Payday lenders take to the web | Marketplace from American Public ...

Scott Jagow: They have names like "Check n' Go," "Get Instant Green" and, of course "The Money Store."

In 1995, there were something like 200 payday loan stores in America. Now, there are 24,000 -- more branches than Starbucks and McDonald's combined -- and payday loan centers aren't even legal in some states, so quick cash web sites are popping up.

Business reporter Stephen Franklin wrote about this issue for the Chicago Tribune. Stephen, why have these loan stores exploded in the past decade?

Franklin: Well, the difference is dramatic. Basically, you write a check and say, "If I don't come to pay this bill back, then you can cash my check." When you go to an online site, you do this electronically and they have the right to go into your checking account and take the money and you almost can't stop them. The other difference is you often don't know who the people are who you're dealing with. When you go into a payday loan store, you see a sign, you look at people. The problem with online is you have no idea and often times they hide.

Franklin: I think the answer is people want money and many of these payday loan sites look very legitimate and very decent and honest and my suspicion is that -- and the people I've talked to have said this -- is that you don't have to go to a store. You can do it at home or at work. There's no embarrassment to it and it's very fast.

Franklin: There are several ways of explaining it. I've talked to folks in different groups. There are those folks who walk into a store and look at a sign and the sign says, "Payday loans in this state are capped at this figure" and they figure, "Oh, this is a payday loan." Well, they're really taking a loan that's in a different category and they don't know what's happening. They don't realize that they're getting this high rate. There are other folks who realize that's the rate but they have no choice: there's an illness in the family, they're going to lose a car, they can't pay a hospital bill and they figure, "Whatever it is, I'll do that." And then there's a third group that just can't get out of a rut and they're sort of addicted to having money when they need it.

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