Increasing numbers of people are finding themselves so close to the financial brink that they must borrow against future wages just to cover the costs of everyday life. Over the past half century, the purchasing power of wages have fallen while access to credit has risen, causing credit to replace wages for an increasing number of purchases. Meanwhile, personal savings have fallen steadily from their 1970's peak. The effect of this dependence on credit is that the average American has very little financial leeway when something unpredictable happens or just needs to scrape together enough money to pay monthly expenses. Those expenses lead to 75% of payday borrowing.