Payday loans are decidedly not the most popular thing in American finance, but Google might hold them in a lower estimate than Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders speaking candidly after a few bangs.

By American banker:

Google executive compared payday loans to tobacco, guns and porn on Wednesday while justifying the tech giant’s move to ban ads for short-term, high-cost consumer credit .

It’s, uh, an “intriguing” business. Do you want to explain how you got there, Google?

“We do not allow advertisements for products that we believe to be excessively dangerous,” said Vijay Padmanabhan, policy adviser at Google.

But before jumping all over the Googleplex to be willy-nilly with what is “harmful,” it’s worth clarifying that Google has calculated the numbers from its own risk assessment of loan products.

Seriously…

Under the new policy, Google does not accept ads in the United States for personal loans with annual percentage rates above 36%. The company also prohibits advertisements for personal loans with full repayment due within 60 days.
“While users really need small loans, they don’t really need short-term loans,” Padmanabhan said.
“Research shows that most payday loan borrowers can only afford to give up about 5% of their next paycheck. And that makes sense, right? If you have savings, you don’t take out payday loans. don’t have any savings, so how are you going to be able to part with more than 5% of your next check? So the reality is that although these products are marketed as short term products, users use them in such a way as to make them long term products. “

But this figure of 36%, why?

At one point, Padmanabhan was asked why the company opted for the benchmark of 36%.
“When you choose a number like that, there is a bit of arbitrariness,” he admitted.

Well, a lot of times porn too.

Google Exec mentions payday loans, porn, guns in same breath [American Banker]