" I worked my way through this book - it took some doing. Not because it was a difficult read, but because it covers the way people enslave themselves for cash - a difficult subject. It walks through payday loans, instant tax rebates, pawn shops, subprime mortgages, and more, but the stories behind these different financial instruments common in poor areas are very similar, and the sheer number of unbelievably high interest rates quoted in this book, especially in the later chapters, is overwhelming to the point of numbness. I appreciated that there was an attempt to portray both the consumer and the loaner perspective, but the loaner's perspective really doesn't play well - and I couldn't be sure there wasn't some bias against them there. The point of the book, I believe, is that in some markets, people don't use economic sense and heavily discount their future worth, and that is worthy of additional academic treatment. I hope this happens. It also explains why there are soooo many of these finance "storefronts" in existence and how they make their money. I listened on audio - the biggest issue with the audio is that almost all of the quotes from the loaners and the loanees are done in an over-the-top Southern accent, leaving the impression that this is a Southern issue. In fact, most of the source material for this book is taken from North and South Carolina and Ohio, which seems a bit odd for a nationwide issue. I don't recall any place west of the Mississippi being mentioned. The only non-Southern accent sounded stereotypically French, but was of an "African-American". The audio was just a bit off. "
— Jay, 1/26/2014