Dearest readers, hope your summer plans are shaping up nicely. In the meantime, let’s go over a very interesting topic. As I live in a major metropolitan area here in Ontario, I have friends from a walks of life (as many of you already know), and also friends of friends and acquaintances who struggle quite a bit, financially, in their efforts to deal with the cost of rent, socializing and dating in the big city (yes, I know it’s not that big population-wise, but it’s our Canadian version of a big city). As such, I was privy to some interesting horror stories about payday loan companies, as well as short term high interest loan companies Ike goEasy (formerly Easyfinancial). The loans from this company are supposed to be a quick fix for anyone temporarily cash strapped, but on the flip side the loans come with an annual interest of almost 60% and some sort of insurance policy with ridiculous premiums that you don’t even notice unless you read the fine print! Yikes! Now, as you may know, your cute Miss Z prefers not to bore you with dry articles, so I’m going to look at this crazy loan industry through a different lens, a social lens. And boy oh boy is it ever a good lens to use :) I am going to preset to you the idea that short term high interest rate loan companies like goEasy are the symptom, the cost and the punishment for the breakdown of quality interpersonal relationships in our society and especially in large metropolitan areas like Toronto and its suburbs.
So, what do I mean when I say that a company like goEasy is the symptom of the breakdown of quality interpersonal relationships? Most of us have families, friends, coworkers or business partners, romantic partners and so on. We form relationships with these people, as well as with businesses that provide services to us. What I’ve seen happen over a period of many years, however, is that these relationships have become increasingly shallow, superficial and somewhat impersonal. This hasn’t happened to everyone out there and to every single relationship one person has with others, but it is nevertheless constantly on the rise. Taking the time to build a relationship, digging deep below the surface and building a solid foundation is no longer the norm. The time taken to do that has been replaced with increasing the quantity of connections we have with others, thinking that more is better even if the quality of those connections inevitably suffers as a consequence. Also, the rise of feeling constantly busy without really accomplishing much adds further to the illusion that we have no time for quality work in building relationships. Anyone who finds themselves in these circumstances ends up suffering many different symptoms. One such symptom is that when you don’t have a single quality relationship, or simply too few of them, and you get in trouble where you are cash strapped and need a loan (and the bank can’t or won’t help), you have no one who trusts you enough to stick their neck out for you and front you the cash. In comes goEasy, or rather one of their friendly neighbourhood branches that will of course help you out with your financial needs- at almost 60% annual interest and with high insurance fees in case you don’t pay it all back due to job loss. Oh, and forget about paying it super fast, as their payments are structured to cover mostly interest first, just as mortgage payments. So, no quality relationship= no friend in need= emergency loans at 60% interest.
This is where we get to the cost part. Unwittingly, goEasy and similar companies have defined the value of having quality relationships with people and the cost of not having one. Simply put, the value is in being able to borrow hundreds or thousands of dollars from someone you have a good relationship with completely interest-free and with a generous amount of time to any it back. The cost of not having many of those, or even just one, is a loan at 60% interest and a tricky fine print.
Now, quite obviously, we get to the punishment part. Companies like goEasy, if they are the only solution you have left, are a collective stick that whacks you over the head for putting yourself in the situation where you can’t go anywhere else in emergencies! If one fails to realize how one can become a customer of one of these companies and works to prevent this from ever happening, the stick will never smack them. This is why I find it valuable to talk about such companies through a social lens and hope that everyone who reads this will spread the word as it does indeed matter on a wide scale.
To be frank, it’s not terrible that companies like goEasy exist. If you have an emergency and nowhere else to go, they’ll give you the money and charge handsomely for the privilege of taking your at your face value and trusting you without you building any rapport with them. However, what I do believe is that it’s terrible and a symptom of society in need of healing that companies such as goEasy are growing and thriving at a dizzying rate. Don’t believe me? Go read their last annual report; they’re a publicly traded company so their books are public as well. These are my two cents on the topic; the rest is up to you. Until next time, work hard, pls hard, and don’t get in too much trouble ;)
So, what do I mean when I say that a company like goEasy is the symptom of the breakdown of quality interpersonal relationships? Most of us have families, friends, coworkers or business partners, romantic partners and so on. We form relationships with these people, as well as with businesses that provide services to us. What I’ve seen happen over a period of many years, however, is that these relationships have become increasingly shallow, superficial and somewhat impersonal. This hasn’t happened to everyone out there and to every single relationship one person has with others, but it is nevertheless constantly on the rise. Taking the time to build a relationship, digging deep below the surface and building a solid foundation is no longer the norm. The time taken to do that has been replaced with increasing the quantity of connections we have with others, thinking that more is better even if the quality of those connections inevitably suffers as a consequence. Also, the rise of feeling constantly busy without really accomplishing much adds further to the illusion that we have no time for quality work in building relationships. Anyone who finds themselves in these circumstances ends up suffering many different symptoms. One such symptom is that when you don’t have a single quality relationship, or simply too few of them, and you get in trouble where you are cash strapped and need a loan (and the bank can’t or won’t help), you have no one who trusts you enough to stick their neck out for you and front you the cash. In comes goEasy, or rather one of their friendly neighbourhood branches that will of course help you out with your financial needs- at almost 60% annual interest and with high insurance fees in case you don’t pay it all back due to job loss. Oh, and forget about paying it super fast, as their payments are structured to cover mostly interest first, just as mortgage payments. So, no quality relationship= no friend in need= emergency loans at 60% interest.
This is where we get to the cost part. Unwittingly, goEasy and similar companies have defined the value of having quality relationships with people and the cost of not having one. Simply put, the value is in being able to borrow hundreds or thousands of dollars from someone you have a good relationship with completely interest-free and with a generous amount of time to any it back. The cost of not having many of those, or even just one, is a loan at 60% interest and a tricky fine print.
Now, quite obviously, we get to the punishment part. Companies like goEasy, if they are the only solution you have left, are a collective stick that whacks you over the head for putting yourself in the situation where you can’t go anywhere else in emergencies! If one fails to realize how one can become a customer of one of these companies and works to prevent this from ever happening, the stick will never smack them. This is why I find it valuable to talk about such companies through a social lens and hope that everyone who reads this will spread the word as it does indeed matter on a wide scale.
To be frank, it’s not terrible that companies like goEasy exist. If you have an emergency and nowhere else to go, they’ll give you the money and charge handsomely for the privilege of taking your at your face value and trusting you without you building any rapport with them. However, what I do believe is that it’s terrible and a symptom of society in need of healing that companies such as goEasy are growing and thriving at a dizzying rate. Don’t believe me? Go read their last annual report; they’re a publicly traded company so their books are public as well. These are my two cents on the topic; the rest is up to you. Until next time, work hard, pls hard, and don’t get in too much trouble ;)