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Don’t Fall for Loan Sharks Just Because They Have Hip Branding. We all know lenders, loan sharks, and credit cards profit when you go into debt and, therefore, they can be dangerous. But many of these companies conceal their danger with clever marketing.

Beware: consumer debt by any other branding can be just as dangerous. Over at the Outline, writer Gaby Del Valle discusses one such company, Affirm. Affirm works with over 1,0.

Del Valle writes: “Unlike layaway, Affirm delivers your purchases instantly — but the cost of instant gratification is interest rates as high as 3. The service is basically a cross between credit cards and layaway, combining the worst aspects of both. And if there’s one thing tech startups have mastered, it’s getting investors to give them millions of dollars to recreate things that already exist, like taxis, ordering food from restaurants, and now, subprime loans.”The difference between this service and a typical high- interest loan seems to mostly lie in the marketing.

Unlike other loans, Affirm is upfront about the terms you’re getting into. We’re committed to clear, upfront pricing. You’ll never have to worry about extra costs buried in fine print,” their website reads.

Granted, their interest rates, which range from 1. They even offer fixed terms and, most importantly, simple interest, making them possibly better than financing crap you don’t need on a credit card. But as Del Valle points out, credit cards have an average rate of 1. And, anyway, everyone knows buying crap you don’t need with a credit card (or a personal loan!) is typically a terrible idea. We all buy things from time to time that we don't really need. It's okay to appeal to…Read more Read. Somehow, though, this seems different, and it has a lot to do with the branding.

Most criticism around Affirm and other fintech products is that they’re just another way to dupe consumers into bad financial decisions. Online payment platform Affirm has skyrocketed in popularity recently, drawing $2. Read more Read. Absolutely, but I think the even more shameful problem is that these companies do this under the guise of helping people. As Affirm’s founder told Tech. Crunch: “We cannot be judgmental but we must be proscriptive. If you can’t afford a $2.

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Okay, fair. And perhaps they do give people options (the same argument has been made about payday lending, which Affirm has worked to itself from). It’s a fair argument that they can’t be in charge of helping those people, but the thing is, Affirm makes it seem like they are helping those people when their website boasts, “..

I trust my bank to look out for me.’ It doesn’t have to be this way. Affirm’s mission is to fix this problem.” They want to “fix this problem,” and then they advertise the following: Everyone is picking on Affirm here, but the issue is not unique to them. This reminds me of the recent fiasco with Navient, the student loan servicer that was sued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) over shady business practices like misapplying student loan payments. In the lawsuit, Navient said they have no obligation to act in their customers’ best interest. But that’s not exactly the message that comes across on their “Financial Tips Blog.” These companies use financial literacy to hook you into making bad financial moves. You can now finance every small item for your home and social life — but should you?

Working with headphones on usually means you’d rather not be bothered, but sometimes it means you’re just listening to something while you work. If you want to be. IFly.com: Airport Info, Flight Status & Tracking, Airport Parking, Terminal Maps, Ground-transportation, Flights, Hotels, and more Info.

Read more Read. They promote transparency and good financial decisions and flexibility (you can get into debt, but hey, it’s on your terms!) but the bottom line is, they make money when you’re in debt. Worse, when someone calls them out on it, they say “we’re a financial product, we’re not here to help people.” That’s fine, but it’s extra irresponsible to use hip branding to pretend you’re not in the debt business. As consumers, it seems like we already spend half our lives making sure we’re not getting scammed, but here’s yet another trap to watch out for. Don’t fall for companies that piggyback on financial literacy as if they’re helping you when all they want to do is make money off of your bad decisions.

ASIC's Money. Smart. The golden rules of investing. Smart investors don't rely on good luck, they plan, research and. Read our golden rules to put you on the path to smart. Work out your financial. If you're planning to invest, being well prepared will improve.

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