← Back

Your message to the BLOGMASTER was sent

Submitted by Cherfleur

Courts (Barbados) Ltd aka Unicomer is offering Cash Loans at THIRTY PERCENT interest.

How are they doing it and to whom?

Courts advertises in the Classifieds section with the entreaty of waiving the payments for six months if and when the customer is made redundant. Naturally the who are the young vulnerable teen mothers, most of whom are in the Informatics Industry in the Harbour industrial Park.

It’s a wretched pipeline, like the ‘cradle to grave’ one in USA. Desperate to acquire much needed items on a subsistence wage, this group of the population in this sector is easy prey to such predatory practices and false marketing.

Crucible recently laid off a second batch of employees for this year. In June they advised the Labour Department that they lost a Contract and was forced to sever employees but that the amount was less than the 10% that would require Union/Labour Department Consultation. I would hope that Mr Mayers of the Labour Department investigate to ascertain whether Crucible lost another Contract in this half of the year or it is the same Contract they are now relieving more employees from. Working the loop holes of the Law (perhaps not).

Whatever the situation these employees are now on the bread line and some of them who had these treacherous loans from Courts approached the firm and applied to get the waiver only to be told by the floor Representatives that they do not know or never heard of such offerings. FALSE ADVERTISING.

So unemployed and cash strapped these vulnerable ladies have to cough up much needed dollars to service these illegal loans.

Courts is not licensed to lend money’ or are they? Nevertheless 30% is Usury. The Banks and Credit Unions are being had by Courts.

Attempts to reach the Director, Consumer Finance or the Marketing Manager went unanswered.

30 RASSHOLE percent!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY.


Discover more from Barbados Underground

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

216 responses to “PREDATORY MARKETING and the Vulnerable in Society”


  1. @ Vincent
    The probability of default is calculated in to the numbers, but also the profitability, which is more important. Financial firms sell off their default books to specialist houses usually at a discount. Bailiffs and court action are handled by the third party.
    @john at 4.08 is nonsense, @John at 4.09 is right.


  2. @ Vincent.

    The problem is not that they can’t read and understand the cost, it’s that most of today’s consumers lack any form of financial discipline.

    For example they may have the cash to buy the 48 inch Tv, but instead of doing that they going into a HP or loan agreement at loan shark rates for the 70 inch, so as to impress their friends.

    The problem is we no longer buy what we need but instead buy what we want, or what our neighbour has.


  3. @Vincent Codrington December 28, 2019 4:43 PM “shifting the responsibility of making good financial decisions from the borrower onto the State.”

    States are already highly intrusive, so why not one more demand on the state which demands so much of the citizens?

    If my Little Susie gives birth tomorrow the state will demand that within 30 days she tells with whom she had sexual relations (and isn’t sex the most private and personal of acts?) But the state demands to know who is the father of the child, although truthfully some few do withhold this information from the state.

    If I die today the state demands to be informed of that fact, and of my date of birth, my gender, my place of death, my cause of death, whether I was single, married, divorced or widowed, etc–I mean what is the state going to do with all of that information—use it to raise me from the dead? Lolll!!!

    All states are intrusive.

    So we the citizens have a right to be demanding.

    My truth.


  4. @ John A

    If the majority of poor people were to save to buy anything cash they would be walking about without clothes.
    These loan sharks know their target market. It’s amazing how some of us pretend we don’t understand poverty and how easy it is to fall to these predators.
    Students can’t pay back student loans; inferior public transport forcing people to credit motor cars; the daily struggle to put food on the table. These are everyday struggles and challenges that have nothing to do with discipline , knowing how to balance a Cheque book or doing compound interest.
    Laws must be put in place to protect the vulnerable. Obviously the laws are insufficient or not present.
    It always amazes me how people who escape poverty become critics of those who are now trapped in it. It’s a very pretty picture when our children : turn on air conditioners; have eight choices of cheese; two luxury cars and a SUV to choose from; safe neighborhoods and all the comforts.
    That’s not every body’s reality.
    The poor and gullible must be protected.
    Funny thing the same poor are retrenched to meet the passing marks of the IMF. How ironic. Throwing them over Board is easy but protecting them is oh so hard to do.


  5. @William Skinner: “If the majority of poor people were to save to buy anything cash they would be walking about without clothes.

    If I may please share with you all a bit of history I happened to have with the late, but truly great, Roosevelt O. King. Some of us called him ROK, because he truly was a rock, and rocked!

    BANGO was doing a survey on Connectivity amongst the poor residents of Barbados. ROK being ROK, he of course actually walked around various different poor neighborhoods talking with people. Visiting them in their homes.

    The results were startling and very depressing.

    ROK described going into homes which he said he wouldn’t raise pigs in, and yet every single house member had a higher-end smartphone, using “Pay-as-you-go” plans — the most expensive way possible to get connectivity.

    Man, I miss ROK. He would be appalled we are still where we are.


  6. @Chris

    And this is the point some of us have been making so far. Where do we go from here ?


  7. @David: “Where do we go from here ?

    I would argue, education is the only way. And I mean, real education.

    At the end of the day, we all stand alone. Every day, actually.

    Know who your friends are. Know who your adversaries are.

    Act accordingly.


  8. Hal Austin
    December 28, 2019 4:12 PM

    The actuary just assesses how many predators Courts will need to fight and how much prey is there for the taking.(Quote)
    @John, are you sure you won a Barbados Scholarship? You are Bajan to the core. Stop it.

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    When Lions make a kill, numerous predators arrive to wait their turn.

    Hyenas, Vultures etc etc are all predators.

    Everybody gets their piece out of the prey.

    They just got to wait their turn.


  9. @Chris.

    That is my point exactly. Let me give you this one. A few years back my bank said they had a list of repossessed cars for sale they wanted to send me. I needed no car but they insisted and sent me the list anyhow.

    That list did not have a Suzuki on it. Audi, BMWs and all high end vehicles only were there. In my maliciousness I asked what kind of repayment these cars had on them initially.

    How does $2000 to $2600 a month sound for 7 years!

    I asked the bank manger how many line marks these cars came with, as I would only of ever paid that kind of money for a land loan!

    So yes I agree with you it’s about wanting more than you can afford and investing in liabilities as opposed to assets. You borrow $140,000 for one of these and by the time the loan done, the car worth $45000 and you in the whole $140k plus interest.


  10. You borrow $140,000 for one of these and by the time the loan done, the car worth $45000 and you in the whole $140k plus interest.

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Of which the GOB, another predator, gets half in duty!!


  11. @ Chris Halsall
    Is the poor living in dilapidated conditions and having high end phones any different from those living in the heights and terraces driving half million dollars that they can’t afford or building mansion as they can’t maintain or enjoying lifestyles way beyond their income?
    Don’t we give them tax breaks, contacts and free rides to ensure they enjoy their lifestyles?
    Do they get retrenched during times of austerity?

    Just asking


  12. “ Half million dollar cars”


  13. Moral of the story:

    The cost of theft in a supermarket or any other business, lending money for example, is passed on to the final consumer.


  14. William Skinner
    December 28, 2019 7:12 PM

    @ Chris Halsall
    Is the poor living in dilapidated conditions and having high end phones any different from those living in the heights and terraces driving half million dollars that they can’t afford or building mansion as they can’t maintain or enjoying lifestyles way beyond their income?
    Don’t we give them tax breaks, contacts and free rides to ensure they enjoy their lifestyles?
    Do they get retrenched during times of austerity?
    Just asking

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Sho’ nuff, no difference.

    But see “moral of the story” above.

    Someone always has to pay.


  15. Suddenly we have all of these disciplined gurus who will pretend they are living within their means; have never been in debt and completely ignoring the forces that entrap the poor.
    A man with a PhD in debt up to his ears living way beyond his means is given a pass.
    A lower economic class worker earning less than four hundred dollars a week is castigated for having a cell phone. Oh he needs an education but the well educated PhD is complimented .
    These bogus positions are frightening to say the lease.
    Who will guard the guardians. Stop pushing up your noses at the poor. It’s the same “educated” that are versed in entrapping the poor. They are actually worst than the scammers .


  16. @ John
    Like you correctly said : “‘somebody has to pay”.
    It’s usually the poor. They are the ones that get drenched in the retrenched.


  17. @WS: “Is the poor living in dilapidated conditions and having high end phones any different from those living in the heights and terraces…

    Very much so.

    The human body needs certain things to survive. Regularly.

    Air. Water. Nutrients. In that order.

    One does /not/ need access to Fakebook to survive.

    But, sadly, sometimes food is forgone for connectivity.

    I’m serious (and very, very saddened) when I say this with some level of certainty.


  18. You high and mighty people seem to be unaware that there are shops on Swan Street and elsewhere that sell these high end phones second hand for a few hundred dollars.

    Too besides not everyone who is poor indulges in the craziness you suggest.

    I guess poverty is always the fault of the poor. My God! How out of touch some of you are!


  19. @ Donna
    Exactly. The poor are to produce more; work harder. The Boxers on animal farm. Like you say the poor are blamed for poverty.
    Animal Farm.
    It’s good to know that some still have compassion for those of us who fall through the cracks.
    Like you said not all poor people indulge in the extravagance being highlighted here on BU. They are not out of touch just suffering from convenient amnesia.

  20. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @ Chris Halsall

    I witness that the same attitude. Some low income citizens do not put the essentials at the top of their shopping lists.

    @ Donna
    A few hundred dollars can buy groceries for a family of four for a week. Is the second hand phone essential?


  21. @Donna: “How out of touch some of you are!

    With all due respect, some of us are /very/ much in touch.

    Are you familiar with the business model of “Give the razor away for free, charge for the blades.”?

    Barbados suffers from some of the highest telephony and connectivity charges in the world.

    An issue I have often brought up is why are “Prepaid” options more expensive than “Postpaid”?

    There’s no risk in the former, and yet the latter enjoy lower rates.

    Mathematically, that doesn’t make sense. Until you bring in the profit dimension…


  22. @ Vincent Codrington December 28, 2019 8:19 PM

    @ Chris Halsall

    I witness that the same attitude. Some low income citizens do not put the essentials at the top of their shopping lists.

    @ Donna
    A few hundred dollars can buy groceries for a family of four for a week. Is the second hand phone essential?

    Do the well off always have their “essentials” in order? Do you not hear of stories about the so called better off barely meeting their mortgages and car payments? Don’t you hear about empty computerized fridges? Don’t you hear about repossessions and unpaid utility bills among the better off? Don’t hear about the help being exploited and not paid?
    Let us look at this matter from a broader perspective.
    A poorly organized better off is no different from a poorly organized poor person. We have to look at our society and stop believing as if the poor are to be blamed for everything.


  23. @John A December 28, 2019 6:47 PM “How does $2000 to $2600 a month sound for 7 years!”

    I haven’t had a car since February 1999, at first it was because i couldn’t afford it, and then it was because I realized that “yes” it is still possible to get along fine in Barbados without a car. So now I know that I will never again buy a car. Sorry car dealers. Thanks dear departed dad for advising me exactly where to buy a house spot so that I ended up on not one, but two good bus routes. But yet I don’t have my “car” money 84 months x $2,000 per month + interest saved.

    I don’t drink, don’t smoke anything, don’t gamble, has NEVER EVER paid for sex.

    So who have my money den?


  24. @WS: “We have to look at our society and stop believing as if the poor are to be blamed for everything.

    Please present evidence that that was ever the argument.


  25. @ Chris Halsall December 28, 2019 8:51 PM

    @WS: “We have to look at our society and stop believing as if the poor are to be blamed for everything.

    Please present evidence that that was ever the argument.

    You have put your position, I never asked for proof. You reference a survey or research which concluded that people living in homes that were not fit for “pigs “ had high end phones. I never asked you to produce evidence of these homes. I have kept pigs and I shudder to think that we have citizens living where my pigs would not have lived!
    Now read ninety percent of this thread and it’s analyzing one group : the poor.
    I am in a serious debate about socio economic issues , not gamesmanship.


  26. Please note that I have never paid more than $300 BDS for a phone. I have a sibling, sensible woman who has NEVER bought a new cell phone.

    Rarely do Facebook/Twitter/Instagram etc. I don’t like people that much that I need to be connected to the whole world all of the time. I often leave my cell phone at home when I am going out especially during the daytime. I am NOT a doctor, fire officer or police officer so why do I need constant phone connection. Nothing as sweet as working in the field, me the birds, the bees, the sun,the soil the fresh air, the monkeys. Can Facebook/Twitter/Instagram beat that? Tobesides I hear that there is a fair amount of stupidity on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram etc.


  27. @WS: “I am in a serious debate about socio economic issues , not gamesmanship.

    As am I.

    But these kinds of activities are often modeled based on games we have played in the past.

    My personal favorite is the game of Go. 3D chess is so, like, yesteryear.


  28. Don’t businesses small, big and supra-national and national economies in spite of having access to the best accountants/financial analysts not sometimes find themselves in potter.

    Hasn’t Donald Trump and or his businesses not become bankrupt, and yet wunna think that some poor working woman on the Harbour Road is greedy for 1n 84 inch TV, or a $1200 phone, or covets her neighbors goods, or foolish etc.

    Why?

    Wasn’t there talk around the town about a store that could not/would not/did not pay tens of millions in VAT? VAT collected from poor “foolish” people at the counter.

    What if I told wunna that the little loans are mostly for school supplies, and maybe a toy at Christmas?

    Wunna name Ebenezer that wunna would begrudge a lil boy a toy truck at Christmas?


  29. I don’t drink, don’t smoke anything, don’t gamble, has NEVER EVER paid for sex.

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Me either, but I always thought women were the ones who got paid for sex.

    I had a wonderful grandfather named Ebenezer although he was known as “The Chief” to everyone!!

    Even his children called him that as well as his eldest grandchildren.

    He started from scratch and did well for his family.

    Watched his father have to take his two eldest sons to New York looking for work in 1903, raising 7 children as a tailor was tough, guess he swore it would not happen to his.

    He had 7 children when his turn came and provided employment for 6 out of the 7.

    Generous to a tee but never spent a penny when a cent would do!!


  30. My, my, my! Do you think the phone was purchased when the family had hungry bellies? Not when the purchaser had a few dollars to play with? Situations do change. Sometimes very rapidly. The most the person may have been guilty of is not saving for a rainy day.

    Most of us have been guilty of that at some point in time. Most of us have bought something frivolous rather than save the money. The impact on somebody with less funds is just greater.

    If you guys believe that the poor, ALL OF THEM, are responsible for their lot what the hell is BU about??????/


  31. Mia should do as she likes because she need not think of the poor.


  32. Is it only the poor that will borrow the $2000.00 at 30%?

    What makes a person poor?

    Is a smart phone a necessity?

    Is a person with a child like “little Susie” at University poor?

    Anybody borrowing that money is doing so regardless of whether he/she is rich or poor.

    It is a calculated decision and the people who do borrow are quite able to make the calculation.

    They are supposed to be adults and able to decide for themselves.

    Poverty isn’t the issue.


  33. Silly Woman
    December 28, 2019 9:02 PM

    Please note that I have never paid more than $300 BDS for a phone. I have a sibling, sensible woman who has NEVER bought a new cell phone.

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Up to 2006 I had never even bought a cell phone.

    My family laid down the law and I had to get one.

    Until 2019 I had never paid more than $89.95 for a cell phone.

    The most advanced feature on my phone used to be the flashlight.

    But button phones are now things of the past so I had to step up with huge reluctance.

    Phones do have utility but they consume too much time and can interfere with living and working.


  34. @ John

    I have never owned a mobile phone and only used one when it was provided by the Daily Mail. At the FT they tried to get me to use one and I refused. They are not compulsory. Life goes on without falling victim to such commercial nonsense.


  35. In this forum we allow ourselves to get distracted from the substantive issues every time. All sensible people will agree that the poor should be protected. At this point some will want to define what is poor. Even in developed countries protecting the poor is an ongoing concern for the authorities. Few countries can boast about an acceptable level of poverty if it maybe so described. In the great USA a healthy % of the population live pay cheque to pay cheque.

    What all here should be able to agree to is that Barbadians like many other societies have become addicted to conspicuous consumption behaviour. In the case of Barbados a significant % of how the economy produces is based on the retail and distributive sectors, the output from the behaviour is seen in our export bill. It is there a non productive discussion to presume by way of general comment Barbadians in the low socioeconomic band would be immune from the same behaviour and resultant misplaced priorities.


  36. Even in developed countries protecting the poor is an ongoing concern for the authorities. Few countries can boast about an acceptable level of poverty if it maybe so described. In the great USA a healthy % of the population live pay cheque to pay cheque.

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    There is one huge difference between the USA and Barbados.

    More and more people in the USA are actually getting paychecks!!


  37. In the case of Barbados a significant % of how the economy produces is based on the retail and distributive sectors, the output from the behaviour is seen in our export bill.

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    You really mean IMPORT Bill, don’t you?

    That’s the problem, people see it as a bill somebody else pays and don’t get it.

    You don’t even have it clear in your mind.

    The individual borrowing $2000 from Courts at 30% is the same as the GOB borrowing to provide FOREX from foreign lenders to provide it to the retail and distributive sectors to pay the import bill.

    The foreign lender will advance credit but the strings are onerous and GOB will tax the two sectors to get the money that can then be misappropriated or spent in wages in the non productive sector, GOB!.

    Plenty jobs exist in the retail and distributive sectors that pay people who can then go and borrow money and pay it back.

    Plenty jobs exist in the GOB for the same reason.

    The problems are manifold.

    The means of earning the foreign exchange and the mentality that goes with matching that earning power to the borrowing and pay back of loans are two of them.

    The wealthy borrow mainly to earn and will often lend sometimes on favourable terms and their wealth increases..

    The poor borrow to consume.

    …. and the “rich” borrow to both consume and earn and will seldom lend.

    If they do lend, the terms are unfavourable.

    In many cases they just breakeven and their riches often dwindle with time.

    There are far larger issues than borrowing $2000 from Courts at 30% payable in 2 years!!

    That is just a symptom of our malaise.


  38. @John

    Export bill is what the blogmaster means the result of a mendicant behaviour and depending on largesse.


  39. All sensible people will agree that the poor should be protected.

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Are the poor employed or are the employed poor?

    People obviously reckon they have the funds to pay back the loan and Courts obviously reckons it can make a return from lending its money.

    Who needs protection?


  40. @John

    There is a reason why countries developed and underdeveloped enact and police proper consumer protection legislation.


  41. There is such a thing as the working poor, here and in all other countries. It comes from your beloved capitalists of the free market persuasion paying subsistence wages while pocketing billions.


  42. David
    December 29, 2019 8:48 AM

    @John
    There is a reason why countries developed and underdeveloped enact and police proper consumer protection legislation.

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Does that reason have anything to do with poor people?

    It is people who are not poor who have the time to agitate for their own benefit.

    The poor are swept along for the ride and benefit too.


  43. @John

    If the legislative framework is in place it permits others to advocate on behalf of the vulnerable does it not?


  44. David
    December 29, 2019 10:34 AM

    @John
    If the legislative framework is in place it permits others to advocate on behalf of the vulnerable does it not?

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    I there a difference between vulnerable and poor?

    Can a rich person be vulnerable?


  45. @John

    For the sake of this exchange the vulnerable includes the poor. There will be blurring at the margin.


  46. You should listen to Rush Limbaugh more and you would understand how you fit the classical definition of a leftist!!

    Leftists need to feel superior so they need to define people as vulnerable and then express their deep concern for them.

    Question remains …. can rich people be vulnerable?


  47. @John

    You may have the last word.


  48. What a load of codswallop!


  49. Frankly, I wish there were no poor and vulnerable. Then I would get to keep all my money. It is no fun having people and organizations make me feel guilty for having to say no sometimes. It is no fun having to balance my son’s entitlements and his future needs with my instinct to give. One more thing to think about that I could do without.

    I felt the eyes of the Salvation Army bell ringers boring into me every time I went past, even though I had already given. It was an uncomfortable feeling.

    I would gladly give up that feeling of “superiority”!

    Wuhlaus!

The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.

Trending

Discover more from Barbados Underground

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading