USFASTCASH.COM I took out a direct deposit $300 loan and ended up paying them $740 in interest. They debited my account nine times and I could not get my money back. I will have to close my bank account to stop them Beaumont, California

Just so you know, there's a lending company in Canada, Money Mart, that's currently under government scrutiny for the practice of usury in some provinces in which they operate.

How do companies like this get away with this crap initially though? Simple... like operations such as PayPal or any other "payday loan" operation, these places are businesses, not banks or financial institutions!

Many people make the serious mistake of looking at them the same as they would a bank or credit union, the difference being that those entities are under tightly enforced federal regulations imposed by bodies like the FDIC regarding what they can charge and how they can charge it. Places like Money Mart, PayPal and other "lending places" are under no such obligation, and often charge what they like.

These places also look to get you on a "credit treadmill". You borrow against your upcoming payday, then once the base loan plus all those fees and interest are paid, you'll likely find yourself short before your next payday, making you need to go back to them again, and the cycle continues until you have a "debt dependence" on these outfits.

If anyone has to use one of these services (after all, sometimes s**t happens) one should be very, very aware of all the fees, interest rates... anything you would be very concerned about if you were taking out a "real" loan for a substantial amount, be doubly so when it comes to these places. Read ALL the fine print and know what you're in for. Use the service and then get the hell away from it as fast as possible, otherwise you'll totally destabilize your personal budget faster than you can say; "Wha' hoppen??" and it'll take you a good long time to dig yourself out.