Google banning payday loan ads

Google is banning payday loan ads which require borrowers to pay back money within 60 days, as well as ads for loans with an annual percentage rate (APR) of 36% or more. As of July 13, they won't be seen on sites served by AdSense, or at least they'll be seen less (Google says it will monitor the effectiveness). Advertisements for mortgage loans, car loans, student loans, commercial loans, and credit lines won't be affected.

The company states such services and advertisements are predatory and can result in borrowers ending up in a worse financial situation than before they took out the loan, a sentiment echoed by others.

"This new policy addresses many of the longstanding concerns shared by the entire civil rights community about predatory payday lending," says Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. "These companies have long used slick advertising and aggressive marketing to trap consumers into outrageously high interest loans - often those least able to afford it."

Google says it has disabled more than 780 million "bad ads" in 2015 alone.