Real credit troubles in a surreal world.
Shamingo, Seaworld’s newest killer whale! Picture taken July 2008. The Public Library is aggressively tackling subprime loans, protecting their most valuable VHS collection from the riskiest of borrowers. Specifically, my friend’s four year old daughter. In the worst economy since 1929, at a time of tough credit and crucial credit scores, the Ocean County Library of Tuckerton, NJ chose to take aggressive action against her father, the co-signer of her “loan.” They reported his account as delinquent to all three credit monitoring companies and refused to remove it even after it was paid. It all started with the $1 rental of a Max and Ruby VHS. It ended a year later with a $50 check. If you’re interested in the gory details…they originally rented Max and Ruby for two weeks in November during the Thanksgiving Holiday. When the video came due, she tried to return it after work in the drop box. Of course the drop box had a sign that said NO VIDEOS PLEASE. It was wet, snowy and it seemed a minor courtesy, so she didn’t. Not fully realizing the significance of a Max and Ruby VHS, they proceeded to Florida for Christmas. Two weeks later, back in NJ, the video was returned. The Library tacked on additional fees for various things related to the late video, something like $5 late fees, $10 for being late paying the fees, $20 dollars for ‘collection’ and basicly jacked up the cost to $50. They considered the $50 fee for a VHS that was returned less than a month late downright predatory and refused to pay it. Obviously they quit using the library. The Library reported them and it took formal complaints to the fair credit reporting agency to finally remove the account. I doubt President Obama’s stimulus act is addressing the protection of citizens from the predatory “lending” practices of their public library. Consider yourself warned. You should probably avoid the Ocean County Public Library in Tuckerton, NJ. (Watching Max and Ruby videos is your own business)
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