>>>>>Never thought I'd see the day. Glad to see this happen - these types of businesses are nothing other than loan sharks.
>>>>>
>>>>>http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-12-16/ferrari-racing-loan-mogul-said-to-face-racketeering-case
>>>>
>>>>For really financially distressed people payday loans are sometimes their only access to credit as banks have clamped down on lending. Its easy to say then they should just not borrow the money but i suspect a lot of payday loans are spent on basics like food and heat.
>>>
>>>I agree that there is a market and need for such a service - small & short-term loans - but when it's like 700% interest I have issue with that. I think congress was tried to close some of the loopholes in the laws that have allowed this to happen.
>>
>>Quite a few years ago I had a client who was a Money Mart franchisee. Payday loans were just being introduced and in the early days it was an exceptionally nasty, unregulated business. The story he told me was that MM didn't want to go into payday loans but they felt, believe it or not, they were morally obliged to:
>>
>>- they could offer better rates and more consumer-friendly terms so they'd put the real scumbags out of business
>>
>>- at the time I believe they offered small amounts for short terms for free - to help out those people with short-term emergencies, arguably one of the sole use cases for payday loans. Looks like they still have a "free" offer: https://www.moneymart.ca/free?intcid=200loan_masthead , not 100% sure what "free" means these days. The fine print on that page is enlightening :(
>>
>>I imagine MM makes money from its payday loan business but it's somewhat interesting that (if true) their justification in entering that business was, basically, harm reduction.
>
>Their website says this:
>[Alberta residents: The APR on a $300 loan for 14 days is 599.64% on a rate of $23 per $100 borrowed.] [British Columbia residents: The APR on a $300 loan for 14 days in BC is 521.17% at Money Mart’s cash repayment rate of $19.99 per $100 borrowed, and 599.64% at the regular rate of $23 per $100 borrowed. BC Payday License #49839 (in store) and #62477 (online).] [New Brunswick residents: The APR on a $300 loan for 14 days is 547.50% on a rate of $21 per $100 borrowed.] [Saskatchewan residents: The APR on a $300 loan for 14 days is 599.64% on a rate of $23 per $100 borrowed.]
>
>...so looks to me like they're at roughly 600% interest rate. THAT's supposed to be the shining light of of morals? geeeze.

The payday loans business has been around for a while and is competitive. If you think you can offer better terms there's nothing stopping you from getting your own license.

If the industry didn't exist, the slack would be taken up by loan sharks, crime etc. I don't see harm reduction as a bad thing; whether you view it as "moral" is up to you.