Pirate's Cove

OK, this is a new one. And the subhead is a hoot

Climate change driving demand for predatory loans, research shows
Study connects heatwaves and cold snaps to surges in payday lending, keeping people in debt and harming communities of color

Got that? Heat trapping gasses causing cold snaps. And, of course, it involves low income folks and “people of color”. Funny how the Warmists always think all black people are poor

Two competing payday loan stores stand on the corners of an intersection in south Los Angeles. An area of persistent poverty, south LA is also a banking desert where payday lenders fill the gap. Long lines form inside the stores on the first of the month, when rent is due.

Banking desert is a new one, too. Perhaps lots of banks do not want to operate in these areas of high crime? It’s hard to know when the article doesn’t state which Speedy Cash it is in question to compare to the number of banks. Regardless, banks will not have branches in areas where people do not use them, especially these days.

Guillermina Molina, a 60-year-old retired housekeeper, visits the same Speedy Cash each month. During the summer months – which are becoming increasingly hot – she runs her air conditioner but frets about her utility bills. “It’s kind of hard because the [power bill] is coming up too high because you gotta have the air conditioner on,” Molina said. (snip)

Molina doesn’t have savings, so to cover her bills she takes out a $225 payday loan every month, paying $45 in interest on each loan. When she’s unable to pay back her loan on time, she’s charged extra. “There’s nothing left over,” Vargas said.

I wonder how many of these people are illegals, hence, cannot open a bank account? Anyhow

A study released earlier this year found that extreme temperature shocks – like heatwaves and cold snaps – are leading to surges in demand for payday loans in the US.

The paper, published in January by the Bank of Canada, suggests extreme heat and cold may increase demand for payday loans in several ways: increased energy costs as people turn on heating or cooling devices, lost income for people who are unable to work in extreme heat, and health problems leading to medical costs for underinsured or uninsured people

Your use of fossil fuels causes it to….get cold. Big long snip through very silly stuff to near the end

Lusson said Xie’s study highlighted the “heat-or-eat conundrum” in which families face difficult choices between paying utility bills or buying groceries and medicine. “When you throw in climate change, and the fact that 2023 was the hottest year in the recorded history of the planet, the unaffordability problem can be expected to grow more dire,” she said.

Hey, California being absurdly expensive to live couldn’t be a factor, could it?