SubscribePayday Loan Awareness: Group Writing Project with $50 Cash Prize
I was recently contacted by a payday loan company, offering me $50 for mentioning their site on this blog. I decided to follow in the footsteps of Ben @ Money Smart Life who creatively turned a similar situation into Payback Time for Payday Loans. With your help, I would like to turn this as an opportunity to increase the awareness about the payday loan trap. Please see below for details.
How to participate
- Write a post on your blog related to the payday loan trap. If you don't have a blog, please send me your article by mail and I will be glad to host it as a guest post.
- You can write about anything you like – your personal opinion or experience, an interesting story from the media, statistics from surveys, reader polls, a photo essay, a cartoon strip, a video clip...The possibilities are endless!
- Text posts should be at least 200 words long. No restrictions on picture posts, since a picture is worth a 1000 words, anyway :)
- While it is not mandatory, I hope you will link back to this page to help spread the word about the project. Also not mandatory but appreciated will be links to fellow participants.
- Once you have written a post, please leave the link to your post in the comments section for all other participants to see. Try to keep the “group” spirit alive by picking up from where someone left off or adding to someone’s commentary etc.
What’s in it for you?
- The satisfaction of venting out the angst against payday loans :)
- A chance to win $50. Winner will be chosen in a random drawing of all participant on May 1st.
- A link back from me.
- Possibly many link backs from other participants. (The earlier you submit your link, the higher your chances of linkbacks).
- An excellent opportunity to network with other like minded bloggers.
On May 1st, I will compile a list of all participating articles in the form of a mini-carnival and announce the winner. Individually, each of us can reach out to a small part of the population. Together, hopefully we can make a much bigger impact.
Oh, did I mention that Ben from Money Smart Life gets a free entry into the drawing for devising the brilliant Payback Time for Payday Loans plan ?
Here are some related articles from my bookmarks to get you started -
- The Dangers of the Payday Loan Trap @ Get Rich Slowly
- 10 Options To Consider Before Getting A Payday Loan @ The Simple Dollar
- Refund Anticipation Loans Are Ripoffs @ Blueprint for Financial Prosperity
- Auto Title Lending @ Boston Gal’s Open Wallet
- Really Bad Debts: How About 1303.57 % APR? Any Takers? @ Money, Matter, and More Musings
Update (05/01/07): And the winner is... drumroll please.... Ben @ Money $mart Life :)
(Note to self: Don't try contests that you are loathe to advertise, ever again.)
3 Comments:
I agree, awareness is key. In my opinion these pay day loans are predatory lending and really take advantage of people that can least afford it.
I was also contacted by a payday loan company, and I'm interested in this idea--are you accepting and using this post as your "paid post," or declining and putting up the money yourself, or what?
English Major: In general, I am against "paid posts" on my blog. That said, this is a blog about money matters and entrepreneurship and what not - so, if I cannot use a money offer creatively, what right do I have to write anything about money at all? So, instead of turning down the offer, I decided to use Ben's tactic. I negotiated with the payday loan company that I will mention them in a post announcing a project about payday loan awareness, but I will personally not write anything good or bad about them. The participants of the project are free to write *anything* they want. The money offered will be given away to one of the participants in a random drawing. They have agreed. Now I hope some of your PF bloggers out there will help me turn this into a fun group project for increasing the awareness about the payday loan trap.
To everyone: If you are worried about winning "tainted money" I can contribute it to a charity of your choice, instead. Or you can use the money in a creative project of your own. Or you can use it to pay back some of your debt. The idea is to try and put the money to some good use, instead of turning it down on a principle.
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