Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Thank God President Obama appointed a director, even though he had to do by recess appointment. I note he is starting out in Birmingham, Alabama “our third world state” on payday lending, where we really have a lot of poor ignorant people and once, they get hooked by these companies they never get away. Being poor and needing help is like any other addiction, alcohol or drugs, one can never get away and our country has never been able to find a cure or a way to help. Maybe now we can start an even playing field for all consumers. The poor needy and uneducated have always been ‘CAPTIVE CONSUMER’S’ by the greed of money grabbing people. It is not just the moneylender’s, it is also firms that do service for all manner of repairs, they overcharge clients for work and many do not complete the jobs or give poor service.

One group I have not noticed being mentioned. Used car dealers in poor parts of cities. They will sell a car to anyone for a down payment and set up a weekly or monthly payment, keep the title of the vehicle, which is in their name until the vehicle is paid for, which is legal. I have known them to sell vehicles to people who do not have a driver’s license nor have ever had one due to the fact that they are mentally impaired. They are able to learn to drive, many work and do menial labor such as mowing lawns, save enough money and want a car. These dealers just want the money. They will let these people have the car and leave the lot without insurance of any kind and no driver’s license. A dealer in Oak Cliff area in Dallas made a mistake by doing this. One of my housekeepers had a brother that was mentally impaired to this extent. HE wanted a car, he was 30 years old the dealer took his money and let him have the car, he drove off the lot and paid weekly for about six months, plus a high interest rate. The poor guy would probably have paid this weekly payment for five years, but he had an accident, hit another car then damaged some city property. Police, tickets for no driver’s license, no insurance, then to jail. His family paid his tickets and got him out of jail, but they wouldn’t let him have the car, as he had no title, plus the city demanded payment for the city property, which was extensive. My housekeeper told me what had happened and asked what he could do? As I was in the insurance business I asked about the insurance, he didn’t have any, I asked about the title, he didn’t have a title to the car! She told me the circumstances about the dealer and the payments, with them keeping the title until it was paid for. I got the dealer’s name and called. Asked about the title. He told me they keep the title in their name until it is paid for. I asked if they had insurance on their cars that they sell under those circumstances? They did! I then told him that since he was the owner of this vehicle and not the person driving it who had been involved in an accident, I would have the City of Highland Park and the owner of the other vehicle contact him in regard to the damage done to the city property and the other person’s vehicle, and once this was paid he could pick up his vehicle at the city pound and it might be a good idea to change his sales tactics and stop preying on poor uneducated African American’s and Mexican people.

Since that time I have found that dealer’s like this all along the Mexican-American border, really prey on the Latin American’s coming into the United States. They do the same thing, take the down payment, set up payments, keep the title in their name, let them take the car, no driver’s license, insurance or even a copy of the title. They leave the license plates and inspection sticker on the car. When they expire, not knowing the rules and regulations, they drive around with expired license plates, inspection stickers and no driver’s license – everything is fine until they get stopped by police or have an accident, then they lose their vehicle and their money and the pound winds up with a lot of vehicles, lot of money to the city paid for fines to get out jail. They usually can’t afford to get the car out of the pound, as they can’t get a driver’s license afford to buy insurance or pay the pound fee. If the dealers get their vehicles out of the pound, more money for the city and they take the vehicle back to the lot and sell it to another unsuspecting poor person. If they don’t pick it up the city sells these vehicles and make more money for the city. The loser’s are the poor fools who buy them in the beginning from a bunch of greedy bastard that take advantage and do not follow the laws. Our whole country has been consumed with this type of business practices. The old saying, “Buyer’s Beware” still applies!