Mary Schmidt, a lifelong resident of the St. Louis region, had a good job with a school district. In an attempt to cover a financial shortfall, she took out a payday loan of a few hundred dollars.
Unable to afford to repay the loan principal and fee, she repeatedly reborrowed — more than a dozen loans in total. Each time, she was hit with a fee. She was “drowning” in fees far in excess of the original loan amount.
The payday lender caught Mary in its debt trap. She couldn’t make her car payment, student loans or mortgage. She was short on money for food and got behind on utilities. Mary’s credit score was destroyed, and her dream of opening her own business was “off the table.” Instead of helping her out of a hole, payday loans only pushed Mary further down.