How does gaining access to expensive credit affect the well-being of creditconstrained households? I use plausibly exogenous zip code-level variation in the temporal accessibility of payday loans to examine the causal effects of access to payday loans on household well-being. Using suicide attempts and deaths as a measure for household distress, I find detrimental effects from payday loans; that is, having access to payday loans substantially increases suicide risk. The dynamic analyses show that there is no existing trend during the pre-payday periods; however, a sharp increase in attempted suicides emerges only after gaining access to payday loans. Further analyses show that the effects are significant only among people who are effectively eligible for payday loans—the employed and those with private insurance—especially in zip codes with a high share of finance-constrained households. Finally, increased suicide risk in zip codes with access to payday loans appears to be related to mental health deterioration from financial distress.

JEL Codes: D14, D18, G23, G28, I31

Keywords: Credit Access, Payday Loan, Household Finance, Well-being, Suicide Risk