Ho ho ho. Bloomberg's onto a big one here. Check it out. Then check out part 2. Payday lenders figured out that they could call small business loans "cash advances" and circumvent loansharking laws. Then they figured out that in doing so, in New York, they were allowed to build confessions of judgement and agreements to hold disputes in NY courts into their loan boiler plate fine print. So basically, when you sign for the loan in any state, you agree to let the case go to NY courts and you agree to plead guilty ahead of time so it doesn't even have to go to a judge and you don't even get a court date. A clerk just stamps the loan document. Even better? Thanks to a bizarre quirk of old Dutch Poundage Law from back when New York was New Amsterdam, the damn New York City government has 35 "city marshals" who are appointed, and who collect debts ordered collected court clerks and are allowed to keep a percentage (5%). They can simply demand that banks empty their accounts and hand them over. Guess who's making big bucks all of the sudden? And the city's reach is nationwide...