Google announced it would no longer include ads for payday lenders— financial services that offer short-term, small-dollar loans, often with triple-digit interest rates — to protect “users from deceptive or harmful financial products.” All the while in the U.S., Google’s parent company is investing in a startup that offers loans with annual percentage rates as high as 600%. LendUp actually refers to itself as a “payday loan alternative,” but as the Wall Street Journal notes, it offers loans with terms as short of seven days that have annual rates in line with traditional payday lenders. Thus, by Google’s recently announced rules, paid ads for these LendUp products will be barred from Google search results starting July 13 — Consumerist
