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Collateral in everything
This is not in fact much of a lowering of credit standards:
A financial company in Latvia is offering residents loans secured by nothing but their immortal soul.
Riga-based firm, named Kontora, does not require credit history record or proof of employment. It grants loans of 50 to 500 Latvian lats ($100 to $1,000) to any adult after he or she signs the a very short agreement.
According to the agreement, the only security required of the borrower is their immortal soul, which they are asked to confirm as their previously unmortgaged property.
The loan is subject to one percent per day in interest until full repayment.
The period of full repayment is 90 days, and in case the borrower fails to return the money, the creditor gets full possession of his soul.
The full story is here. I thank cf for the pointer.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on June 25, 2009 at 01:51 PM in Economics | Permalink
Comments
This isn't new -- I bought a doughnut this way 15 years ago.
Posted by: Homer Simpson at Jun 25, 2009 1:53:25 PM
It would be a better deal if they waited until you were actually going to die ANYWAY to take possession.
Posted by: Jens Fiederer at Jun 25, 2009 2:18:47 PM
do they have to run a title check first to make sure you have legal possession of your soul?
Posted by: babar at Jun 25, 2009 2:31:20 PM
ROFLcopter!!! Thanks for the link! I just ripped these idiots off. I took out a loan with them, even though I already mortgaged my soul to someone else XD!!!!
The funniest part is, when I pay back the loan, they're not going to know they were number 2 creditor the whole time! Morons!
Posted by: Silas Barta at Jun 25, 2009 2:32:50 PM
I sold mine to Milhouse for 5 bucks.
Posted by: Bart Simpson at Jun 25, 2009 3:06:52 PM
at what margin am i allowed to trade my soul on? ie what is the fractional amount i can trade on? certainly they don't expect me to borrow with no leverage at all?
Posted by: farmer at Jun 25, 2009 3:08:56 PM
They're getting more security than the credit card companies offering credit to liberal-arts college students were getting.
Posted by: Anthony at Jun 25, 2009 3:23:10 PM
In an irreligious country like Latvia, how do we know there is a credible soul-rating agency?
Posted by: Millian at Jun 25, 2009 3:57:25 PM
Do you have to sign in blood?
What would Faustus do?
Posted by: B.B. at Jun 25, 2009 4:28:32 PM
Read some of the other stories on this site. I don't think they have a lot of fact checkers.
The Onion doesn't have a new issue out until next Thursday, so this is one place to get a humor fix if you need it.
I particularly liked their story about the attractive woman who slipped the date rape drug into the drinks of young men, then raped them. At least one didn't want to press charges.
Posted by: Zbicyclist at Jun 25, 2009 7:56:09 PM
Looks like The Onion for Russians. I'm not familiar enough with Russian culture or politics to get most of the articles but I think it's awesome that they're filling the demand for that niche... one of those "markets in everything" eh?
Posted by: Josh at Jun 25, 2009 8:32:30 PM
1% a day! Such usurious peoples will be needing all the souls they can get
Posted by: David Riffer at Jun 25, 2009 9:04:52 PM
Here's another great Onion-worthy headline from this same source:
Russian artist bites US air-hostess after getting drunk on liquid soap
http://mosnews.com/world/2009/05/04/1447/
Except that one turns out to be in other news sources as well:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/5264000/hBritish-based-Russian-artist-Galina-Rusanova-arrested-drunk-on-flight.html
Here's an AP story.
http://www.nebraska.tv/Global/story.asp?S=10288826
Posted by: ZBicyclist at Jun 25, 2009 10:19:52 PM
If I can offer my soul, can I instead offer someone else's soul? Hat tip for Adrian Johnson ("I'll trade you Tom's soul--he isn't using it, he's a Canadian") for this idea.
Posted by: Laserlight at Jun 26, 2009 10:17:15 AM
An interesting innovation. I wonder, however, how
well the market for the forfeited collateral works.
Posted by: Donald A. Coffin at Jun 26, 2009 3:48:41 PM
Ah but can they detect when my soul has already been repossessed? Or that am backing several loans already with the same soul?
Posted by: Alan Brown at Jun 27, 2009 6:30:50 AM
