--- title: How Payday Loans Of $2,500 Left One Man $50,000 In Debt description: Consumer advocates highlight the story of Elliott Clark, a Vietnam vet whose $2,500 loan turned into a $50,000 debt. authors: - name: Martha C. White role: Writer url: https://money.com/author/martha-c-white/ education: BA, English, Princeton University at_money_since: 2015 articles: 350 covers: - Loans - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Federal Reserve Rate Cuts - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology published: '2016-05-18T17:54:15.000Z' modified: '2024-02-23T10:02:44.000Z' section: Loans tags: - consumer advocates - payday lending - payday loans - predatory lending - pubdesk word_count: 255 canonical: https://money.com/how-payday-loans-left-man-50000-in-debt/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Cut Out A 100 dollar bill hanging on a fishing hook isolated on white background](https://img.money.com/2016/05/160519_ff_paydayloan1.jpg) A week after Google announced it was blocking payday lenders from its advertising platform, a group of community advocates is highlighting the story of a Kansas City man whose experience with payday lending was shockingly expensive, and, according to advocates, all too common. Elliott Clark's story started 13 years ago, when he took out five payday loans for a total of $2,500 after a medical emergency forced his wife out of work. The drop in income and $22,000 in medical bills that accrued left the Vietnam vet scrambling, and he turned to payday lenders. The situation had him making two $95 payments every month, on loans with principal balances of only $500. In the five years it took him to pay off the debt, Clark told the [*Kansas City Star*](http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article78174997.html) he racked up a whopping $50,000 in interest payments. He and his wife lost their home as a result. This is an all-too-typical outcome with payday loans, said the National Consumer Law Center. "Annual interest rates of 300% to 1,000%, or even higher, are often disguised by the structure of the loan," the group said in a [report](http://www.nclc.org/issues/high-cost-small-loans.html) about predatory lending. Communities Creating Opportunity is hosting Clark at the Moral Economy Summit the group is holding this week, [saying](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/moral-economy-summit-tickets-24938576955) it wants to enable people "to change the course of current economic policies that harm our communities." Clark told the *Star*, "Something has to be done. I’ve got no problem with businesses making a profit, but don’t take advantage of someone on their last legs." ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/how-payday-loans-left-man-50000-in-debt/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Loans", "item": "https://money.com/loans/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Bad Credit Loans", "item": "https://money.com/bad-credit-loans/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "How Payday Loans Of $2,500 Left One Man $50,000 In Debt" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/how-payday-loans-left-man-50000-in-debt/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/how-payday-loans-left-man-50000-in-debt/", "name": "How Payday Loans Of $2,500 Left One Man $50,000 In Debt", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2016-05-18T17:54:15.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/how-payday-loans-left-man-50000-in-debt/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/how-payday-loans-left-man-50000-in-debt/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-02-23T10:02:44.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "How Payday Loans Of $2,500 Left One Man $50,000 In Debt", "articleSection": "Loans", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2016/05/160519_ff_paydayloan1.jpg", "width": 2100, "height": 1400, "caption": "Cut Out A 100 dollar bill hanging on a fishing hook isolated on white background" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Martha C. White", "url": "https://money.com/author/martha-c-white/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/martha-c-white/#author", "image": "https://img.money.com/2014/01/martha.png?w=350&h=430&crop=1", "jobTitle": "Writer", "alumniOf": "BA, English, Princeton University", "worksFor": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2016-05-18T17:54:15.000Z", "description": "Consumer advocates highlight the story of Elliott Clark, a Vietnam vet whose $2,500 loan turned into a $50,000 debt.", "abstract": "Consumer advocates highlight the story of Elliott Clark, a Vietnam vet whose $2,500 loan turned into a $50,000 debt.", "@id": "https://money.com/how-payday-loans-left-man-50000-in-debt/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-02-23T10:02:44.000Z", "wordCount": 255, "keywords": [ "consumer advocates", "payday lending", "payday loans", "predatory lending", "pubdesk" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Loan", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loan" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Subprime lending", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subprime_lending" ] } ] } ] } ```