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- Holiday Loan-Sharking
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- Charles Lane
A new lending product offers quick cash for the holidays but comes with a hefty price tag
Major tax preparation companies have rolled out a new holiday product: early tax-refund-anticipation loans. The loans are based solely on pay-stub information, and are being marketed as a way to get cash for holiday shopping. Consumer advocates say these loans are just another way to trap the nation's working poor into debt.
Edited by D2D's Alicia Montgomary and WSHU's Tandi Wilder.
H&R Block and Jackson Hewitt declined to participate in the story. You can ask them why: Kate Oneil Roper (media relations at H&R Block) can be reached at 816-932-4548; Melissa Conerton is PR at Jackson Hewitt, 917-710-8548. Others in the story are Sarah Ludwig at NEDAP (212-680-5100) and Nina Olson at the IRS (202-622-6100).
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Piece Description
A new lending product offers quick cash for the holidays but comes with a hefty price tag Major tax preparation companies have rolled out a new holiday product: early tax-refund-anticipation loans. The loans are based solely on pay-stub information, and are being marketed as a way to get cash for holiday shopping. Consumer advocates say these loans are just another way to trap the nation's working poor into debt. Edited by D2D's Alicia Montgomary and WSHU's Tandi Wilder. H&R Block and Jackson Hewitt declined to participate in the story. You can ask them why: Kate Oneil Roper (media relations at H&R Block) can be reached at 816-932-4548; Melissa Conerton is PR at Jackson Hewitt, 917-710-8548. Others in the story are Sarah Ludwig at NEDAP (212-680-5100) and Nina Olson at the IRS (202-622-6100).
Broadcast History
Aired on NPR's Day to Day on 12/18/06
Transcript
Pay-stub loans are the new holiday version of refund anticipation loans. Those are the loans tax preparation companies offer, based on an expected refund check. Only, with the new pay-stub loan, you don?t need a W2, just a recent pay-stub. And customers can now get their money before Christmas. Which some people think is a good deal. (:20)
SOT Cause I?m broke. (:02)
NAR2* Kim Parks is leaving an H&R Block in the village of Hempstead on Long Island. Hempstead is a mostly African American and Latino neighborhood known for it?s poverty. There are a lot of tax offices offering quick holiday cash. That?s something Parks says she needs. (:14)
SOT With Christmas around the corner I was trying to get a little bit more money so I can get my son the gift he wants and get my daughter?my daughter?s birthday is Sunday. And so it?s like I had so much planned and so much I wanted to...
Read the full transcript
Timing and Cues
INTRO: Need some easy money for present-buying this holiday season? You can get a last minute loan based on next years income taxes. It's called a pay-stub loan. But consumer groups call it holiday loan sharking. Charles Lane reports
IN: Pay-stub loans
OUT: several years to complete
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Posted on January 14, 2007 at 11:40 AM | Permalink
Review of Holiday Loan-Sharking
This is a nicely edited piece about high interest "Pay Stub Loans" that are targeted to low income individuals as a way to get cash for holiday shopping. The narration and actualities are well done, and the piece flows well right up to the end, which is rather abrupt. If a closing could be added to this piece, it would fit well into a news magazine program.