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Payday Loans Do Not Eliminate Checking Account Overdrafts

Payday lenders often advertise their loans as a way to avoid expensive checking account overdrafts. Research shows most borrowers end up paying fees for both.

Payday Loans Explained

Twelve million Americans take out payday loans every year, but there are still misconceptions about how they are actually used. Follow the story of Jennifer, a typical payday loan customer, who takes out a cash advance on her paycheck to make ends meet, but ends up paying more than $500 in fees.

Akron Beacon Journal: Convenient Trap

The Pew Charitable Trusts issued a report on payday-loan borrowers in February that said: “The choice to use payday loans is largely driven by unrealistic expectations and by desperation. Borrowers perceive the loans to be a reasonable short-term choice but express surprise and frustration at how long it takes to pay them back.”

Philadelphia Inquirer: CFPB: Payday Loans Leading to 'Revolving Door of Debt'

Short-term "payday" loans, and similar "deposit advance" loans offered by major banks, are trapping many consumers in a "revolving door of debt," according to a study due by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The CFPB's study echoes findings in a February report by the Pew Charitable Trusts' Safe Small Dollar Loans Research Project.

Los Angeles Times: Bill Would Limit Number of Payday Loans to Any One Borrower

A bill before the California Legislature would restrict the number of payday loans to any one borrower — an attempt to break the "debt cycle" that ensnares some of the state's poorest residents.

Sacramento Bee: Editorial: An Incremental Step to Stem Payday Loans

Sacramento Bee edititorial: California's $3.3 billion payday lending industry preys on the poor and the financially unsophisticated. Attempts to rein it in have failed. California remains among the most permissive states when it comes to payday lending.

USA Today: Payday Loans Can Get Out of Control

The real question is, can [borrowers] actually afford to repay the payday loans? Come up with $300 or $500 in just two weeks? Or even in a month?

Marketplace: Payday Lenders Need to Be More Transparent

Every year, 12 million Americans take out high-interest, short-term payday loans. The industry likes to claim it's offering a needed service and helping people who can't get credit anywhere else.

How Borrowers Choose and Repay Payday Loans

This report—the second in Pew’s Payday Lending in America series—answers questions about why borrowers choose payday loans, how they ultimately repay the loans, and how they feel about their experiences.

Payday Lending in America

This collection presents original research findings from the Pew Safe Small Dollar Loans Research Project on the existing landscape for payday lending around the country, state by state data on loan regulation, and other information critical to creating a safe and transparent marketplace for those who borrow small sums of money.

How Payday Loans Work

Each year, millions of people struggle to pay their bills. A consumer usually has several options to consider.

Payday Loan Affordability Fast Facts

Learn more about payday loans.

Payday Loans Really Add Up

If you took out a loan for the following season expenses, you would pay far more and be indebted far longer than advertised.

Paying for the Holidays

As the holiday shopping season takes off, consumers are turning to a variety of financial management tools. View our slideshow and learn more about Pew’s research on hidden bank fees, the growing use of prepaid debit cards, and the actual duration of payday loans that are marketed as two-week products.

Editorial: Pa. Lawmakers Should Lose Interest in Payday Loans

LOVE AND MONEY make people crazy. Love of money makes them even crazier, especially if they are lawmakers. That must be the explanation for why our own state lawmakers are back at the table talking about allowing payday lenders to

Online Pew Center Study Includes Interactive Data on Payday Loans

California is among states with the least regulation of payday lending, allowing loans that if renewed repeatedly would sock borrowers with 391% annual interest rates or higher, according to a new study that classifies states as permissive, restrictive or in

Ohioans Big Users of Payday Lending

The Columbus Dispatch: About 1 in 10 Ohioans has used payday loans in the past five years, among the higher rates in the nation.

Nine States Where Lenders Take Your Paycheck

Payday loans — small, short term loans secured against a customer’s next paycheck — are highly controversial. A new study from Pew Charitable Trusts explains that opponents believe the practice “preys” on people who, because of the high interest rates

Payday Profits

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which failed to control the reckless mortgage lending that helped cause the financial crisis, is widely regarded as a pushover among federal regulators. But the agency showed some welcome muscle and concern

Why to Steer Clear of Payday Loans

Payday loans are meant as a stopgap for the fiscally pinched. But in many cases, these short term loans create a costly cycle of escalating debt. A payday loan is like a cash advance on your paycheck. Marketed as a

Quiz: Payday Lending in America

Each year, millions of Americans borrow payday loans from storefront and online lenders. Do you know who borrows, where they borrow, and why? Take our interactive quiz to learn more!

Who Borrows, Where They Borrow, and Why

This report answers major questions about who borrowers are demographically; how people borrow; how much they spend; why they use payday loans; what other options they have; and whether state regulations reduce borrowing or simply drive borrowers online.

State Payday Loan Regulation and Usage Rates

Use the map to see each state’s usage rate, and click individual states to read a summary of their payday lending laws.

Payday Lending in America

Pew’s Safe Small-Dollar Loans Research Project surveyed payday loan borrowers about their usage, as well as other options they would use if payday loans were unavailable.

A Short History of Payday Lending Law

A hundred years ago, when a mass market for consumer credit did not yet exist, underground purveyors of consumer credit began to emerge, and a variety of problems ensued.

'Fast Cash' Payday Loans Cost Borrowers $520 Per Year in Fees

Americans tempted by the promise of fast cash are paying an average of $520 a year in fees for short-term credit lines known as payday loans.

Regulatory Comment: Financial Habits and Patterns of Low- and Moderate-Income Households

This regulatory comment provides recommendations on Treasury’s prioritization of financial access activities.

Regulatory Comment: Defining Larger Participants in Certain Consumer Financial Products and Services Markets

This regulatory comment discusses the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) proposed rule on defining larger participants in certain markets related to related to consumer financial products and services.

Regulatory Comment: Guidance on Deposit-Related Consumer Credit Products

Recommendations related to this request for comment.

Congress Meddles with State Lending Laws

Laws against abusive mortgage lending in more than half the states would be overridden by a congressional proposal that is the latest federal attempt to preempt state authority over financial services. States' rights and consumer advocates favor a competing proposal that would set a nationwide floor of regulation to combat mortgage "loan sharks," while leaving stronger state laws intact.