People who take out payday loans often know they are a bad deal

Supporters of payday loans say banning them would harm low-income Americans

Many argue for a federal policy that would cap interest rates for these loans, but payday lenders say that would make it impossible for them to make money, effectively forcing them to close up shop. As a result, some argue that the policy would prevent low-income, unbanked, and traditionally high-risk borrowers from accessing credit when they need it. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Payday lenders usually require borrowers to post-date a check or provide access to an electronic bank account

If borrowers can't pay back the loan, they can be subject to overdraft fees from their bank and other fees from the payday lender—further exacerbating the debt borrowers face.

Research shows that payday lending advertisements target minorities

A University of Houston Law Center study found that despite only making up 23% of payday loan recipients, Black people appear in 35% of advertisements. Similarly, 77% of the physical payday lending and auto title lending storefronts in the study targeted racial minorities.

Federal law requires payday lenders to meet certain transparency requirements, but states have their own regulations

Federal law treats payday lending like other lines of credit, meaning it requires lenders to disclose the loan's interest rate and its "finance charge," a dollar amount expressing the full cost of the loan. But states have their own regulations around payday lending, hence why it isn't allowed in every state and why the industry looks so different across the country. These regulations are often part of a state's usury laws.

Some argue that advance payday apps aren't markedly different from payday loans

Some apps, like EarnIn, allow users to get money from their paycheck in advance. These apps access users' banking information, allowing the company to immediately take back any borrowed money and track users' financial situations to evaluate their risk. Unlike traditional payday lenders, these apps often waive the right to sue users who don't pay back the initial principal and don't charge interest, but rather ask users for a tip. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Meet a payday lender who tried to fight the industry

Phil Locke once ran more than 40 payday lending stores in Michigan before walking away from lending in 2012. Locke left because he said he felt guilty about being a predatory lender. He tried to become a consumer protection advocate and influence reform, but ended up returning to the industry. (Some users may experience an email wall.)

Over 25% of Americans regret using BNPL due to unexpected costs

Almost 24% of buy now, pay later users have missed payments, with younger users (32% of 18- to 29-year-olds) being more likely to fall behind on payments than their older counterparts. (Only 12% of adults age 60 or over had done the same.)

A third of Americans don't have the cash they need to cover a $500 emergency

That's according to a 2023 Federal Reserve survey. So what does the average American in this camp do when, say, their car breaks down? This video compares six of the most common ways Americans get money when they don't have it. As it turns out, some of them opt for payday loans, which this video argues are predatory.

Tribal lenders have charged up to 600% APR on short-term loans

Some Native American tribes use their exemption from state legislation to bypass regulations on usury laws. Similar to payday lending, some tribal lenders have charged up to 600% APR on short-term loans.

Military bases were once targets for payday loans and other predatory lending

The Military Lending Act of 2006—a federal law—capped the interest a lender can charge an active-duty soldier at 36% after the Department of Defense criticized payday lenders for targeting young soldiers with high-interest, short-term loans. However, many towns near military bases still have predatory businesses that critics say take advantage of army families living paycheck to paycheck. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

Title loans are a type of short-term loan with high interest rates

Title loans allow borrowers to use their vehicle's title as collateral for a short-term loan. Similar to payday loans, title loans often have high interest rates and are mostly structured to last around 30 days. If title loans aren't repaid, the lender can take possession of the borrower's vehicle.

A 'debt trap' refers to the need for loans or credit to cover the expenses incurred from other debt

Debt traps can be caused by unforeseen expenses or inadequate savings and can be a brutal cycle to break. At the end of 2025, total household debt in the US reached $18.8T, according to data from the Federal Reserve of New York.

Around two in five students in any given academic year take out some form of student loans

Among the nearly two in five students who take out loans, 90% of those students rely on federal loan programs. These federal loans come in three flavors—subsidized, unsubsidized, and options for parents and graduate students. Each option has its own financial considerations; see an overview of each, along with what to consider when borrowing funds to cover higher education costs.

Six bills experts say you shouldn't put on autopay

Autopay has plenty of benefits, such as helping to avoid late fees and streamlining your bill paying process. But some experts say there are a few types of bills that you shouldn't autopay, especially if you're not confident you can pay these bills in full each term. The list includes utility bills and annual subscriptions. Read the full list here.

How to get out of debt

This article provides a few helpful tips for getting out of debt, such as learning more about the debt itself and asking for better interest rates. It also explains the popular "debt snowball" and "debt avalanche" methods for getting out of debt. Curious to learn more? Read the full article here.

Consequences of a bad credit score

A bad credit score can lead to spending roughly $100K more on a typical mortgage. Poor scores also prevent you from getting certain jobs, apartments, and more, hindering you from building wealth in the long term.

Buyers used to borrow money from people within their communities to purchase property

Historically, borrowing money from other people to purchase property was common until private financing companies—primarily building and loan associations—stepped in to offer mortgages to buyers.

Should you pay off your student loans early?

While paying off student loans can feel like a big achievement, some experts argue that it’s not a good idea to pay off student debt early if you have to sacrifice retirement or emergency savings to do so.

Retail investors are not professionals—they invest their own money

For retail investors, the stakes may seem higher and more personal. Critics say that this dynamic means that retail investors are more susceptible to behavioral biases that could lead them to make poor decisions when it comes to buying and selling assets. For instance, fear of missing out could cause a retail investor to buy a stock that is popular but not a financially worthy investment.

Regular coupon users pay less attention to the actual price of what they’re buying

The psychology of coupon users can feel counterintuitive: Research suggests regular coupon users actually prioritize coupon availability over actual price comparisons.

Roughly 43 million US borrowers owe roughly $1.7T in student debt, the second-largest source of consumer debt behind mortgages.

The business model for many dating apps is paradoxical

While these apps are designed to help people create romantic relationships, dating apps lose money when people find a monogamous relationship and stop using the app as a result. Some call it the dating app paradox.

Pros and cons of pay transparency

While the benefits of pay transparency may seem plentiful to some, there are a few less obvious downsides. For instance, some argue companies that implement pay transparency could end up hiring fewer people or pitting employees against each other. For a full list of perceived pros and cons of pay transparency, click here.

Read why the information Americans have about our tax system might be misleading

For many, filing taxes can be complicated and overwhelming. Some argue that the tax system obscures certain aspects of the US tax code, making it difficult for taxpayers to accurately assess potential reforms.

How ‘vulture’ hedge funds make money

Some hedge funds specialize in snapping up distressed assets, like failing newspaper chains, and further stripping down their operational expenses in a bid to make a profit from the initial capital outlay. Delve into how one secretive firm known for the practice operates—and what’s at stake for the broader economy.

Credit monitoring services may oversell the benefits of dark web monitoring

Currently, technology exists to scrape and download data from webpages, which can then be analyzed to identify a user's information. However, scrapers cannot access or remove personal data from dark websites because they are often protected by paywalls, rendering monitoring ineffective beyond reporting publicly available data breaches.

Netflix profits when you're not watching, and its movies are designed that way—read a detail-rich critical essay exposing lesser-known Netflix takes

Hedge funds, the private investment firms that trade a wide swath of financial assets, make money by imposing steep fees on investors and from the fund's investment performance.

The first steps to rebuilding your credit score include getting to know exactly what's on your credit report and figuring out how far you are from the '700 club,' or 'good score' range.

Learn how to read a prospectus, the juicy document that any company must file with the SEC before going public.

Some researchers have labeled nomophobia, the fear of being without your phone, as 'the phobia of the 21st century.'

Existentialist writer Jean-Paul Sartre coined the famous phrase 'Hell is—other people' in his play 'No Exit'

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

Use this tool to calculate the dollar value of your parental mental load, from meal planning to coordinating after-school care, then see resources that help generate solutions.

Telehealth demand for GLP-1s for weight loss is booming as consumers seek easier access.

The tragic Pulitzer Prize-winning image 'The Vulture and the Little Girl' (1993) generated controversy, raised concerns about ethics in photography, and eventually led to the photographer's death.

About 2,000 US babies are born annually without some portion of their limbs, potentially leading to a lifetime of pricey prosthetics.

Art theft is the third-largest source of criminal revenues worldwide, thanks in part to the subjective nature of valuing a work of art.

The price of gas is a composite made up of several different factors, with the federal gas tax making up less than 20% of what drivers pay at the pump.

Despite being favored by 87% of Americans, Congress does not have term limits.

Frank Lloyd Wright's houses are historically hard to sell because they're old, subject to local landmark commissions, and often unfashionable

Children are now three times more likely to say they want to be a YouTuber when they grow up than an astronaut, with some even attending 'YouTube camps' that teach kids how to create content for the platform.

The idea for the Federal Reserve was conceived in secret in 1910—with bankers donning duck hunt gear for disguise while traveling to a remote country club on Georgia's Jekyll Island

Larger animals like giraffes, elephants, and blue whales have developed a unique defense against cancer, a phenomenon known as Peto's Paradox

Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency—a form of digital currency with a wide variety of uses—created around popular 'memes,' or viral internet jokes.

A pickleball's loud 'pop' sound can reach 120 decibels, which is equivalent to a hammer hitting a nail

20,000 letters to the advice columnist 'Dear Abby' provide insight into prevailing sex, religion, and LGBTQ fears, anxieties, and concerns from the 1950s onward.

When you complete a CAPTCHA on a website to prove you are human, you may be unknowingly training algorithms for self-driving cars, whose systems require training data to help identify crosswalks, bicycles, and other outdoor objects.

The Beatles' US label rejected the band's first two singles, 'Please Please Me' and 'From Me to You,' with one executive calling the band 'dead in the water.'

Some renewable energy sources may weaken the resiliency of electric grids by removing outage buffers provided by coal- and natural gas-fired plants, which provide the system with more time to find a new power source if a plant goes down.