It's not coercion or duress simply because the alternative is less desirable. That's hyperbole. And, actually, plenty of people make do without banking services; it's why Payday lenders do so well.
The system might suck and be inequitable--more so than many other systems (no system can be perfectly equitable). And by all means promote legislation to change things. But tossing around words like coercion and duress contributes to the radicalization of politics in a very unhelpful manner. And those words aren't typically the words those stuck with payday lending services would choose, FWIW, even though they're often in objectively much dire financial straits and often couldn't opt-in (literally or at least without worse expense) to the system even if they wanted to.
I beg to differ. I know for a fact that this is an unspoken truth of that industry. As a contractor I've been unfortunate enough to be in the room when words that only get spoken behind closed doors were uttered. The people involved are parasites with a lack of empathy.
It's not coercion or duress simply because the alternative is less desirable. That's hyperbole. And, actually, plenty of people make do without banking services; it's why Payday lenders do so well.
The system might suck and be inequitable--more so than many other systems (no system can be perfectly equitable). And by all means promote legislation to change things. But tossing around words like coercion and duress contributes to the radicalization of politics in a very unhelpful manner. And those words aren't typically the words those stuck with payday lending services would choose, FWIW, even though they're often in objectively much dire financial straits and often couldn't opt-in (literally or at least without worse expense) to the system even if they wanted to.