Without a Tax Refund, I Needed a Payday Loan to Pay my Tuition.It was my first year to file my own taxes and I did not sign one line on my tax form, therefore I did not get my check. I needed that check to pay off tuition, so I went to the bank instead. The bank told me that I really did not have good enough credit to borrow as much money as I needed. He suggested that I use the credit card that I did not even know I had. So, I took his advice because he was the certified bank accountant. I put $1500 on my credit card and came up about $430 short. I so stupidly went to payday loan company. That was a HUGE mistake. The service was great, they were quick to get me to sign my life away, but I did leave with $450. I paid off my tuition bill just in time. I felt great until one week later when payday loan company began calling me. They sent me a letter, an e-mail, and about five or six phone calls, and a text message! I was really annoyed. I got my paycheck a few days later and as promised paid payday loan company $250. However, I was not aware that I no longer owed them the $450 I borrowed, I now owed them $650. I was upset and confused. I asked them why I owed so much and they basically said, 'you should have read the fine print.' I did read the fine print, I just did not read the microscopic print under the fine print. I immediately called my parents, they came across the state to help me. I work in the Law School on campus and was able to take the contract to one of the law professors there. They read it and said they could make a case, beacuse the print was too small to read. It was like in 4' font and extremely bold. It looked like a line with tiny ridges across. I thought it was the design at the bottom of the page. The law professor went with me and my parents to the payday loan company and threatened to sue them because what they did was wrong. The assistant manager was upset and refused to back down until two potential borrowers waiting in the lobby heard our argument and returned their loan applications and said they were no longer interested if business would be that way. The manager came from her lunch break heard all of the arguing that was coming from the assistant manager and she asked us in her office. After a long talk it was agreed that I would pay back the $450 with the interest agreed on in the fine print, not the microscopic print. I only had to pay about $550 back. That was not as bad as the $650. |