{"id":3811,"date":"2025-10-15T14:45:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T21:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/economicintegrity.org\/?p=3811"},"modified":"2026-01-12T15:37:32","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T22:37:32","slug":"nickel-and-dimed-how-payday-loan-apps-drain-workers-pay-and-how-to-stop-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/economicintegrity.org\/?p=3811","title":{"rendered":"Nickel and Dimed: How Payday Loan Apps Drain Workers\u2019 Pay and How to Stop Them"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<i class=\"fas fa-newspaper\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i> Center for Responsible Lending | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.responsiblelending.org\/research-publication\/nickel-and-dimed-how-payday-loan-apps-drain-workers-pay-and-how-stop-them\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">policy brief<\/a> | <span class=\"submitted-date\">October 15, 2025<\/span>\n\n\n\n<br>\n\n\n\n<i class=\"fas fa-file-pdf\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i> Center for Responsible Lending | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.responsiblelending.org\/sites\/default\/files\/nodes\/files\/research-publication\/crl-nickel-and-dimed-oct2025.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">download the brief<\/a> | <span class=\"submitted-date\">October 15, 2025<\/span>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Payday loan apps are designed to be a <strong>debt trap<\/strong> \u2013 much like storefront payday loans. They both draw borrowers into a pattern of repeated borrowing and a succession of fees that pull from already-stretched paychecks, creating demand for the next loan. Payday loan app companies try to evade state credit laws by promoting a <strong>legal fiction<\/strong>: they claim that these loans are not loans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As state regulators and attorneys general investigate and challenge industry violations of credit law, these lenders have lobbied state legislatures for exemptions from those laws. This policy brief provides state lawmakers, regulators, and attorneys general with an update on federal and state developments from 2025 and recommendations for protecting borrowers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<i class=\"fas fa-file-pdf\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i> The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.responsiblelending.org\/sites\/default\/files\/nodes\/files\/research-publication\/crl-nickel-and-dimed-chart-oct2025.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">state-by-state report<\/a> can also be downloaded separately.\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Center for Responsible Lending | policy brief | October 15, 2025 Center for Responsible Lending | download the brief | October 15, 2025 Payday loan [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[10,24,25],"class_list":["post-3811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-predatory-lending","tag-consumer-protection","tag-earned-wage-advance","tag-payday-loan-apps"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - 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