Brain Handles

I've been seeing Gary Coleman doing commercials for Cash Call. Recently I read the fine print about the Cash Call loans. If you think the payday advance people are bloodsucking loan sharks who charge outrageous fees, meet Cash Call.

According to the fine print on their commercial, Cash Call will charge you a 99.25% APR (Annual Percentage Rate) on a loan of $2600, requiring 42 monthly payments of $216.55 to pay it back. So, on a 42 month loan, 12 months of payments covers the loan amount and the other 30 months covers the interest. To put it in simpler terms...

42 payments x $216.55 = $9,095.10. That's $6,495.10 in interest in on a $2,600 loan.

Now, I recall reading somewhere that Gary Coleman is actually a smart guy, genius or near-genius IQ. No... that was his role in The Kid With The 200 I.Q.. Still he can get out the calculator and do math.

A decade ago, the media was doing stories about families saddled with crushing credit card debt at annual interest rates of 18-22%. Now we have payday loans where the "service fees" can add up to a 150% annual premium on the loan amount and services like Cash Call which shamelessly advertise their 99% interest rates.

Coleman is smart enough to know that he's being paid to lure poor people into loans that will help them stay poor. He's smart enough to know that these kinds of interest rates will generally do more harm to people than the short term good the loan's principle will do for them. Basically, Gary Coleman should be smart enough to know better.

So, if Gary Coleman is smart enough to know better, we can only conclude his shilling for Cash Call is evil. He is consciously helping Cash Call hurt vulnerable people so he can make a buck. Shame on you, Gary Coleman. Shame on you.