re: #4 ThomasLite

It would have been a very good idea to write an article comparing financial products and loan rates that are available to lower income folks. Even though Wal-Mart is in the quote, I would still like more information. I’d like someone to prove to me that Wal-mart is in the loan shark business.

Banks have always had a bad reputation, first for being unsafe, then for only loaning to those who have no need for a loan, and most recently, for being stupid beyond stupid. That’s why their advertising is heavily themed with helping build communities—which they do. But they’ve never been quite so committed to the neighborhood as is portrayed, leaving large sections of the populace to be snared by predatory lenders.

If it has finally occurred to banks that they can save people from predatory lenders, even if the motivation if purely financial, then that’s fine.

I get upset when I see perfectly legitimate ads for businesses that are little more than loan sharks.