Everywhere you go in the UK during the downturn, you never seem to be too far away from an advert for a payday loan.
In Middlesbrough, offers for quick and easy access to cash are found in the window of a converted church. In London, competing loan shops can be found on opposite sides of the street.
Payday loans are offers of relatively small amounts on credit to “tide you over to the next wage packet”. The industry says its typical customer earns £18,000 a year.
Competition in the area has mushroomed in 2009, according to an interim report by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) into the £35bn high-cost credit market.
But the reasons for this are not just because consumers need the cash - it is because the lenders are short of access to funds too.
Matter of timing
The “success” story of payday loans is a tale of the credit crunch and the recession.