A Great Idea
Cheers to The Orange County Teachers Federal Credit Union. They are now offering a tool to help people break from the "Payday Lender Cycle"

Many payday lenders charge exorbitant rates and fees for paycheck advances. Our Payroll Savings Loan provides a lower-cost alternative to payday lenders and offers a quick and confidential way for Members to get a cash advance until their next paycheck. Funds can be used for just about anything, such as bills, groceries, and more. By providing a more cost-effective way to get a paycheck advance, we hope to help Members avoid a repetitive payday loan borrowing cycle.

The best part of this tool is the 5% of each advance is put into a Savings Account. That money is locked up for 12 months (the maximum amount of time this tool can be used). After that the consumer should have a good emergency fund and have broken the paydayloan cycle.

I was stuck in this for years and it's great that Credit Unions are offering tools to help people break free. Quitting cold-turkey and eating top-ramen until these are paid back is the best way. But this is an alternative (a nicotine patch for paydayloans!)