JobSight Teaches Area Seniors How to Spot Lending 'Sharks'

[October 2005]

Although eastern Kentucky is nowhere near the ocean, there are plenty of “sharks” around the area looking for unsuspecting prey. Those sharks are predatory money lenders, and the victims they seek are often the area’s elderly, according to Jack Duff, manager of the Perry County JobSight workforce center.

“These people are professional lenders, and they’re not out to help you,” Duff told a group of about 45 senior citizens from Perry and surrounding counties. “They’re out to take everything you’ve got.”

Duff delivered his cautionary message at a financial workshop for senior citizens at the Perry County JobSight at the L.K.L.P. Community Action Council near Hazard. Duff told the seniors that the best way to avoid getting bitten by loan sharks or scammed by other predatory lenders is to become educated about who they are and how they ply their deceptive trades.

Duff mentioned checks-for-cash, car-title loans, and advance loans against pending tax refunds as lending arrangements seniors should try to avoid. The offers can take many different forms, but Duff said they all often involve the promise of instant cash or low-interest loans. However, the loans almost always “roll over” into much higher interest rates, and some even post unthinkable triple-digit rate increases.

“When something sounds too good to be true, it’s probably not true,” Duff said.

He also singled out another particularly heinous scam in which loan sharks show up unannounced at homes of seniors whose spouses recently appeared on obituary pages in local newspapers to offer unsolicited loans.

While seniors might not be able to stop predatory lenders from approaching or contacting them, the best strategy is simply not to talk to those lenders or consider their offers, Duff said. Knowing who to watch out for and their true motives are the best protective measures anyone can take to avoid being scammed, he said. Senior citizens who are worried that they are being targeted by predatory lenders can call the Perry County JobSight and L.K.L.P. at 436-3161 to get free information and help.

“Nobody is going to take care of your money but you,” Duff told the group. “You’re out in the water with the sharks, and you’ve got to be aware.”

The workshop was presented through the cooperative efforts of the Perry County JobSight and L.K.L.P. Duff said additional financial workshops will be offered to area seniors in the coming months.