Mehrsa Baradaran, the J. Alton Hosch Associate Professor of Law in UGA’s School of Law, was recently quoted in a Tampa Bay Times article about a new federal rule on payday loans.
Floridians, mostly in poor neighborhoods, took out a staggering 7.7 million payday loans over 12 months in 2016 and 2017. Nearly a third of all customers took out at least 12 loans that year, a clear sign of the “debt trap” from which lenders profit, critics said.
“Is it bad to take out one of these loans? I think the answer is yes,” said Baradaran, who also is the law school’s associate dean for strategic initiatives. “If you can get this money from any other source, it’s best to avoid them. It might be the rational choice. It might be the only choice. But it doesn’t put you in a better position.”
