‘Northbound’
Young rapper
voices a
different side o f
the Rose City
See Local News, page 3
‘City of Roses’
'
’
Volume XLIII
Number 49
Courageous
Discourse
Hannah Arendt’s
riveting search
for the truth
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • December 18. 2013
Shopping for the holidays is a familiar scene at Lloyd Center Mall in northeast Portland
Watching your dollar
as the holidays close-in
D onovan M. S mith
T he P ortland O bserver
by
The decorations are up, the jolly old songs are
playing (some with a merry remix from your favorite
pop stars), and of course the gifts are being pur­
chased and wrapped as the clock steadily winds down
on the holiday season.
Spending money is a familiar scene from one of
America’s favorite past times. But shopping for Christ­
mas in an economy that is still far from healthy, with
many-a-pocket hollowed out, also raises concerns. How
do you make sure that when the spell of the holidays
where off on Jan 1, you are not left with unsavory ends?
Perhaps one of the main things to be vigilant for is
scammers. As people look to open up their pocketbooks,
7*7
Holiday
VRush
H ourV
more scammers are looking for your private informa­
tion— like your banking number — setting up shop,
usually online to steal from your checking and credit card
accounts.
A favorite of swindlers this year is fake cash
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photo BY D onovan M .
•'community service
S mith /T he P ortland O bserver
lenders, according to experts with the Oregon Attor­
ney G eneral’s office.
Diane Childs of the Oregon Division of Financial
and Corporate Services, said there are only three
licensed payday lenders is the state of Oregon, a fact
many consumers may not know judging by the amount
of complaints the state is receiving this year.
Childs says unlicensed payday loan scammers are
offering interest rates online that are well above the
state’s limit. She warns that while it may seem
tempting to deal with some of these dealers, it is
always best to go with a licensed lender. A list of red
flags to look for when shopping for payday loans can
be found on a new ly c re a te d w e b site ,
stopunlicensedloans.com .
The Better Business Bureau also sent out their list of
warnings this year, asking people to look out for phone
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on page 2