And you wonder why First Premier’s fee harvesting schemes were deemed illegal by the feds

1. While their business practices are deplorable at best, I would liken it to being told that if you go in room A you can have many of the things you want but you will be robbed, or go into room B where you will LEARN how to get what you want and not be robbed. Nobody forced them to sign, but I feel the education system has let folks down to the extent that personal money management and a basic understanding of how credit cards and compound interest work has not been taught, or at least stressed enough. The novelty that big govt should protect us from our own stupidity via legislation is folly as we can see how well the govt and Fed have managed money. Ultimately, strong business ethics could have prevented much of this but when so many are slaves to the almighty dollar then they will do what they can justify as right, regardless of the moral consequences.

2. I would agree James that people should know better, but trust me, I worked behind in the industry long enough to know that there is a fair amount of manipulation going on. This is what scares me about Huether, his bread and butter was manipulation, so how can we trust him now? Just listen to how he answers questions? He repeats them, says something flowery and never gives you a straight answer.

   BTW, great interview with the Argus the other day, your endorsement of Kermit, as well as Theresa’s was great.

3. Only in South Dakota is usury legal, that is why all the credit card companies are there. Janklow made sure of that.
   Elizabeth Warren is wonderful.

4. She really is brilliant, and her common sense answers to the questions really speaks volumes. It is like I said to someone the other day, if a guy came up to you and said he would borrow you $500 dollars the only requirement he would have from you is to shove a baseball bat up your ass, how would you respond?

   I guess it depends how desperate you are?

5. Thank you, the Argus interview was a fun one.

   I would say we can’t trust them any amount for the reason you mentioned, they like to manipulate. I’m sure many of us have heard people getting upset about being late once and having interest and fees cranked up to insane levels, then they bemoan they have been ‘loyal’ customers for x years. Sorry, you played with snakes and you finally got bitten. SD could do a lot for their image to adjust their usury laws.

6. There needs to be a massive purging of politicians in SD, the question is, where do we start?

7. I would think larger, as well as give them a chance by educating them as to the U.S. Constitution and who has what powers. Afterward, a test. Pass you stay, fail you go.

8. A constitutional test would be nice. I still laugh about Larry Craig who confesses to what he was doing in a MPLS airport bathroom, AFTER his miranda rights were read to him and a lawyer was not present. How f’ing dumb can you be? As a US Senator, have you, to know that after your miranda rights are read to you, you zip your lip.

   Idiots.

9. So now it is illegal for First Premeier to stoop to that level, yet you can walk into Dollar Loan Center and get a “short term” payday loan which will have an effective APR of at least 700%.

   Let’s all just admit for a second that if someone was stupid enough to sign up for a card with a 79.9% APR and $300 worth of fees in the first year, they probably aren’t going to pass up an offer to take out a payday loan.

   You can’t control every action for every human being in the country… sometimes people just need to learn their lessons the hard way. This is probably one of the reasons some people are stuck in the lower income class – because they fail to learn their lessons and therefore they get burned time after time.

10. “sometimes people just need to learn their lessons the hard way.”

    I agree. But for people to making enormous profits off of these people, knowing they are not smart enough to figure it out, is where I have the problem. Greed is destroying this country, and not just in the CC and banking industry but also in the insurance industry. I really don’t care what Mr. Huether, Costello and Peterson do in their personal lives, that is their business. But I sure as Hell am not going to elect them to public office knowing what I know about their personal lives.

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