Its defenders say they're providing a valuable benefit to a segment of the population that banks no longer bother to serve. But when the industry set its sights to target college students, it was the check-cashers who got checked. They didn't give a balanced approach. Our growth stopped and we had to pull out of the market. This rate works out to an annual percentage rate of 469 percent.
Most payday lenders require customers to have a full-time job and a checking account.
And last year, everyone from local consumer groups to campus credit unions to student newspapers got the word out on those alternatives to potential CampusCash customers. Students are limited to one short-term loan per semester. There's also that dreaded phone call home. Vickie Fitzsimmons, associate professor of Family and Consumer Economics at the University of Illinois, has seen her share of stressed-out students. They don't want mom and dad to find out.