Loan sharks may conjure up an image of tough guys in fedoras looking to make a profit off of desperate people in dire financial straits; but in reality, lenders who advance small sums of cash at high interest rates until payday existed long before organized crime entered the trade. Today the businesses that fill this niche in the credit market prefer the name "payday lenders" rather than loan sharks, but most large cities are still a hotbed of usurious lending, and the landscapes are dotted with their inviting and brightly colored storefronts. Despite their more respectable name, these predatory lenders have endured through regulation, prohibition, and the rise and fall of the mob since the late 1800s. In this intriguing and accessible book, Mayer aptly assesses the consequences of high-interest lending-both for the people who borrow at such steep prices and for society as a whole. He argues that although some consumers gain from borrowing at high rates, payday lending in its modern form consistently traps many of the wage earners who pawn their postdated checks, leaving them worse off than they were before. Because payday lending regulations vary widely throughout the country, Mayer chose to focus his story on Chicago, a city that serves as a fine representative of the legacy of loan sharking. Quick Cash will engage policy analysts, economists, and regional historians, as wells as general readers interested in the fascinating story behind these unscrupulous lending operations that feed off America's current tough economic times.

About the Author

Robert Mayer is a professor of political science at Loyola University. He holds a Ph.D. in political theory from Princeton University.

Reviews

The subject is important, the research exhaustive, the argument compelling, the writing is brisk and clear.... Quick Cash is a major contribution to public discussions of subprime lending and borrowing. It deserves to be on the reading list of everyone who cares about recent developments in lending and borrowing.... Mayer establishes himself as the expert on the subject of subprime consumer credit, especially payday lending.

-- Lendol Calder, Augustana College

The early historical chapters, which focus on American in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, are a tour de force in original source material and factual documentation. There is not currently a book or scholarly article that so carefully compiles an American historical record of triple digit interest rate consumer finance. This book will become an invaluable source for generations of policy makers and historians to come. After all, this policy problem is not going away. The problem will endure, and this book will endure with it.

-- Christopher Peterson, University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law


Awards
Winner of Midwest Book Award (MIPA) (Current Events) 2010.



Book Information
ISBN 9780875804309
Author Robert Mayer
Format Hardback
Page Count 301
Imprint Northern Illinois University Press
Publisher Cornell University Press
Weight(grams) 907g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 27mm