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payday loans 这类公司，在北美很常见，说穿了就是小额高利贷公司，也有人叫它们贷款鲨鱼（loan sharks），主要从事predatory lending。你要是在谷歌搜索payday loan，出来的页面全是这些公司的广告。

我们来看看它的定义A payday loan is a type of short-term borrowing where a lender will extend high-interest credit based on your income. Its principal is typically a portion of your next paycheck. Payday loans charge high interest rates for short-term immediate credit. They are also called cash advance loans or check advance loans.

注意其中的关键词，short-term,high-interest

它的客户主要以小额贷款为主，有统计表明，这个小额大约是500美元（加币），由于这些贷款公司不看抵押，不需担保，因此它charge你很高的利息（貌似也说得过去）。但是你看它开设的地方，都是低收入的区域，在富人区你是见不到它们的，别以为它们是夜晚的枕头，寒冬的毛毯，它charge你的月利息可以高达60%！说它专挑穷人整钱一点都不夸张。The loans usually can be rolled over for additional finance charges, and many borrowers—as high as 80% of them—end up as repeat customers. 看到没有，就那么点钱，你要是享用了payday loan的贷款，你就上瘾了，80%的人会反复去贷，然后利息一路滚起走，基本上你这辈子就耗在这类债务上无法翻身。

你也许会问：这类公司合法吗？当然合法，美国很多州都有usury laws （高利贷法），你没看错，高-利-贷-法！别忘了那里是资本主义，虽然这个资本主义跟老马那个时候的资本主义不一样了，可它也没长成其他什么主义。民不举，官不究，随着民间对这类公司的质疑越来越大，在2016年，在奥巴马政府时期才通过规范这类公司的法律Efforts to regulate payday lenders were proposed in 2016 under the Obama administration and put in place in 2017, when the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), under then-Director Richard Cordray, passed rules to protect consumers from what Cordray referred to as “debt traps.” 而法律的执行是今年（2022) 年才启动。

关于payday loan就讲这么多，最后给出一个bottom line:

Payday loans are designed to cover short-term expenses, and they can be taken out without collateral or even a bank account. The catch is that these loans charge very high fees and interest rates.

Borrowers should beware of these loans. They may be considered predatory lending, as they have extremely high interest, don’t consider a borrower’s ability to repay, and have hidden provisions that charge borrowers added fees.

在The Ascent of money一书中，Niall Ferguson写道，穷人之所以穷的主要原因，在于无法接触到正规的金融机构（Poverty is much more to do with the lack of financial institutions）。在北美，你刚来的时候，信用卡是办不到的（跟中国情况完全不同，阿猫阿狗都可以办n多张信用卡），你必须通过获取收入以及用debt card慢慢积累起信用来，才能办到信用卡（当然，你一旦获得办卡的资格，银行会追着你提高信用额度）。西方的金融逻辑就是一句话: “嫌贫爱富”。

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