The Federal Government does not feel that payday loan stores are predatory. However, anyone whose life has been ruined by payday loans may disagree. Some states feel that payday loan stores are so predatory that they have banned them. Others have placed regulations on payday loan stores in order to protect the public from the devastating effects of the extremely high costs of payday loans.

What would make you think that a payday loan store is predatory? Well, have you ever seen them in affluent neighborhoods? Payday loan stores can be found in low income and minority neighborhoods. Payday loan stores target the poor and low-to-middle income people who are likely to have no credit, poor credit, or little understanding of their financial health.

The younger employed who are not at the maximum of their earning potential and are renting instead of buying houses are also targeted by payday loan stores. Single women and military personnel are targeted by payday loan stores. Several payday loan stores can be found located near military bases. The military receive counseling and warnings about the dangers of payday loan debts.

Payday loans can seem frighteningly predatory when you find thousands of them in your internet search results . . . all advertising how easy it is to get money. They tell you that you can get money even if your credit is bad and they won’t even do a credit check. How do you know if they are safe? You don’t. You need to research them and check to see if they are accredited and find out their fees and annual percentage rates (APR).

Payday loan stores are meant to be used for a temporary small short-term loan. It can be feasible if you have no other alternative. The danger is in the fact that if you do not pay the payday loan off with your very next paycheck, the fees begin to add up.

You can extend or roll over your payday loan another time or two by paying an additional fee and leaving the principal amount to pay off later. There is danger in this because the percentage rates are extremely high and add up quickly. You could get into a financial mess that can be hard to pay off, or you might never be able to get your payday loan paid off, especially if you carry more than one payday loan at a time.

In order to protect you, some states regulate how many payday loans you can have at a time. Because of the financial ruin that the high costs of payday loans can cause, the type of people targeted by payday loan stores, and the fact that payday loan stores need to be regulated by the government of the states wherein they are located, you can’t help but be concerned about the predatory nature of payday loans.

In order for you to avoid becoming a victim ensnared in the trap of the cycle of debt that payday loans can get you into, you should simply avoid payday loans. Maybe payday loan stores don’t intend to be predatory, but they do want to make money and they do it by creating the need for you to keep going back to them. Does that seem predatory to you?