Judy Poston, a predatory-lending educator at a Seattle-based social-services agency, sees them all too frequently — clients who have gotten themselves into deeper financial trouble by relying on payday loans for a quick fix.

"They get into a cycle of debt that's impossible for them to get out of," said Poston, who works for Seattle's Fremont Public Association.

Poston doesn't contend that payday lenders are entirely to blame for her clients' problems. But she's troubled by the lack of controls that allow lenders to issue new payday loans without knowing how many outstanding payday loans a borrower already has.

She has in mind borrowers like Ericka, a 30-year-old single mom with two kids who took out her first payday loan last March after seeing a TV ad. Erika needed money, she said, to help her move into a new apartment.

Ericka, who asked that her last name not be used, makes about $30,000 a year as a clerk in a health-care facility. When she had trouble paying back the first payday lender on time, she went to a different lender to pay back the original loan.

That pattern repeated itself until she owed more than $5,200 to 13 separate payday lenders and was paying almost $900 a month in fees. Eventually, she went to see Poston for counseling.

Poston suggested that Erika get help from her family. A relative of Erika's loaned her $4,000, reducing her payday-lender debt to $1,495.

"Hopefully, I'll be done with them [payday lenders] in May," Ericka said.

Peter Lewis: 206-464-2217 or plewis@seattletimes.com