New Article: Nathalie Martin et al., Nefarious Neighbors: How Living near Payday Loan Stores Affects Loan Use, 88 Miss. L.J. 41 (2019).
Like all businesses, when it comes to payday lenders, geography matters. Payday lenders and other high-cost loan providers charge between 300% to 1,000% interest on consumer loans, a fact that concerns many consumer advocates. For decades, we have known another disturbing fact – by locating storefronts in neighborhoods frequented by certain demographic groups, payday lenders and other providers of high-cost credit target people of color, low-income and moderate-income Americans, military personnel, and the elderly. What we did not know until now, however, was whether this targeting succeeds in increasing loan usage by these groups.
Poverty Law 