400 Faces of Payday Lending

Payday lending and similar quick cash schemes drain $5 billion per year from hard-working families. The stories of many of those families are never told as they struggle every two weeks to pay their bills and pay in full their payday loan in a dangerous cycle called a "debt trap."

As a project of the Center for Responsible Lending, 400 Faces of Payday Lending aims to collect those stories and to give a voice to the countless families still struggling today to pay off their high-cost payday loans.

Please don't delay, send us your picture and story today.

Don't have your own story to tell? Tell us the story of someone you know who was caught in the debt trap of payday loans. Help us show the true face of payday lending.

Borrower Stories

A Reasonable Cap Should Be Placed

I have been the victim of pay day lending a number of times in the past. I have anywhere from $200 with a fee and continuous fees of $50 to $75, as well as a loan for as much as $1500 with a fee of $25 per $100, totalling $375 on a loan of $1500 ($1875) to pay the loan back. They should not be allowed to practice or a reasonable cap should be placed on the lending practices of these loan sharks.

Rev. Mitchell Kent's Story

The Rev. Mitchell Kent knows about the risks of payday lending very well -- to the tune of $5,000.

Those risks include loan fees that add up quickly, fees that faith-based and consumer groups pushing for reform of the industry say are exorbitant and akin to usury.

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Victim of the Debt Trap

"I've had up to four loans at one time," she said. "The situation was bad, and I got deep into it. ... You get into a cycle where you pay this one back, then reborrow. That's how I was doing it for a while, and not making enough money to pay my rent or my bills.