Forget the negative stereotypes of people who need a pay day advance.With home foreclosures more than doubling, high fuel prices, overseas investments suffering and credit interest rates rising, more and more average middle-class individuals are turning to a pay advance to avoid penalties, cover unanticipated expenses and regain control.

It's a common misconception that a pay day advance is or "the poorest of the poor." However, pay advance companies have certain criterion for borrowers: you must be receiving a regular pay cheque and have direct deposit, you must have a bank account and you must be 18. Many of the extremely poor don't have a financial institution or regular cheques deposited.

We're finding that the UK pay day advance borrowers have similar profiles to American borrowers. In a 2000 US Census Report, 22% of the borrowers hold a bachelor's degree from college. More than two-thirds of the people surveyed had an annual income of at least $25,555 and a savings account. Additionally, 51% of those surveyed had a retirement savings plan.

Similarly, half of the Canadian pay advance borrowers surveyed by the Canadian Payday Loan Association had post-secondary education and more than half worked full-time. The majority of borrowers took $300 or less to meet their short term financial needs.

In Manchester, working class adults worry about how thinly stretched their finances are. Each week it seems like they're just barely scraping by and their pay cheques are "already spent before they come." They wonder what would happen if their car were to suddenly break down or something. These people would need to turn to a pay day advance to get them out of their immediate rut, allowing more time to adjust finances.

A typical payday advance customer is between 25 - 40 years of age with an annual income of $25,000 - $50,000. Teachers, civil servants, corporate employees and students have all used payday advances as a solution to a short-term financial emergency.

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