[zdw]

Payday lenders have a significantly higher interest rate - on the order of 500-2000% of the principle per year. The purpose of it is to put the screws on people who aren't able to get loans elsewhere.

Micro lending has more of a humanitarian goal - most organizations tend to lend at reasonable rates (3-15%/year).

[Drbble]

Those organizations lend to local "bankers" who lend out at higher rates to customers.

Payday shops charge reasonable fees per loan, the same fees that all vendors and governments charge for you hanging on to money they want from you. The problem is that payday loan customers get trapped into taking excessive numbers of loans, multiplying fees.

[sireat]

With all due respect, payday shops do not charge "reasonable" fees, unless your definition of reasonable includes amounts higher than 100% APR.

It should be noted that ordinarily vendors and governments do have reasonable late fees(certainly much less than one from payday shop). I do not remember paying more than 24% when I run late on some Accounts Payable when I run my shop at the turn of the millennium. Maybe it is now normal for vendors to ask for 100+% when a 30day net invoice runs late, who knows?

It is when a vendor is about to deny service completely(ie pay $50 to reconnect electric utility), then a payday loan becomes a relatively reasonable option.

There are a multitude of factors which go behind the rates(I am bundling in all of the fees into catch all rate) that payday shops charge:

* Likelihood of borrower to repay * Ability of borrower to do simple math * Human psychology (goes with the simple math to calculate rate from fees) * Demand from borrowers

Overall, payday shops charge more than regular lending institutions because they should(higher risk and some expenses). They also raise their effective rate beyond their "should rate" because they can.

Their customers are not comparison shopping between 240% APR and 300% APR. I would argue that it should be made easier for their customers to do so, but that is another discussion.

[rmc]

The 3%→15% is what you, the investor (source of capital) get. Micro lending gives that to local lenders who charge high rates.