Rather than more regulation of financial industries congress should require ALL students in government schools to complete and pass a course called Consumer Mathematics. My wife and I home schooled our kids and taught them such a class which included topics such as managing a bank account, budgeting, saving for retirement , other personal financial issues such as buying a home, insurance, shopping in general and even lightly touched on basics of investing. Our kids have had a few bumps in the road but are all doing well managing their financial affairs. They go to pawn shops to buy but not to sell.

The only barrier to entry to the payday/week-week loan is capital and knowledge of the market. So rates charged accurately reflect the credit worthiness of the borrower. If it did not, the rate charged would migrate lower as lenders seeked to gain advantage over one another. This industry is regulated by the states (here in the US) and arose in the 30s as a result of loan sharking. Why? rates were higher and physical violence was used in collecting. By the way, loan sharking still exists. The worry of encouraging the Federal Govt to take a larger part in this industry is eventually they will be the lender. Default rates will not change. And you might remember the "Govt" removed school loans from bankruptcy to make loans more available. What would prevent them from doing the same here should it progress this way? Ultimately, you could create a Federal debtor state. The idea of the banks capitalizing this market is novel (though the market has always been there if they'd wanted it). So why now? The Federal Govt is encouraging it. What does that mean? Is this the same Federal Govt that bailed the banks out in 2008? Does no one see the problem here?

I know someone who got a car title loan to buy a dog. Defaults on loan and loses car. That's one way to turn an asset into a liability. People like this are part of this bubble economy, you should be worried. Never underestimate the extent of human ignorance.