A topic that is too often ignored is the financial outlook of the homeless population in the United States.
Most homeless people have terrible credit -- way, way below 700. Generally, their credit is a negative number, or at best a fraction.
Here is a typical interaction between a homeless person and a lender:
"What's your credit score?"
"57-hundredths."
"You qualify to borrow a quarter from me at 3000% five-minute interest."
"Hm. I think I'm going to shop around for better rates."
"Okay, but this offer may not still be on the table."
"I'll take my chances."
"You sound like a man who doesn't want a quarter."
"Fine, give me the damn thing."
"Great. Just sign this contract. Okay, fantastic. As I'm sure you must have noticed in the fine print, I will hold all of your personal belongings as collateral. I will start burning them in five minutes. We will incinerate one personal item every five minutes unless a minimum payment of a quarter is made during that same time period until the loan is paid off in full. I will go ahead and douse all of the items with lighter fluid in preparation."
"Is this what they call 'predatory lending'?"
"The clock is ticking, prey."
