Occupy hatches plot to destroy payday loan industry

By Mandi Woodruff

In today's ever-perplexing world of personal finance, there's no question consumers could benefit from a little clarity.

Just don't expect to find any in the pages of Occupy Wall Street's new manifesto on consumer debt.

"The Debt Resistor's Operations Manual" is 122 pages of some of the dodgiest financial advice we've ever seen.  It's no wonder the entire thing was published for free and written by "an anonymous collective" of contributors.

Their mission is admirable –– a good portion of the advice has been obviously written with care and understanding of our muddled financial system –– but some of these schemes are so foolhardy we couldn't help but call them out.

Here's one of their more elaborate plans to upend the predatory payday lending industry, which involves finding 1,000 people from three different continents willing to commit fraud.

"How To Destroy The Payday Loan Industry" (as told to the authors by a former payday loan employee):

1. Identify a group of people planning to move between any of the four countries: United States, Canada, England, and Australia. Have each person take out a number of payday loans.

2. Once you get about $10,000 in loans, move the money to different bank accounts so the companies don’t have access to it.

3. When you move to another country, your credit score will be a blank slate and you’ll have free money to fight the system.

4. With about a thousand people willing to travel between the four countries, you can take out a few major international pay loan providers, like Wonga and Enova Financial.

If there's one piece of advice we hope you take from this book, it's written in the intro:

"This manual is not designed to provide legal counsel; it is a political act of mutual aid. We are not lawyers; you may want to consult one before doing anything that you think might be illegal. Look seriously into any of the options we present before taking action. Be smart."

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