Here's a company that need to be outlawed. There is already a controversy about payday loans and how they are bleeding the lower class of all their money, but companies like Drivetime and Cash Call are more sinister. They prey on people who have less than stellar credit in selling them cars (Drivetime / Carmax) or cash loans (Cash Call) and hide everything possible about the terms of the loan.

Drivetime gives you a contract that has payment coupons for the term of the loan, but as the loan is being paid back, you are not given any sort of documentation about how your payments are applied to the loan. Online, all they do is accept payments, but again, there is no way to see how much is remaining; your interest rate, any fees added, nothing. You are expected to make regular payments (Timed to be exactly a few days after your paydays to ensure they will be first in line) and not ever expected to attempt to pay ahead to save money. They work the system to make sure you pay them the maximum allowable under the contract by stretching out your payments as long as possible.

It's bad enough their cars are way overpriced, but to hit you with 17% interest on top of that, extended as long as possible to make as much money from you as they can, is robbery. It's a recipe for bankruptcy for many people.

Cash Call goes one step further. At least Drivetime allows people to make payments over the internet, so they get their money. Why Drivetime even takes credit cards as payment! Rob Peter to pay Paul I might say. Cash Call doesn't allow payment at all from their web site, over the phone, or even by mail. They only accept Moneygram (You pay $6.95 for the privilege of paying your bills. Huh?) and direct withdrawals from your checking account. They already charge obscene interest rates (over 100% on most loans) and they try to hide it by quietly sucking money from your account, behind your back, to ensure that they get their most money they can and under no circumstances will Cash Call allow you pay in a way that they have to pay anything for receiving the money. Only recently was Cash Call forced to provide payment records to customers, but upon reading someone's records, I was appalled at all the fees tacked on. The only thing that separates Cash Call from the loan sharks in Grand Theft Auto IV is that Cash Call doesn't hire thugs to break your kneecaps, or do they?

Recently, legislation was being introduced that will clamp down on credit card companies from adding assorted fees to their bills like $39 late fees, $39 over the limit charges and the practice of sending out a credit card with $129 in charges for membership fees before the customer even uses the card once for a purchase. Let's hope they pass this, and then go after predatory companies who go out of their way to fleece people who can ill afford the lost monies.

No wonder there is a gap between the haves and the have-nots. It's cheap to be a have, low interest, no fees, and plenty of ways to pay. It's expensive to be a have-not with high interest, massive fees and very few ways to pay, causing delays that pile on more interest and late charges.

Go capitalism!