It is distressingly common for the media to paint a story of sensationalism when it comes to payday loan companies. Accuracy is the first casualty in their efforts at fear-mongering, and what incentive do they have to present information in a clear-headed fashion? Tales of a dark, trenchcoated villain, twirling a waxed handlebar mustache, plotting the ruin of consumer after helpless consumer with a seductive cycle of debt. It makes for a nice little Vaudevillian melodrama. It makes for good copy, as corny as it sounds.

But life defies such easy categorization. The same is true when it comes to the truth about customers who make use of a payday loan. Are they the poor and the downtrodden? Are no fax payday loan customers hopelessly addicted to loans and rollovers? Are they trapped in a debt bear trap and ready to chew off their own leg for more?

No. Payday loan customers stand on their own two feet

Faxless payday loan companies assist a clientele from all walks of life. But when the average customer profile (female and male) for a major lender that works with Personal Money Store is considered, it’s easy to see that the media horror stories represent a tiny minority of cases. Even things that nobody would argue are unhealthy – like water- can seem dangerous in the hands of a visible minority who happens to make the 11 o’clock news. Payday loans help the great majority of consumers who call upon them, and they do not create a cycle of perpetual debt. The proof is in the numbers – even though it doesn’t make for a juicy story for the Center for Responsible Lending or some other bank-sponsored interest group to crow about…

Who uses payday loans? I do. You do.

For anyone who has ever been in a short-term financial jam, speed, convenience and discretion are valuable watchwords when it comes to digging your way out. These are all things that a payday loan offers. Used responsibly, they don’t trap anyone in a vicious debt spiral. They are quite different from the revolving debt quagmire of credit cards, late fees and checking overdrafts. The truth doesn’t always make for entertaining news copy, but it’s still the truth. Look in a mirror and ask yourself if you would ever use a payday loan. The answer may not be as much of a surprise as you think.