Analysis: Growth of payday lenders slows
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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The growth of payday loan stores, which offer two-week loans for about 500 percent annual interest, has slowed in the past two years.
According to a Deseret News analysis of data from the Utah Department of Financial Institutions, the number of payday loan stores grew by 5 percent in Utah this year, up to 399 from 380. That’s about the same rate as from 2006 to 2007.
But that growth is much slower than in recent decades. The number of stores grew from 17 in 1994 to 427 in 2005.
Critics of the stores says the reduced expansion is because cities have limited how many payday lenders to allow. But payday loan advocates says the slowed growth is because the industry has become saturated.
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I don't know what the big deal is about getting a payday loan. I got one last year, paid it off in two weeks and the fees were less than if I had missed my credit card payment.