Concern in regards to the increasing utilization of payday financing led the united kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority to introduce landmark reforms in 2014/15. While these reforms have actually generally speaking been welcomed as an easy way of curbing ‘extortionate’ and ‘predatory’ lending, this paper presents an even more nuanced image according to a theoretically-informed analysis for the development and nature of payday financing along with initial and rigorous qualitative interviews with clients. We argue that…