He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches... shall surely come to want (KJV): profit built on squeezing the poor is judged, not envied.
Proverbs 22:16A pattern, not a coincidence
Several very different products (payday loans, title loans, rent-to-own furniture, buy-here-pay-here car lots, multi-level marketing “opportunities”) share one business model: they are priced for, and marketed to, people who have the fewest alternatives and the least room to absorb a bad outcome. That is not an accident of the market; it is the model. Proverbs names the pattern directly: “he that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches… shall surely come to want” (Proverbs 22:16, KJV), and more directly still, “rob not the poor, because he is poor… for the LORD will plead their cause” (Proverbs 22:22-23, KJV). God takes the exploited party’s side. Knowing the mechanics of each product is how you avoid becoming the case study.
Payday and title loans
A typical two-week payday loan charges about $15 per $100 borrowed, which works out to an annual percentage rate (APR) of almost 400%, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. For comparison, even an expensive credit card usually runs 20-30% APR. The loan is marketed as a small, short-term bridge, but the fee structure means many borrowers re-borrow to cover the original fee, extending the cycle for months. Auto title loans work similarly but riskier: they use your car title as collateral, commonly carry annual rates above 250%, and a missed payment can mean losing your only way to get to work, a loss far larger than the amount originally borrowed.
Rent-to-own and buy-here-pay-here
Rent-to-own agreements let a buyer take furniture, appliances, or electronics home for weekly or monthly payments with no credit check: convenient, but the total paid by the end of the contract can run to two to three times the item’s retail price, sometimes more (Congressional Research Service). Buy-here-pay-here car dealerships, which finance the car themselves rather than through a bank, commonly mark up the vehicle’s price well above market and charge double-digit interest on top. Both products target buyers who can’t qualify for ordinary financing, and charge accordingly for that lack of options.
MLMs
Multi-level marketing companies recruit participants to sell products and recruit further sellers, promising income from both. A 2024 FTC staff report analyzing 70 MLM companies’ own income disclosure statements found that most participants made $1,000 a year or less, and in at least 17 of the 70 MLMs, most participants made nothing at all, with expenses frequently exceeding whatever income they did earn. The companies are not always frauds in a legal sense; the business math simply cannot pay meaningful income to more than a small fraction of participants, because each seller’s success typically depends on recruiting others below them who mostly fail the same way. Treat any pitch built around recruiting more sellers, rather than selling a product to genuine outside customers, as a warning sign regardless of who invited you, and note that “who invited you” is usually the point. An MLM pitch normally arrives through a friend, a relative, or someone from church, which is the same trusted-insider dynamic that makes affinity fraud work; see how scams work, and practise the moves in Scam Spotter.
Why the poor pay more, and what that means for you
Each of these products makes economic sense from the seller’s side precisely because the buyer has few other options: no savings for an emergency, no credit history for a bank loan, no cash for a car outright. The absence of a cushion is what makes the expensive option the only available one in the moment, which is exactly why an emergency fund and a clean credit history matter as much as they do: they are what keep you from ever needing a 400% APR bridge loan or a heavily marked-up car. If you are ever tempted to profit from someone else’s lack of alternatives (as a lender, an employer, or an MLM upline), Proverbs 22:22-23 is not abstract. Read it as a warning with your own name in it, not just theirs. The fuller biblical case, including why many readers treat Nehemiah 5 as Scripture’s payday-lending passage, is at poverty, justice, and care for the poor.
Before you go
Check yourself
1What do payday loans, title loans, rent-to-own and buy-here-pay-here all share?
One business model: they are priced for, and marketed to, people who have the fewest alternatives and the least room to absorb a bad outcome. That is not an accident of the market; it is the model.
2What did the FTC's 2024 staff report find across 70 MLM companies' own income disclosures?
Most participants made $1,000 a year or less, and in at least 17 of the 70, most participants made nothing at all, with expenses frequently exceeding whatever income they did earn.
3These products are expensive because their borrowers are risky, so the pricing is simply economics. Where does that stop being true?
When the lack of alternatives is the product. Proverbs 22:22-23 forbids robbing the poor because he is poor and says the LORD will plead their cause. If you ever lend, hire, price or rent, read it as a warning with your own name in it, not just the storefront's.
Do this now
Look up the actual APR on any short-term credit within reach of your household (a payday storefront, a rent-to-own contract, a buy-here-pay-here lot) and write it beside your credit card's rate. Then note what an emergency fund would have to hold to make that option unnecessary.