The Ugly Side of Microlending - Business Week

How big Mexican banks profit as many poor borrowers get trapped in a maze of debt

by Keith Epstein and Geri Smith December 24, 2007

Photographs by Bruce Gilden / Magnum

In a gleaming office tower in Mexico City secured with retinal scanners, bulletproof glass, and armed guards, dozens of workers in white lab coats dart around a large operations center monitoring long rows of computers. Along one wall, 54 enormous screens flicker dizzyingly with numbers, graphs, and fever charts: a relentless stream of data. You'd think the urgent mission involved tracking the trajectory of a spacecraft or the workings of a national power grid, not tiny amounts of cash and credit for Mexico's working poor. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_52/b4064038915009.htm?chan=magazine+channel_in+depth

Weak dollar spells belt-tightening for NRIs' families

Mumbai: Although India’s economic boom has got many thrilled with the rupee’s rising strength, for many Indians with expatriate children, it spells bad news.

Mrs Eula Pinto was dependent on the money sent by her daughter, who resides in the US. But with the dollar’s continuing fall, she has been forced to restructure her household budget.

“It's (the dollar has) gone down terribly and it's quite difficult to meet with my day to day expenses,” said Pinto. “I mean, earlier I could even save for my future like – you know – medical expenses, or like, some major purchases. That way, I could save.”

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/weak-dollar-spells-belttightening-for-nris-families/54011-7.html

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