“Mass-mailing checks to strangers might seem like risky business, but Mariner Finance occupies a fertile niche in the U.S. economy. The company enables some of the nation’s wealthiest investors and investment funds to make money offering high-interest loans to cash-strapped Americans.” Street-corner payday lending shops have been curtailed a bit over the past few years, so private equity firms have come up with a new way to rip-off the most vulnerable among us. From WaPo: A way of monetizing poor people: How private equity firms make money offering loans to cash-strapped Americans.