Yesterday, a debate hosted by the Federal Reserve of Kansas City concerning the merits of payday lending spurned some interesting conversation about the industry and its regulation. Much of the discussion was centered on the Fed’s senior research  economist, Kelly Edmiston’s recent study, “Could Restrictions on Payday Lending Hurt Consumers?“. Here’s a taste of what Edmiston concluded from his research:

Edmiston’s study “suggested” that low-income consumers had less access to credit and all consumers generally had poorer credit where payday lending was banned. It may be they have no alternatives or are making costlier choices such as bouncing checks, exceeding credit-card limits or turning to loan sharks.