Payday loans

Marketplace reporter Mitchell Hartman tells us the story behind one of the photos in "Beyond payday loans."

Both are predatory lending practices, but they're very different.

World Finance of Greenville, S.C., rakes in half-a-billion dollars a year providing small loans to subprime borrowers. Thanks to an ever-deepening cycle of debt, business is good.

A federal law is supposed to protect service members from predatory lending. But lenders exploit loopholes, trapping military personnel in high-interest debt.

World Finance, a billion-dollar company, peddles installment loans, a product that often drives borrowers into a similar quagmire of debt.

High interest payday loans are seen by critics as a fast track to endless cycles of debt for borrowers -- and there's a new breed of payday loan to watch out for.

Payday lenders circumvented state laws by moving online, and in the process big banks became enablers (and potentially profited) from payday lending. Now Chase is making changes to protect its customers from payday lenders. Will other banks follow?

Last week on Marketplace, a payday loan lender defended his industry, saying as long as customers did the math, he wasn't doing anything wrong. Commentator Helaine Olen begs to differ.

A payday lender from Kansas City, Missouri, says his business is fair, just do the math.