The rules were misconceived to begin with, by people who mistook the symptoms for the problem. There is a ton of competition in payday lending—there is zero reason to believe that payday lending rates are higher than the efficient amount. There is no hint of market failure, systemic risk, or any of the other criteria that typically justify regulating financial institutions. That means this rule wasn’t really a consum…
Payday lenders are predatory. They want to get people locked into a cycle of debt, so that they can charge many times the original amount in interest per year . I'm surprised to see anyone defending them.
Payday lenders don’t lock people in cycles of debt. What looks people in cycles of debt is that their income levels are marginal so any unexpected event can totally derail them.
I have a paid off car. When I got into a fender bender, I needed to pay $2,500 out of pocket to fix it because I don’t carry insurance for damage to my own vehicle. If I was poor, what would I do? I can go to a payday lender, who has to charge high fees because poor people are high risk. I’m caught in a cycle of debt—because I couldn’t afford that expense to begin with. But at least I can get around. If you take away that option, I don’t get my car fixed and lose my job. That’s the alternative.