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Earnin is a scam that disproportionately targets young poor black/latino people. It's JG Wentworth in an app. Doesn't count as a unicorn because it's not innova

Earnin is a scam that disproportionately targets young poor black/latino people. It's JG Wentworth in an app. Doesn't count as a unicorn because it's not innovative at all.

ng12 8y ago
They're undercutting loan sharks and overdraft fees by a huge percent. I wouldn't be sad to see those go.
JustSomeNobody 8y ago
Wow. That app is creepy. It tracks your location so it knows when you got to work and left work. It tracks your bank account so it knows when, how often and how much you deposit. Etc.
randomacct3847 8y ago
Why is it a scam? Seems better than a payday loan if receiving paychecks daily instead of biweekly makes the difference
etxm 8y ago
Some creepy tracking, but curious why you think it’s a scam? I understand how payday lenders can be considered scams, but it seems like Earnin makes all the fees optional. I haven’t used the app, just read their marketing pages, BTW so I may have missed something.
- liveoneggs 8y ago
  "optional fees" doesn't sound very legitimate to me
  - identity_zero 8y ago
    That just means there's a tip functionality.
gingerbread-man 8y ago
The payday lending industry operates within an intrinsically challenging ethical landscape. Their customers are generally poor, often desperate, and proportionately vulnerable. But payday lenders also don't operate within a vacuum: often the costs of high-interest-rate loans are dwarfed by comparison to the late-payment fees charged by credit cards, landlords, insurance companies, doctors offices, auto lenders, bank overdrafts, etc... As the saying goes, it's expensive to be poor. In one survey of payday loan customers performed by GWU Business School, 89% of borrowers said they were "very satisfied" or "somewhat satisfied" with their most recent payday loan. [1] No one wants to be in that situation, but for some, payday loans are the best or only option. It's one thing to call out the kind of deliberately predatory behavior that has thrived in the payday lending industry, but it seems like Earnin is earnestly trying to provide a service that many Americans outside (and inside) the Bay Area fall back on, in the fairest and least-predatory way possible. As far as I'm concerned, that's something to be applauded, not scorned. [1] https://reason.org/wp-content/uploads/files/payday_lending_regulation.pdf https://reason.org/wp-content/uploads/files/payday_lending_r...
- pytester 8y ago
  Payday lenders don't operate within a vacuum but people would still be better off if they didn't operate at all: https://www.responsiblelending.org/sites/default/files/nodes/files/research-publication/crl_shark_free_waters_aug2016.pdf https://www.responsiblelending.org/sites/default/files/nodes...
  - simplecomplex 8y ago
    Speak for yourself. A payday loan was the only thing that bailed me out from missing rent and getting evicted. Payday loans are a lot less predatory than every major bank credit card. They at least ensure you have money to pay them back.
    - pytester 8y ago
      The study showed that people showed a strong tendency to tap other options where payday operators weren't available and ended up financially better off overall.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

Earnin is a scam that disproportionately targets young poor black/latino people. It's JG Wentworth in an app. Doesn't count as a unicorn because it's not innovative at all.

ng12 8y ago

They're undercutting loan sharks and overdraft fees by a huge percent. I wouldn't be sad to see those go.

JustSomeNobody 8y ago

Wow. That app is creepy. It tracks your location so it knows when you got to work and left work. It tracks your bank account so it knows when, how often and how much you deposit. Etc.

randomacct3847 8y ago

Why is it a scam? Seems better than a payday loan if receiving paychecks daily instead of biweekly makes the difference

etxm 8y ago

Some creepy tracking, but curious why you think it’s a scam? I understand how payday lenders can be considered scams, but it seems like Earnin makes all the fees optional. I haven’t used the app, just read their marketing pages, BTW so I may have missed something.

liveoneggs 8y ago
"optional fees" doesn't sound very legitimate to me
- identity_zero 8y ago
  That just means there's a tip functionality.

gingerbread-man 8y ago

The payday lending industry operates within an intrinsically challenging ethical landscape. Their customers are generally poor, often desperate, and proportionately vulnerable. But payday lenders also don't operate within a vacuum: often the costs of high-interest-rate loans are dwarfed by comparison to the late-payment fees charged by credit cards, landlords, insurance companies, doctors offices, auto lenders, bank overdrafts, etc... As the saying goes, it's expensive to be poor. In one survey of payday loan customers performed by GWU Business School, 89% of borrowers said they were "very satisfied" or "somewhat satisfied" with their most recent payday loan. [1] No one wants to be in that situation, but for some, payday loans are the best or only option. It's one thing to call out the kind of deliberately predatory behavior that has thrived in the payday lending industry, but it seems like Earnin is earnestly trying to provide a service that many Americans outside (and inside) the Bay Area fall back on, in the fairest and least-predatory way possible. As far as I'm concerned, that's something to be applauded, not scorned. [1] https://reason.org/wp-content/uploads/files/payday_lending_regulation.pdf https://reason.org/wp-content/uploads/files/payday_lending_r...

pytester 8y ago
Payday lenders don't operate within a vacuum but people would still be better off if they didn't operate at all: https://www.responsiblelending.org/sites/default/files/nodes/files/research-publication/crl_shark_free_waters_aug2016.pdf https://www.responsiblelending.org/sites/default/files/nodes...
- simplecomplex 8y ago
  Speak for yourself. A payday loan was the only thing that bailed me out from missing rent and getting evicted. Payday loans are a lot less predatory than every major bank credit card. They at least ensure you have money to pay them back.
  - pytester 8y ago
    The study showed that people showed a strong tendency to tap other options where payday operators weren't available and ended up financially better off overall.

deleted 8y ago

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