Payday lending–offering cash advances on postdated checks–was “significantly associated with both violent and property crime rates” in a Seattle study in the journal Criminology & Public Policy. In what they say is the first study of the “fringe banking-neighborhood crime nexus,” researchers say that customers of payday lenders often leave with large sums at odd hours, “a fact not likely overlooked by potential criminals.”
The authors urge capping the interest rate payday lenders are allowed to charge, or encouraging “alternative financial institutions” to provide small consumer loans. The study was conducted by Charis Kubrin and Gregory Squires of George Washington University, Steven Graves of California State University Northridge, and Graham Ousey of the College of William and Mary. The journal is available to members of the American Society of Criminology. Journalists who want access should message Ted Gest, tgest@sas.upenn.edu