July 7, 2006
$300 Loans by Simply sending a Text Message
Swedish authorities are concerned that young people are jumping on a new sms mobile text money loan service but are getting caught out when it comes to paying the money back. Sveriges Radio International reports.
"The service which kicked off at the beginning of the year, offers loans of upto 300 US dollars in minutes, simply by sending a text message.
Speaking to Swedish Radio, a company called Short Money Seservices, said that their service cuts red tape, but the consumer ombudsman warns that calculated over 1 year, the interest rate is a sky high 792 percent.
It’s now emerged that over 1000 people have defaulted on payments over the last 6 months."
SMSText News, reporting on the same story has located what may be the SMS loan company - or one just like it. The only other type of SMS loan service I could find is the one offered by Telefonica Moviles, offering pre-pay customers an instant automated loan if they are temporarily unable to buy phone credits.
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