Pew's Safe Small-Dollar Loans Research Project focuses on small-dollar credit products such as payday and automobile title loans, as well as emerging alternatives. The project works to find safe and transparent solutions to meet consumers’ immediate financial needs.
Why Safe Small-Dollar Loans Matter
Millions of American families spend billions of dollars taking out payday loans each year. These loans typically offer about two weeks of credit, but at annual interest rates around 400 percent. There is little research about how small credit can most help consumers without creating a cycle of high-cost debt.
How We Conduct Our Work
Pew's Safe Small-Dollar Loans Research Project seeks to identify and analyze borrowers’ needs, expectations, and experiences when it comes to small-dollar credit. It also researches a variety of loan products and the business models used by their providers, with a focus on studying the impact on borrowers.
featured
Subscribe to The Latest from the Project
The LATEST from the Project
-
- Infographic
- Safe Small-Dollar Loans Research Project
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.
more -
- Media Coverage
- Safe Small-Dollar Loans Research Project
BET News: The Truth About Payday Loans
Many Americans are increasingly turning to high interest, short term loans to try to make ends meet, but a brief overview of payday lending’s problematic setup shows that it’s often a false solution to a false problem. more
-
- Media Coverage
- Safe Small-Dollar Loans Research Project
TheStreet.com: Women More Likely to Take Payday Loans
Payday loans are the financial bastion of last resort for consumers barely living paycheck-to-paycheck— the last stop between buying the groceries or going hungry for way too many U.S families. more
-
- Media Coverage
- Safe Small-Dollar Loans Research Project
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
more -
- Media Coverage
- Safe Small-Dollar Loans Research Project
Pa. Senate panel Hears Testimony About Proposed Payday Lending Law
A controversial bill that would create a friendlier environment for payday lenders to take up residence in Pennsylvania is vying for Senate action this fall. more
-
- Media Coverage
- Safe Small-Dollar Loans Research Project
It's a No-Brainer: Payday Lending Bill Shouldn't Be Passed in Senate
“Payday loans are sold as two-week credit products that provide fast cash, but borrowers are actually indebted for an average of five months per year,” concludes a Pew research report. more
-
- Media Coverage
- Safe Small-Dollar Loans Research Project
Data Detail Payday Loan Costs
State regulatory data show that low-income borrowers who use payday loans take out an average of eight payday loans a year, which costs them about $520 annually in interest on those loans that average $375 each, according to a study released Wednesday by the Pew Charitable Trusts. more
-
September 12, 2012
Wall Street Journal: Footnote to Financial Crisis: More People Shun the Bank
The Russell family of Kirkland, Wash., makes about $230,000 with Charles Russell, 43 years old, working as a systems analyst for Microsoft Corp. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, that puts them among the top 5% of American households. But their affluence might not be apparent based on the way Mr. Russell conducts his personal finances. He has no bank account, having dumped it due to irritation over fees and overdraft penalties. Instead, for more everyday transactions he uses a debit-card offered by NetSpend Holdings Inc.
more -
- Media Coverage
- Safe Small-Dollar Loans Research Project
Payday Lending for Pennsylvania?
According to a new report by the Pew Charitable Trusts, payday loan borrowers spend $7.4 billion annually at 20,000 storefront lenders and websites. But the report also concludes that the industry is fraught with risks for consumers. more
-
- Media Coverage
- Safe Small-Dollar Loans Research Project
Los Angeles Times – Raising Cap on Payday Loans Would Put Borrowers into Deeper Hole
Allies of payday lenders are urging the state Legislature again to raise the cap on the high-interest loans, enabling desperate borrowers to dig themselves into even deeper holes. It's a bad idea, and lawmakers shouldn't consider raising the current limit on lending without more meaningful consumer protections than the bill's sponsor has proposed
more
