
“This strange kind of ATM began popping up at railway stations and shopping malls around Moscow last year. It looks like a regular cash machine, but it’s designed to accept loan applications and dole out money on the spot. There are currently about 20 automated loan machines installed throughout Moscow. They allow customers to request as much as 15,000 rubles ($241) that must be paid back in 20 days or less. The interest rate is 2 percent a day, which works out to 730 percent on an annualized basis. That may seem insane, but some Russians have been willing to embrace the technology to make ends meet between paychecks.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-25/russian-atm-spits-out-loans
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