You’ve just entered a haunted house unlike any you’ve experienced before. The moment you open the door – and feel it quickly slam behind you, trapping you inside – it hits you: this was a mistake.
You’re suddenly stuck and are unsure how to navigate this maze ahead of you. It’s sickening and overwhelming, frankly, to feel so hopeless and vulnerable. You’re sick to your stomach and filled with dread.
With trepidation, you move forward. But you are unable to see a way out. Desperate, you do everything you can to escape, but it isn’t enough. It’s like someone designed this place so you can never leave, like a dimly lit Merry-Go-Round that you cannot get off. You feel taken advantage of until you discover what (you think) is the exit. But instead of freedom, you find you are back to where you began. You are trapped.
Life in the debt trap is like being stuck in a haunted house that you cannot escape.
Perhaps for those of us who have never taken out a payday loan, the haunted house analogy may seem too eerie to be true. But for those of us who have, this nightmare is all too real. The bolded phrases in the story above are some of the ways participants recall life in the debt trap. Many found themselves trapped for weeks, months, or years.
At Exodus Lending, we fight these predatory ghouls every day and advocate for affordable credit options to be available to all. We speak out for an effective interest rate cap of 36% for consumer short term loans (check out our executive director, Sara Nelson-Pallmeyer’s, recent MinnPost essay on this very topic!). That’s a stark contrast to the triple-digit rates currently charged on payday loans.
Let’s leave the ghost stories to the trick-or-treaters.
It’s time to Stop the Debt Trap.
There’s still time to celebrate last year’s milestones, including:
Last week, Exodus Lending volunteers tabled at the AFSCME Convention in Duluth. They had good conversations with hundreds of Minnesotans and were able to distribute our materials to be displayed in workplace bulletin boards statewide.
Some of our program team recently visited Rochester to speak with local organizations about potential partnerships with Exodus Lending. We have plans to visit again shortly and are excited to continue outreach in areas beyond the Twin Cities metro.
If you would like materials or are interested in volunteering with us to distribute these items, contact Anika at [email protected] or 612-615-0067 ext. 3.
Exodus Lending E-Newsletter: October 2019