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We all know that this is a very beautiful city.
But it's also a very expensive city.
Let's see go see how some people are making ends meet here.
When was the last time you got a raise?
*laugh
A raise...humm.
Never
Never
actually never
Do you ever find yourself short at the end of the month?
Oh yeah...oh yeah
So what do you do?
Ah, you know like once in a while you know ask my parents for a little bit of money,
a little bit of credit card debt.
I don't have like this...finances that are building as you know I get older.
So would you say like right now you have say three months living expenses?
Noooo
Oh god, I live like pretty much pay cheque to pay cheque.
So then what happens if there's an emergency that comes up?
I'd probably have to call my parents.
I use the old...pray there's no emergencies method. Not always very effective.
So if I offered you a loan at 600% interest a year?
*laugh
Why would I do that?
Is that even a thing?
Why don't you just give me rat poison?
You can't get out from under that, ever.
600% that's...it's ridiculous.
That's exactly how we felt, like 600%, seriously that's so unreasonable.
My name is Yvette Wu and I work at Vancity. I was part of the team that developed the
Fair & Fast Loan program.
We found out that 20% of our membership actually used these payday loans. And so we thought,
we need to create a solution.
What about giving them a chance to break out of the debt cycle, because we get it emergencies happen,
so it just doesn't seem fair that people have to pay for these loans forever and ever.
Seems like a pretty good idea to me but I want to know what you guys think.
Let's talk about it.