The last few days I’ve been seeing advertisements on the History Channel for “Blue Hippo,” which appeared to be a company hawking low-quality PC hardware. So, naturally, I hit up Google to see what I could find out.
Wikipedia offers a very illuminating writeup:
BlueHippo Funding, LLC is an installment credit company for customers with poor credit, offering them computers, flat-screen televisions, and similar items, at usury pricing that garnered it CBS MarketWatch.com’s ‘Stupid Investment of the Week’ label because “Blue Hippo targets credit-impaired borrowers, hoping they also are math- and shopping-impaired.” The company has encountered several complaints with the Better Business Bureau; as a result, the Greater Maryland Better Business Bureau issued a consumer alert against the company within eight months of its founding.
Given these comments and their prominent statement that “bad credit is okay” in their advertisements, it certainly appears that they are trying to take advantage of those who can least afford to be taken advantage of, as well as those who simply aren’t particularly financially savvy. Personally, I think that’s outrageous.
Although people certainly need to be responsible for their use of credit, I do wonder if part of the problem is simply that many people aren’t particularly well-educated when it comes to financial issues. I can’t speak for other schools, but it’s not a topic that was covered in particular depth in my grade school education. I think we spent about 2-3 weeks in 8th grade civics learning how to balance a checkbook and that was about it. When I think about it, some kind of accounting class (which should cover a lot of this) really ought to be a required class.
Of course, it would also be helpful if financial institutions had somewhat more stringent requirements for handing out credit. The last few years, it seems like having a pulse is the only qualification required…
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I have been helping a coworker who ordered a computer through Blue Hippo. When he proudly told me about this, my heart sank to my feet, since I had just a week before looked into the company after seeing their ad on cable.
I advised him to quickly contact his bank to stop Blue Hippo from taking money out of his checking account. He tells me that he did not loose any money.
I helped him file a complaint with the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, and later Lisa Madigan, the Illinois Attorney General, filed a lawsuit against Hippo.
However, he recently received a collection letter from Hippo’s lawyers, demanding $2100. Again he is in contact with Madigan’s office, and hopefully she will be able to have this action stopped.
I cant believe this company STILL is getting away with this
!! Yesturday I received a flyer in the mail (along with the wal-mart flyer) advertising for computers thru BlueHippo. Same exact offer.. They are absolutly the worst kind of buisness,if you want to even call them that. STAY AWAY FROM THEM!! Dont waste your money , why would you even want to hand out your money for a year without getting anything in return til then.. If your gonna go that route or you feel you have to, at least go with another less ripoff of a buisness ,lol, like Rentway or Rent A Center. They at least give your merchandise to you immidiatly while charging you way to much in the end..
This really burns me ,upon more investigating , I believe they operate under another name as well ezpaycoputer.. The website of course is http://www.ezpaycomputer.com Isnt anything coming out of that lawsuit? They must be going to get away with working this scam! I cant believe somone hasnt been able to put a stop to this at least until the outcome of the suit.. geeeezzz.
Check out their new website. They now clearly display the total cost of $1779 after a $300 mail-in rebate. It appears that the legel action taken by Lisa Madigan, the Illinois Attorney General, was sucessful in part because they previously hid the total cost of the computer.
Thank you for posting alerts on such a company;
there are others like TrueCredit, Verocity, CashCall, etc.
BEWARE…