Payday Loans
 

Why do these companies exist? Why are they allowed to, and why do people use them, fall into their traps? How can any institution justify an interest rate of over a thousand percent? Who is stupid enough to take their loans? I wish there was some legislation to either ban them outright or at least regulate them. Do you guys have these in the US, or are they a UK-only cancer?

https://www.quickquid.co.uk

https://sunny.co.uk/sunny-loan

https://www.heartpaydays.com

We have them in the US and have been actively fighting against them in some states more than others.

Just found this article about a law in Ohio to cap the interest rates on them so it doesn't dwarf and get that high.

Also people that use those places are mostly poor and in desperation when they do.

http://www.crainscleveland.com/artic...ay-loans-close

Yeah, they might as well have a gun to the head of some people who simply have no other means of paying their bills. Plenty of states pass laws that basically make payday loansharks illegal, but then a new crop of these places pops up like weeds with practices just different enough that they don't quite fall under the letter of the law. Then new laws get passed and businesses change again and nothing is accomplished. I don't remember who it was or where to find the story, but in Texas, I believe, there was even a lawmaker who was fighting against payday loan laws, and then it turned out he owned a bunch of them himself.

They prey heavily on alcoholics and junkies functional enough to work.

Horrifying usury is rampant in America, of course.