Are payday loan companies legal loan sharks?
Payday lenders are often labeled “legal loan sharks” by opponents. Often, the practice of payday lending is called “legal loan sharking.” About one in five pieces of news we view in the media contains some form of comparison between payday lenders and loan sharks. To the credit of the press, usually the term will appear in a quote from a source–where the source is labeling a payday lender a loan shark–and the label is not applied by the journalist writing the story. (Although the journalist does use the quote.) Generally, “loan shark” is used to label the industry by opponents who cite high fees and aggressive collection practices as being like those used by loan sharks. PLIWatch contacted the FBI to learn more about loan sharking in the United States. We were granted an interview with FBI Special Agent Pete Kowenhoven to ask questions about the topic. It became clear to PLIWatch after interviewing Agent Kowenhoven that payday lending is not loan sharking. Payday lending and loan sha
