[DRAFT Thoughts] Predatory Financial Institutions

Based on first hand experience with 2 close family members and one ex-colleague (and many more anecdotes) I have been thinking about how normal banks and "legitimate” and regulated financial institutions in most of the world take advantage of their customers.

• Opaque method of communicating interest rates

• High pressure methods intimidating clients and making them feel insecure when selling the service.

• Very high interest rates

• Aggressive fees and penalties (and interest rate hikes) when the customer has a payment delay
  
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The solution space ranges from:

• Financial education (usually of minor/negligible impact on the collective)

• Consumer assistant and information transparency (Something like the price comparison sites that end up having perverse incentives and perpetuating the issue)

• Alternative institutions and products (Build a competitor to the existing system and persuade the general public that you are indeed better/different)