27/03/2015 – En el artículo de Katherine Haas para Opelika- Aurburn news; vemos la intervención de Barack Obama en su segunda visita a Alabama este mes; donde trata el tema de los “payday loans” o préstamos rápidos fuera de la banca comercial, que asolan a los ciudadanos que tiene dificultades para acceder a financiación dentro del sistema bancario, ofreciéndoles préstamos con intereses abusivos que muchos de ellos no pueden devolver. Gary Fuller alcalde de Opelika habla de la “Educación Financiera” como arma para combatir el abuso de estos productos.
Educación Financiera contra el sobreendeudamiento hipotecario
The energy was palpable in the Arthur Shores Fine Arts Building at Lawson State Community College in Birmingham Thursday afternoon, as an eager crowd sat on the edge of its seats anticipating President Barack Obama’s second visit this month to Alabama .
Just three weeks after Obama stood in front of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma to speak in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, the president addressed a second group of Alabamians — not about the history of civil rights, but on the right of every American to have a “fair shot” at getting ahead financially and the need to reform predatory lending practices.
“The economy grows best not from the top down, but from the bottom up,” Obama said. “That’s why I’m pushing for middle-class economics – the idea that this country does best when everyone gets their fair shot, everyone does their fair share and everyone plays by the same set of rules.”
According to Obama, one issue that is prohibiting some Americans from being able to free themselves from a “vicious cycle of debt” and thus to promote their socioeconomic status has to do with the practice of payday lending, which gives consumers the opportunity to get short-term loans accompanied with extreme interest rates — rates that can be up to 456 percent annually in Alabama.
Fuller said he believes people should learn how to best handle their money while they’re young.
“Payday loans can seem like easy money at first, but the average borrower ends up spending about 200 days out of the year in debt,” Obama said. “If they take out a $500 loan at the typical rates, they wind up paying more than $1,000 in interest and fees.”
Obama explained that payday loans that are often issued to cover unexpected expenses, such as hospital bills or car repairs, can lead to a “catastrophic financial situation” for those unable to cover the high interest rates.
“In reality, most payday loans aren’t taken out for one-time expenses; they’re taken out to pay for previous loans,” Obama said.
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Continue reading: Oanow.com
Photograph by Christopher Dilts
+Infografía: Money as you grow- United States Government
