Still we are talking about regulating credit cards – and nobody much seems to mention Rent-A-Center despite the far more usurious nature of the business.
I went to visit this company determined to short the stock. I did not. The company looked like a money-machine even if it appeared to breach the intention of pretty well every consumer protection law I had ever seen. I could not see what-if-anything broke the model. Moreover the customers understood just how usurious the business was. It was not like credit cards where the hidden overdrawn and late fees – things the consumer was suckered into – were the driver of the model. This was honest usury.
But it was the nature of the people I met that most stuck in memory. This was a business where if Jesus was alive he would pull down the Temple over them. It was precisely the sort of business the bible rails against. It offended my decency. But the people were lovely. I met management and a store owner – and – frankly they seemed exactly the sort of people you would like to have Friday drinks with. I liked them.
This alarmed me of course – because I expected them to be scum. And maybe they are – but I couldn’t tell. They were the sweetest usurious bastards (notwithstanding allegations in consumer complaints about the company).
via Bronte Capital: The sweetest usurious bastards.
You know what struck me with all the networking scams. They preyed on the people who can least afford it, and sadly used basic sales hacks that people less equipped to handle will fall for. Of course they do this with a big smile in their face, and one of the sweetest voice you’ll hear.