Wonder

Research Outline

Prepared for Sophie F. | Delivered April 9, 2020

Cash Advance/Payday Loans on the Rise during COVID-19 Crises

Goals

To determine statistical data regarding the cause for demand for cash advance/payday loans due to the COVID-19 pandemic . 

Early Findings

As we began our research of payday loans/cash advances since COVID-19, we found insight about statistics regarding the demand for immediate cash loan services. Information included involves  a preliminary view of the total cases of the virus in the U.S. Here are some key points of information found:
The overall cash advance/pay loan industry are rportedly at $11bn with 14, 731 total businesses. 
 The top four companies are expected to account for less than 10.0% of total industry revenue. 
U.S. consumer demand for small-dollar credit is likely to soar in the coming weeks offering loans with triple-digit annual percentage rates.
 Payday lenders will also likely see a spike in demand as coronavirus pandemic spreads. 
17 million people file for unemployment in the U.S. by first week of April 2020.
More government aid is uncertain as millions of Americans wait to seee if they will lose their jobs. 
 Current U.S. cases of COVID-19 reach 455,454, up 4.7% overnight. 
Millions of low-wage workers will seek cash advance firms, car-title lenders, and payday loan companies to fill the void.
 Check Cashing and Payday Loan Services industry accounts for nearly a quarter of financial services spending by underbanked consumers.
General Data Challenges 
The increasing number of unemployeed individuals in the U.S. is growing during the COVID-19 crises, and will continue to rise as data is updated. Tactics for finding data related to the demand for cash advance/payday loans include searching databases related to company growth over shorrter periods. 