Indian tribes gambling on high-interest loans to raise revenue

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Indian tribes gambling on high-interest loans to raise revenue

Economy
By Chico Harlan March 1 at 8:49 PM
@chicoharlan

In the middle of the Ottawa National Forest, there is a Native American reservation where snowdrifts mark the main road into town. At the end of that town, there is a casino with penny slots and a three-story hotel. In back of that hotel, there is a locked, unmarked door with a punch code. And beyond that door is a repurposed ballroom, once used for wedding receptions, where 11 workers — backed by a Wall Street hedge fund, supported by a call center in the Philippines — now sell loans online to credit-constrained Americans at annualized interest rates of 780 percent.

In that old ballroom, sitting in a gray cubicle, looking at her Dell: A 25-year-old who only got off food stamps when she took this $11-per-hour job. Who doesn’t have Internet at home, but whose inbox now pings with questions from borrowers, 30 percent of whom end up defaulting.

Where did these fees come from? some of the e-mails ask, she says. You’re a disgrace to Native Americans, she recalls another one saying. And Amber McGeshick, one of the customer service workers at Castlepayday.com, weighs how she should respond.

“As for whether I am doing the right thing, yeah, I am doing my job,” McGeshick said. “But as a whole, I don’t know. I mean, I really don’t know.”

[misterhighwasted]

1. Greed for money is truly the root of all evil.

This is sickening.