Great op-ed from Ken Rees, the CEO of Think Finance, the came out today. Instead of giving customers “The Boot” (the one you might wear and use to panhandle to get money from passerbys), Rees says policy elites should change their “callous view of the real-world needs” and recognize that the underbanked need short-term credit as a viable option.

Most opponents of short-term credit products like payday loans believe that eliminating options for consumers is the right thing to do because they legitimately believe consumers can’t be trusted to make their own financial decisions. That is a dangerous and patronizing point of view.

The truth is that all surveys of under-banked consumers who use products like payday loans show that they are educated, hard working Americans who fully understand their options.

The average payday loan customer has at least some college education, is meaningfully employed, and makes between $35,000 and $50,000 a year. They understand the bottom-line costs (both economic and psychic) of their options and can be counted on to make the best possible decision for them from the options that are available.