• NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
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      5 days ago

      Well, in the past (and the present in many places) perpetual unrepayable debts were used as a way to implement slavery without calling it slavery. They call it debt peonage. You know, food for thought.

    • ViatorOmnium@piefed.social
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      5 days ago

      Short term it pads the companies books a bit more by adding an asset on top of the revenue. Medium term it’s a perpetual impairment generator. The executives are just planning to cash out before the inevitable happens.

    • socsa@piefed.social
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      4 days ago

      Because in the summer people run the AC more than they can afford and rack up like $300 bills when their off-summer average would normally be like $70. The loan programs are more like a deferred payment plan where they will cap the individual monthly payment at $150 or something, and then just push the surplus onto other future bills. Then usually when you close the account you owe them a bunch of money still, and that’s when they start doing things like offering to set you up with loan services.

    • Orioniae@piefed.social
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      5 days ago

      “Capitalism breeds innovation”

      Meanwhile we have monthly installments for monthly installments.

      • MBech@feddit.dk
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        5 days ago

        It’s really not. What it does is trap these people in endless debt. Now we don’t know any details about these loans, but there’s no way in hell the customers aren’t going to be paying fees and interest. A loan of $40 will be a loan of $100 the next month and so on. This is a way to make extra off of the people who have nothing.

          • MBech@feddit.dk
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            2 days ago

            That example is assuming you’ll accrue another $40 next month. The interest numbers are pulled from my ass to make a point.

      • jubilationtcornpone@sh.itjust.works
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        5 days ago

        In the corporate world, if you are taking on debt to fund operations, that’s an indicator that your business is circling the drain. The same applies to personal finance.

        • MyVeryRealName@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          Businesses can afford to go bankrupt. People can’t afford to die. Electricity is a basic necessity for a lot of people.

    • FishFace@piefed.social
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      5 days ago

      It helps people who can still pay on average but have an unexpected cost which, due to higher bills, now pushes them into the red.