certainly apologize for doing so. I’m not sure what that has to do with businesses that earn their profits by unfairly exploiting the poor and desperate, but like I said, I’m not that bright.

Stereotypes aren’t always so bad. If the OP was asking if it was a good idea to take a job as a custodian in an abortion clinic, I would have no problem stereotyping abortion providers as not so nice people. This is no different.
 
Can a devout Catholic justify working at one of these places? Will I be committing the sin of Usury if I work here? In addition to payday loans, these places provide other services too such as money-wire transfer and also currency foreign exchange (something that I studied in the past).
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Can an expert please chime in?
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Pay Day lenders prey upon the poorest and most vulnerable members of our society. This kind of lending is truly a depraved racket and even outlawed in some states. It would definitely - no doubt - be unjustified to be involved in this kind of business.

The whole business goal of pay day lenders is to keep a poor person in perpetual and overwhelming debt. It is a very ugly scene. Most clients that take pay day loans are at the lowest poverty level in society.

The wire transfers and “foreign currency exchanges” are also very problematic. In fact, the government has been cracking down on these operations because these kinds of services are being used for terrorist financing, money laundering, funding drug traffickers, and worse. As a result, many of the national banks are starting to completely exit providing deposit services to these kinds of operations.

Do you really want to work for an organization that is facilitating foreign wire transfers to illicit sources? Do you really want to work for a company that preys upon the poorest and most vulnerable members of our society? Is there even a question as to what is the right decision?

So, yes, at great peril to your soul would you ever get involved in this kind of business. If you are interested in working in finance, there are plenty of better options available than pay day lenders. Aim higher.
 
The fact that you are having these doubts means you would really struggle in this sort of job. The first bit of careers advice I was ever given was not to do something you aren’t morally comfortable with.
 
If they are fine with taking advantage of their customers, its probably a safe bet they would have no problems taking advantage of their employees.
 
As someone who is currently battling with a payday loan company (call me naïve, I had no idea that the company was a payday loan. No, wait, call me stupid) I would say it is not a Christian place to work and would encourage the O.P. to find other work.

In case you are curious: Yes, I was desperate. The interest rate is 576%. You did just read that right. I have no idea how I am going to get out of this mess. I have been praying to God our Father, Divine Providence, to help me.

Please, don’t take a job at a place like this. I am trying to deal with horrible misery.
 
1neophyte said:
The immorality of charging a 40% or higher interest rate is not a stereotype.
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Is it immoral to charge a rate of 20% interest per year?

Is it immoral to charge a rate of 39.995% interest per year?

Explanation: I generated the value 20% in my first question above via a binary search. I assumed that 0% interest per year is acceptable, and 40% is unacceptable, and inquire about the arithmetic average of 0% and 40%, computed as follows: (0%+40%) / 2 .
 
PseuTonym said:
Is it immoral to charge a rate of 20% interest per year?

Is it immoral to charge a rate of 39.995% interest per year?

Explanation: I generated the value 20% in my first question above via a binary search. I assumed that 0% interest per year is acceptable, and 40% is unacceptable, and inquire about the arithmetic average of 0% and 40%, computed as follows: (0%+40%) / 2 .
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Oh, now I see the reason for our breakdown in communication. I think a meeting of the minds is very unlikely since you are, in fact, Cleverbot.
 
Liturgy_Geek said:
As someone who is currently battling with a payday loan company (call me naïve, I had no idea that the company was a payday loan. No, wait, call me stupid) I would say it is not a Christian place to work and would encourage the O.P. to find other work.

In case you are curious: Yes, I was desperate. The interest rate is 576%. You did just read that right. I have no idea how I am going to get out of this mess. I have been praying to God our Father, Divine Providence, to help me.

Please, don’t take a job at a place like this. I am trying to deal with horrible misery.
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Something that may help you a little bit, at least in KY, those places can only take a certain number of people to court each year, the county/ state put limits on them as to how many people they can sue to get money from.

Im assuming they were clogging up the court dockets with people who refused to pay them back and the state cracked down on them, I learned recently there are quite a few people who slip thru the cracks and do not have to repay them.
 
StGerardMajella said:
Pay Day lenders prey upon the poorest and most vulnerable members of our society.
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Who are the poorest and most vulnerable members of our society?

Are people who are under 18 years of age borrowing money from Pay Day lenders?
Perhaps I am mistaken, but it is my impression that people who are under 18 years of age are often unable to start and control their own businesses, unless they have informal arrangements with trustworthy people who are at least 18 years of age.

Are people who rent trailers in trailer parks borrowing money from Pay Day lenders? I suppose that there are people who own the trailers that they live in, but wouldn’t they tend to be less poor and less vulnerable than people who rent and don’t own trailers?

Are people who cannot get hired (such as because they don’t have enough recent paid employment, and don’t have academic credentials that are sufficiently recent and sufficiently impressive) borrowing money from Pay Day lenders?

Please observe that although some people might have composed actual written work, such as essays, deductive reasoning, etc. that may impress some people, it cannot impress people who don’t look at it. Some employers – including government agencies, and schools that are regulated and subsidized by governments – are interested in only the judgments expressed by the academic authorities, and such employers might not be interested in attempting to study and understand the schoolwork that was the basis for the grades/ marks that are thought to be insufficiently impressive.
 
OP,

It sounds like your conscience is bothering you enough to seek employment elsewhere. I would say it depends on the rates being charged. If they’re not outlandish, then I could see you continuing working there, but I’m guessing rates are very high. Some local governments place restrictions on payday lenders- you’ll have to see if this is the case for your city.

The federal Consumer Protection Financial Bureau has proposed new restrictions on payday lenders, but these restrictions haven’t been put into place.
 
Who are the poorest and most vulnerable members of our society?
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There is a legal definition, based on annual income, and depending on your locality and cost of living, as to how the government defines whether someone is classified as living at the poverty level.

Age, type of habitation, lack of employment, and employer hiring practices are contributing factors to one’s level of wealth and income, but are all irrelevant when it comes to defining who is classified as “poor”. The main barometer for defining who is poor is annual income stacked against the cost of living.

Middle class and upper class borrowers do not traditionally take high interest loans from Pay Day lenders. Instead, if they have to borrow, they tap more traditional sources of financing, such as bank loans at far lower rates of interest.

Really, this isn’t a legitimate question. It is quite clear and apparent for anyone familiar with or who studies the Pay Day Lender industry, that the target for these high interest loans are the poorest and most vulnerable members of society. Wealthier and more astute, sophisticated borrowers don’t use Pay Day lenders to meet their financing needs. It just doesn’t happen.

Most Pay Day Lenders are also physically located in lower economic neighborhoods. Go figure.
 
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