The Devastating Loophole That Sticks Car Buyers With Interest Rates That Would Be Otherwise Illegal

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The Devastating Loophole That Sticks Car Buyers With Interest Rates That Would Be Otherwise Illegal

"Typically, when a car buyer finances a purchase through a dealer, they sign what’s called a retail installment sales contract, or RIC, a transaction in which the consumer agrees to make a fixed number of payments over time, plus interest, for the car. Think of it as a deferred payment plan. In the industry, this is based on the “time-price doctrine,” a principle that says dealers can have consumers pay an increased credit charge in exchange for receiving monthly installments over time, rather than the entire cash price up front. If that sounds like a loan to you, you’re on the right track. It’s unquestionably similar, but New York law has a different set of provisions that govern what’s permissible for RICs. Importantly, usury laws—and thus limits on interest rates—don’t apply. And that’s the catch: New York state law allows auto dealers to set whatever finance charge they want for a RIC, so long as it’s “agreed to by the retail seller and the buyer.” In many cases, buyers don’t even know what they are getting into."

March 30, 2018 Morning

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Good morning! Today is Good Friday ✝️. Four weeks to Arbor Day 🌳. Rain and 49 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☔ There is a south-southwest breeze at 11 mph. 🍃.

Made it home last night, got to bed at three o’clock, got up at six thirty and I’m now on the bus heading back downtown. 🚌 It really was stupid for me to drive in yesterday because it meant I had to drive home at three because the meters start at eight and I could have just gotten nearly as good shut eye at my desk.👀 The deer stayed out of my lane and the spring peepers were digging the rain when I got home. 🐸 I promise myself that I won’t do this again. Just take the bus and ride sharing if necessary. But at least I got a shower in and had waffles and coffee for breakfast. Albany is a very interesting place.

Cloudy, with a high of 51 degrees at 1pm. ☁ Typical for today. South wind 11 to 16 mph becoming northwest in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies with more clouds in the afternoon. The high last year was 48 degrees. The record high of 86 was set in 1986. 4 inches of snow fell back in 1911.❄

The sun will set at 7:19 pm with dusk around 7:48 pm, which is one minute and 9 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for mostly cloudy skies ☁ and 45 degrees. Breezy, 16 mph breeze 💨from the northwest. Today will have 12 hours and 40 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 54 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly clear 🌌, with a low of 31 degrees at 6am. Typical for tonight. Northwest wind 7 to 15 mph. In 2017, we had cloudy skies. It got down to 33 degrees. The record low of 12 occurred back in 1923.

As much as I can complain about the three hours of sleep, I feel like they were a good three hours. 💤 And the new day is upon us. The weather is crappy so I’m not missing much with having to work on Good Friday. 🎣 Water levels are high for the first day of trout season on Sunday. At least it will be cloudy for opening day.

Saturday is going to be quite nice. I will probably go hiking somewhere I guess. 🏃Or maybe head out skiing in the mountains. Too much snow for camping unless I want to go snow camping. Every year is a bit different.

Looking ahead, there are 4 weeks until Arbor Day 🌳 when the sun will be setting at 7:51 pm with dusk at 8:22 pm. On that day in 2017, we had cloudy skies and temperatures between 73 and 57 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 63 degrees. We hit a record high of 91 back in 1962.