Introduction

Abstract

With the matter of high-cost credit, particularly in the form of its most notorious and well-known variant payday lending, consumers have presented to them one of two conflicting assessments: on the one hand we have the numerous studies that have been critical of the industry in recent years, or we can believe the industry itself. I’ve been fortunate to bear witness to both. In 1999 UK “extortionate credit,” of which payday lending was considered a growing yet significant part, had the following factors associated with it: high cost; dubious sales practices; lacking in transparency; odious means of debt recovery.¹ The industry on the other hand suggested otherwise. The Community Financial Services Association of America (CFSA), an association representing over half of the payday loan stores in the United States, has claimed that “payday advance customers represent the heart of America’s middle class.”²