This article provides a side-by-side comparison of payday lending and consumer litigation funding in order to aid policymakers. Funding has similarities with payday lending because they are both alternative financial services, involve high interest rates, and cater to customers who need money...

High-cost consumer credit has proliferated in the past two decades, raising regulatory scrutiny. We match administrative data from a payday lender with nationally representative credit bureau files to examine the choices of payday loan applicants and assess whether payday loans help or harm...

Unsecured Installment lenders offer high-interest credit to low-income, credit constrained consumers. Lenders typically extend $600 in cash to be paid back in equal monthly installments over 6-9 months at an annualized interest rate of around 125 percent. As state and federal regulations tighten...

Payday loans continue to be a commonly used yet controversial source of credit for low-income consumers. We study the consequences of capping online payday loan sizes using a fuzzy regression kink design. The interaction of lenders’ underwriting rules with state loan caps creates exogenous...