Regulators Shut Down Lending Platform (YC Alum) LendUp
As an immigrant I can tell you that the USA is basically Jurassic Park. The monsters are mostly predatory companies. It can be a lot of fun but it’s very easy to do worse than die - to end up a slave for the rest of your life to one of the predators. Along with bullshit like making options trading available to kids, debt is probably one of the velociraptors.<p>It is a trap sprung at the very start of your adult life when you’re most vulnerable, as a student loan.<p>It’s sprung when you’ve lost your job, are vulnerable and are about to become homeless.<p>It’s sprung when you’re already in debt and vulnerable, by other lenders.<p>Anyone see a pattern here? Debt preys on the vulnerable, turns them into something that delivers returns for decades to the holders, and wraps all that up into tidy looking financial products.<p>The business of debt is the financial equivalent of the US pork industry: Everyone treats it as part of American life, but the details would make most people throw up.<p>Anyone remember microfinance? That was the same play: usury with a fresh coat of paint.<p>I’m seeing posts here making it sound like 36% APR is acceptable. Look up usury folks. This is it. Debt that is intentionally structured so that it can never be repaid and keeps the borrower harnessed to the cart.<p>It’s incredible how folks, particularly in the US, have become this morally uncalibrated.