According to Lisa Servon and Joe Coleman, payday lenders are primarily filling the need for quick access to small amounts of cash for emergencies and day‑to‑day expenses when no other realistic short‑term credit options are available.

Core idea

  • Payday lenders serve people who cannot easily get a small, short‑term loan from traditional banks or credit cards, especially for just a few hundred dollars.
  • This fills a gap where individuals face urgent bills, emergencies, or income shortfalls and have “nowhere else to go” for that kind of immediate, small‑dollar credit.

Why this matters

  • Traditional financial institutions often do not offer fast, small‑dollar loans on terms or timelines that match low‑income or financially unstable borrowers’ needs.
  • In that context, payday lenders become a de facto emergency credit source, despite their very high costs and risks, because they are sometimes the only accessible option for short‑term cash.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.