Buyer Beware: Knowledge is Power

What's the point of getting a Money Mart cash advance?

Not really sure... Well, not really sure if I even understand them. So our group did some research.

Go to a big bank, like the Royal Bank of Canada, and you have the RIGHT to personal banking. All you have to do is show two pieces of ID - one being photo. And they'll tell you there are options with much lower interest rates than Money Mart.

Account Manager at the Royal Bank, Roxanne Giesbrecht, says she doesn't really know why people use cash advances or payday loans. It gets you on the financial treadmill, and it's hard to get off.

Now this isn't a big smear campaign against Money Mart, it's a Buyer Beware. Payday loans are very dangerous habbit to get into. You are always spending money you don't yet have yet, and then next month you have to pay bills with another payday loan, and the cycle begins.

MONEY MART LOANS

1 Month Roughly (28 days)

$1000 X 19.50% per two weeks = $1,428

2 Months Roughly (56 days)

$1000 X 19.50% per two weeks = $2,039 (double your original loan)

CREDIT CARD LOANS

1 Month

$1000 X 19.99% per month = $1000 (if paid back on time)

2 Months

$1000 X 19.99% per month = 1,439 (still shocking, but not double)

Money Mart loans (19.50%) charge interest rates similar to most credit cards (19.99%), BUT and this is a big BUT, they charge interest right from the start of the loan, unlike a credit card, which loans you money free for a month if you pay it back on time. (Credit cards do charge interest from the start IF you're late, but they give you the OPTION to pay no interest for a month, which Money Mart does not.)

The other big BUT, is that Money Mart charges interest every two weeks instead of every month, so the interest on a Money Mart loan will accumulate more than twice as quickly as a regular credit card! (And that deserves an exclamation mark).

Money Mart is just like a credit card, except you're already late. From day one you are late, and the interest is accumulating twice as fast.

Buyer Beware! Life Lesson: Knowledge is Power