Payday loan providers have been around for twenty years or so, and in that time their growth rate has been exponential for one reason alone: The services they provide are a huge, undeniable, legal scam. With interest rates that far exceed the maximum rates most loan providers are allowed to charge, payday lenders skirt around regulations to charge up to 1,900 percent interest a year. As one person on the “Last Week Tonight” clip put it, it’s as though being a loan shark is legal in the U.S.

Watch John Oliver and comedian Sarah Silverman explain why you need to avoid them at all costs.

—Posted by Natasha Hakimi Zapata