In case you did not know that payday loans were controversial, they are and they have been for decades. In the US, this controversy has lead to more than a dozen states not even allowing payday loans to be provided on their territory. Of course, this kind of overreacting is something we do not see in the UK, there are still certain controversies that lead some people to believe that payday loans need to be avoided at all costs. It is our opinion that this is definitely not true, but we also feel the need to address some of these controversies.
The first controversy and quite possibly the largest one in the UK at the moment is that payday loans are often talked about as institutionalized loan sharking. This is complete nonsense, for a lack of better word. Namely, payday loans were primarily introduced because they are the most effective way to deal with loan sharking. They are provided by legitimate businesses that pay taxes and that fill the UK budget. Also, payday loans businesses do not employ some rather invasive methods of collecting their loans that loan sharks are known to do. Finally, the interest rates on payday loans, no matter how high in comparison with other loans, are still much lower than the rates provided by loan sharks.
Some people are worried about the fact that some people have found themselves trapped in a cycle that involves new and repeated payday loans that soon have them struggling to make a living. However, this is something that can easily be prevented by educating the people and letting them know that payday loans are meant to be one-off solutions and not a means to take care of the finances in general. The good news is that this is becoming more and more known as the latest studies have shown that the average amount of times that people have taken out payday loans is three per year, which is not that much.