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Then you, having grown up poor, probably understand as much as anyone the need to be able to borrow money when you need it for an emergency. And that's what payday loans were intended for - emergency cash. For some reason they've become something else. And if they're driven out of business, then the people who do need them on occasion won't have access to them. Why should those people be penalized because other people need to be protected from themselves?
And what's the alternative for the poor people?
I grew up poor thus I understand the trap of payday loans. If you cannot pay your bills with this paycheck, then how are you going to pay them with the next, plus pay back the principle on your loan, plus pay back the exorbitant interest on that principle? The vast majority of the time you can't and that is why some 80% of payday loans get rolled over. The service payday loans offer to a poor community is no different than the service a loan shark offers a poor community. They are a leach upon the communities they are in. They prey upon the working poor, people that are desperate and have no real concept of the cost of credit.
Let's say you are late on your rent. You can do one of the following:
1. You can go down to the local payday lender and hopefully borrow the money you don't have.
2. You can have an embarrassing talk with your landlord and hopefully work something out.
Of those two options which do you think is the better? I would say option 2. It is always a bad idea to borrow money to pay for a recurring expense that you cannot currently afford because it only pushes that problem down the road a little bit and exacerbates it. The problem is payday lenders are like making a deal with the devil in that they make it seem so painless to come in and take option 1 in such a scenario.
The fact is at least 9 out 10 people that walk into a payday lender are making a bad choice by doing so. There is almost always a better option than a payday lender if you need money. If you need money for food, then worst case scenario you can go to a food bank or church. If you are short on rent its always better to try to work something out with your landlord. If you are short on a car payment you can call the car lot and work something out (and if you are several payments late then the payday lender only delays the inevitable). The worst thing you can ever do is go down and borrow money for expenses you cannot afford now against future earnings that will be just as insufficient for paying your expenses as your current paycheck was.