Payday Loan Choices and Consequences

High-cost consumer credit has proliferated in the past two decades, raising regulatory scrutiny. We match administrative data from a payday lender with nationally representative credit bureau files to examine the choices of payday loan applicants and assess whether payday loans help or harm borrowers. We find consumers apply for payday loans when they have limited access to mainstream credit. In addition, the weakness of payday applicants’ credit histories is severe and longstanding. Finally, based on regression discontinuity estimates, we show the long-run effect of payday borrowing on credit scores and other measures of financial well-being is a precise zero.