As I was driving to work today, I was noticing how many different payday loans office fronts that I was driving past. It really did seem that there was one every few blocks. I think that is a sad sign of the times, so many of these types of businesses are springing up! There are a lot of commercials on television lately about how easy it is to get a payday loan. These ads scare me!

One of the reasons that these ads scare me is that the commercials give the viewer the impression that getting a payday loan is a fantastic idea to buy something that frivoulous, such as taking a girlfriend out for a big fancy dinner, or buying some really expensive trinket. This kind of marketing to folks who have little or no impulse control just seems to be on the unscrupulous side.

Don’t get me wrong – payday loans have a real place and purpose to serve the consumer. I think these types of loans should be used as a “last resort” to cover some last-minute unexpected expense, such as needing a furnace repaired. And they should be approached with great caution – making absolutely sure that the loan can be paid off at the next payday. I’ve seen several news stories on television about how so many people have taken out these kinds of loans and been unable to repay them on time and ended up owing and paying back really exorbitant amounts of money!