Young people are payday lenders’ newest prey

  Payday loans have long been marketed as a quick and easy way for people to access cash between paychecks. Today, there are about 23,000 payday lenders—twice the number of McDonald’s restaurants in the United States—across the country. While payday lenders target many different Americans, they tend to go after traditionally vulnerable populations. People without a college degree, renters, African Americans, individuals earning less than $40,000 a year, and people who are separated or divorced are the most likely to have a payday loan. And increasingly, many of these payday loan borrowers are young people.