Text loans causing serious debt among young Swedes

aleqm5hhx2_xjado3b6pdawkkpfnwiwpfq.jpegIn Britain, many 18-25 year olds aren’t exactly the most responsible of borrowers and debt among young people is a serious problem. So let’s just be thankful that obtaining a loan isn’t as easy over here as it is in Sweden where all you need to do is send a text.

Yep you heard right and as you might imagine, text lending has led to some pretty serious financial woes for both banks and borrowers alike so reports the Agency France Presse (AFP). The process couldn’t be simpler, send a text message, wait 15 minutes and bang, 300 clams, bones, fahzools, euros or whatever you want to call them, land in your account.

The first text loans were issued in the middle of March 2006. Since then, the number of outstanding text message loan repayments has rocketed with debt collectors currently chasing some 20,000 text loans, 35.9 percent of which were given to people aged 18 to 25.

“There is reason to be seriously concerned about this development,” head of the Swedish Consumer Agency, Gunnar Larsson, told AFP.”

Too right there is. How are they going to pay for their phone bills?

(Via textually)

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