Quote of the Day 8/16/17 - Oklahoma Policy Institute

“This was about survival. And once I got stuck in it, I couldn’t get out of it. The only way I could get out of that cycle, the cycle of predatory lending, was to finally declare bankruptcy. We should not set up scenarios where somebody can have a financial train wreck in their life.”

– Elise Robillard, a long-term substitute teacher in Norman, on the effects of turning to payday loans. Robillard says she took out between 90 and 110 short-term loans, many to pay off previous debt. About 1 in 8 Oklahoma adults has taken out a payday loan, the highest usage rate in the nation (Source)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ryan Gentzler worked at OK Policy from January 2016 until November 2022. He last served as the organization's Reserach Director and oversaw Open Justice Oklahoma. He began at OK Policy as an analyst focusing on criminal justice issues, including sentencing, incarceration, court fines and fees, and pretrial detention. Open Justice Oklahoma grew out of Ryan’s groundbreaking analysis of court records, which was used to inform critical policy debates. A native Nebraskan, he holds a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Oklahoma and a BA in Institutions and Policy from William Jewell College. He served as an OK Policy Research Fellow in 2014-2015.

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