As a former loan shark....

Sure, the APR is really high - because these are people who are a bad credit risk to traditional finance.

When these types of "Speedy Cash" places are regulated to a max of some ridiculously low max rate, like 30%, they simply cannot stay in business because the clients have either no credit (rare) or horrible credit (normal; scores in the 300s) and the business will see a very high skip rate - ours was close to 20%.

So in the end, you will see either loan sharks step up and offer cash loans on the side, or simply having these people not get a needed loan.

In the video, the fictional "single mom" would not be able to get a loan and would thus get her car towed and lost to abandonment, lose her job, and end up in Section 8 housing or homeless. All because charging $40 to someone who hasn't paid their bills in 6 months is considered "exploitative" of the poor.