Final answer:
A debt consolidation agency primarily takes over contracts for installment debts from other stores for an added fee. Credit unions, mortgage lenders, and pawnshops deal with different financial services. Laborers often fell into debt bondage by buying goods at stores owned by their employers. Option c is the correct answer.
Step-by-step explanation:
The financial institution that deals primarily with taking over contracts for installment debts from other stores for an added fee is a debt consolidation agency. This type of agency essentially buys out multiple debts that a consumer has with various creditors.
Instead of the consumer paying several different accounts, they make a single payment to the debt consolidation agency, which in turn, pays the original creditors. This payment includes an added fee for the service. Credit unions are member-owned financial cooperatives that offer a variety of financial services. A mortgage lender provides loans specifically for purchasing property. Pawnshops offer secured loans to people with items of personal property used as collateral.
In regard to the context of contract laborers and their potential fall into debt bondage, the common way this occurred was by buying goods at a store owned by the employer. Such store typically offered goods on credit, at high interest rates, leading to a cycle of debt which the laborers found difficult to escape from. This system often tied the laborers financially to the employer, creating an environment akin to debt bondage or indentured servitude.