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Released: November 09, 2011
Former Google exec jumps into payday lending with ZestCash
A former Google executive has moved from the world of Internet searches to the world of high-interest, short-term lending. He says his operation, ZestCash.com, offers an innovative way to help the poorest borrowers avoid financial emergencies. But is this just a slick veneer putting a shine on the classic payday lending business?
One-time Google Chief Information Officer Douglas Merrill founded online-only lender ZestCash, which uses some fairly high-level Google-esque algorithms to assess its borrowers’ creditworthiness. And the site certainly looks better than your typical payday lender. Those sketchy outfits usually operate out of rundown storefronts in lower-income neighborhoods, offering quick cash infusions at jacked-up interest rates to people with nowhere else to turn.
Read Full Article: Former Google exec jumps into payday lending with ZestCash
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