Help keep Salon independent

Caroline Malone

FILE - This Tuesday, July 31, 2007, file photo shows the entrance to an Advance America payday lending office in Harrisburg, Pa. The lenders who advance people money on their paychecks charge exorbitant interest rates that often snare the most vulnerable customers in a cycle of debt, the industry’s critics have long said. Yet even consumer advocates who loathe the industry admit it fulfills a need: Providing small amounts of cash quickly to people who can’t qualify for credit cards or a bank loan. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File) (AP)

Payday lenders have embraced installment loans to evade regulations—but they may be even worse

Paige Marta Skiba, Caroline Malone