"Get your title loan here. ... Cash your pay check here. ... Get a pay advance here. ..."

Gee, banks, credit unions, savings and loans and even pawnshops used to be where people needing to borrow money and cash checks sought help.

Most people still do but more people are turning to these high-interest, quick-repay places for a reason.

That reason is more troubling than Decatur having so many of these shops. Sixth Avenue Southeast has 21, and 15 are in other parts of town.

The signs compete for customers. Some blink at you, some woo you with garish colors and some simply offer the best deals in town.

But there are no best deals at these businesses. Their business is predicated on people with bad credit or poor credit coming in for cash. And some are counting on these customers being not financially able to reclaim their car titles. In many cases, an automobile is about all they own.

Owners rightly argue that they are meeting a need in the city. Many can't cash checks at banks because they have no checking or saving accounts.

How sad.

It is easy to write off the phenomena as a result of massive immigration of people from Mexico and Central American countries. But there are other reasons loan companies are flourishing. For example, you cannot be illegal and get a title loan.

While Decatur's median income continues to rise, more people are falling into poverty. Decatur has 51 percent of its elementary school students classified as poor.

Fourteen percent of Morgan County residents live in poverty, with countless others living on the financial edge and ineligible for traditional loans.

Thirty-four percent of Decatur students were eligible for free or reduced school lunches in 1997. Ten years later that number is 51 percent.

The 17 percent jump over a decade, and the proliferation of payday loan operations, suggests more people simply can't keep up.

Let's find out why and reverse these disturbing trends.

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