title: The role of middle-class status in payday loan borrowing: a multivariate approach.
abstract: Payday loans refer to small-dollar, high-interest, short-term loans usually extended to lower-income consumers. Despite much research to the contrary, the payday loan industry asserts that it primarily serves middle-class Americans. This article discusses the authors' investigation of the industry's claim, by analyzing data from a U.S. bankruptcy court serving a Southern district. Results of the multivariate binary logistic regression analysis showed that, controlling for various sociodemographic and economic variables, two middle-class indicators--home-ownership and annual income at or greater than the median income--are associated with a decreased likelihood of using payday loans. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of the results for social work practice and advocacy in regard to financial capability, particularly asset development, income maintenance, and payday loan regulation.
authors.forename: Younghee
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: Trey
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bickham
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Broussard
authors.forename: Cassie M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Dinecola
authors.forename: Alethia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gregory
authors.forename: Brittany E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Weber
mesh_terms: D016361:Bankruptcy / Q000191:economics; D002017:Budgets / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004467:Economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006798:Housing / Q000191:economics; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010067:Ownership / Q000191:economics; D011203:Poverty / Q000191:economics*; D012923:Social Class; D012947:Social Work; D014481:United States