The people ate Mint.com recently posted up a great infographic on how companies take advantage of people who are low-income by offering up services that, in the end, cause people to fall into greater debt and lock them into absurdly high interest rates.

We at United Way of King County care particularly about making sure people who are low-income are able to build income and avoid paying fees when they don’t need to.  Every year, we run our Free Tax Campaign, which lets people not pay for tax-filing services and also makes sure they maximize their returns.  We also provide a number of services to make sure that people who do get tax refunds don’t need to go to pay-day loan sites to get their check cashed.

Check out the infographic below.  It’s a stark reminder of how easy it is for someone to dig themselves into a financial ditch by relying on certain companies.