Are payday lenders and similar alternate credit sources irredeemable loan sharks or providers or an essential service?

Ashton de Silva is an associate professor and economist at RMIT University. He has published a discussion paper titled Housing deprivation or financial debt: betwixt the devil and the deep blue sea?, which details how changing lending rules to restrict access to financial services could deprive low-income people of home basics like whitegoods, furniture and internet access.