Payday lending companies have charged high-interest rates on their short-term, low-dollar loans for years. A recent online survey of one thousand Americans found that more than three in four see lending as harmful to borrowers and sinful, even though one in three respondents have taken a payday loan before. Interestingly, a growing share of Christians see these predatory loans as helpful, but they also support government and church intervention in an industry predicted to grow to over forty-two billion dollars by twenty twenty-eight.
In this uncertain economy, more families use these readily available loans to tide them over in emergencies. Wisconsin is one of twenty-seven states where this industry is largely unregulated. Government needs to put some checks on these businesses and churches need to offer practical, helpful information on how these companies operate and how to avoid needing them
