Montel Williams is totally fine with promoting payday loans.
As a guy who had his own talk show from 1991-2008, Montel Williams is a somewhat well known celebrity in the US. These days, of course, Montel isn’t as busy as he used to be and has come to rely on other undertakings to pass his time. One of these activities is being a spokesperson for a lead generator of payday loans. Montel may not have thought too much about the notoriety of payday loan lenders.
Payday loan lenders don’t have the best reputations.
Ask a variety of people what they think of the payday loan companies, and you’ll get some pretty negative perspectives on the industry. This is because the majority of people perceive payday loans to be total scams and rip offs. Banks and other merchant account providers are of this opinion too, which is why payday loan merchant account providers must have strict regulations and charge higher rates. But, of course, this goes for all high risk merchant accounts.
Montel Williams seems to have a different take on payday loans.
It may be because Montel, as a kind of side business, has decided to offer his minor celebrity status to endorse a company that offers payday loans, but Montel doesn’t seem to have any shame about the matter. There is an obvious agreement that Williams gets paid to say he recommends the payday loan company, and the company benefits from Montel’s affiliation. But apparently Montel doesn’t have a problem standing up for his endorsement 100%. Is there anything wrong with that? Not really, unless you find payday loan lenders to be doing a reprehensible sort of business — and some people definitely do.
An activist bashed Montel Williams on Twitter for advocating payday loans.
In the world of twitter (and the internet in general), calling out celebrities is as commonplace as buying bread at the store. That said, a particular rip on Montel Williams caught the public’s eye. Activist André-Tascha Lammé tweeted that Montel is “Support[ing] the *most* predatory of loans in existence, PayDay loans. Designed to prey on the poor.” Montel’s response denied the claims Payday loans are so awful. To him, as long as people pay back their loans in time there is nothing wrong with the system the payday lenders use.
The problem is that most people who take out payday loans can’t pay them back when they’re supposed to.
It’s important to understand that in the typical payday loan the fee will be $15 to every $100 borrowed. If the borrower can pay back the money within two weeks, it’s no problem. Fifteen dollars isn’t that much money wasted and the borrower can use payday lenders as a convenient source to get cash quickly. But the real issue is that the majority of borrowers can’t pay back the money in the short amount of time it’s due.
Payday lenders are known for trapping the down-and-out in a cycle of debt.
What happens is the borrower has to take out another loan, for an additional fee, no doubt, to pay back the first loan. All the while more fees plus interest are adding up creating a cycle of debt that’s hard to break. The bottom line is that borrows get stuck paying more in interest than the initial loan amount if they don’t pay it back super fast.
It’s because of the payday loan’s reputation that payday loan merchant account providers are harder to come by. But almost any kind of high risk merchant account is easy with the help of Ultimate Merchant Providers.