Payday Lending

4 Tips to Avoid the Payday-Loan Trap

This week JPMorgan Chase announced protections against payday lenders. But big banks can't stop the cycle of devastation payday loans can cause. Only you can, and here's how.

Would You Take a Payday Loan from Octomom?

"Octomom" Nadya Suleman has taken on some fairly sleazy jobs to support her super-sized family: reality TV star, stripper, porn actress. But this may be a new low. She's out to become America's most fecund financial adviser, shilling for a payday lending company called OctoLoan.

Who Treats the Cash-Strapped Worse Than Payday Lenders?

Your bank, that's who: Despite payday lenders' well-deserved reputations for charging insanely high rates for the short-term loans, if you overdraft your plain-vanilla bank account, you'll get zapped by an even more usurious system.

Ex-Google Exec Finds a New Way to Do Payday Lending

Google's ex-CIO has moved from the world of Web searches to the world of high-interest, short-term lending. He says ZestCash.com offers an innovative way to help the poorest borrowers avoid financial emergencies. But is this just a slick veneer putting a shine on the classic payday lending business?

More Southerners Are Off the Banking Grid

More people in Southeast don't have bank accounts than in any other part of the country. Mississippi leads the country with more than 16% of households using cash-and-carry for all their transactions. That's a situation that can keep families from climbing the ladder of success.

Predatory Lenders Put U.S. Soldiers in the Crosshairs

Members of America's military face threats around the world every day, but it's a domestic threat that has the top brass on the offensive on the home front -- predatory lenders. Here's how the Department of Defense is fighting back.

How 'Short-Term' Payday Loans Cause Long-Term Woes

A new report from the Center for Responsible Lending paints a seriously depressing picture of the damage the payday loan industry wreaks on its customers. What's worse is that the report actually understates the grim reality facing payday borrowers today.