Things to Consider before getting a Payday Loan
Finding a payday loan
provider has never been easier. Go to your favorite search
engine and enter "PaydayLoan". You'll find that the popular
search engines will return millions of indexed pages. The
choices of websites about payday loans are emence. This can only
add confusion to an already stressfull time for you.
You may have had an unexpected event or made some poor choices
which has caused your cash shortage and financial stress. Now
more than ever, you need to be very careful when choosing a
payday loan provider. Your stress and anxiety over your finances
can lead to poor choices in payday loan providers.
Be very careful when making your payday loan purchase. A number
of considerations need to be made when looking for these types
of short term loans. Payday loans should only be considered as a
SHORT TERM solution to your financial crisis.
You need to understand the ramifications of this type of loan.
These are high risk, short term loans made by finance companies,
check cashers,and banks. Because of the high risk, no collateral
nature of the loan, you will be required to pay a very high
interest rate. Some annual percentage interest rates can easily
exceed 460%.
1) How much will the loan cost?
As an example, if you were to make a $500 loan with a company
who charges you a fee of $20 per $100 borrowed, you would be
required to pay $100 every 2 weeks in interest fees. If it takes
you 1 year to pay back the payday loan, it would cost you $3100
in interest and principle. This is an extreme example but I
wanted to give you the truth regarding the costs of payday
loans.
With this in mind, the first consideration that needs to be made
before you get your payday loan or even fill out any
applications is, "How much does it cost?"
2) Who am I giving my financial information to?
There are a myriad of sites on the web offering payday loans or
appearing to offer their loan services to you. Not all websites
asking for your personal financial information are actual payday
loan providers. Some are lead generating sites for the payday
loan industry. Or even worse, they may be bogus sites looking
for for your personal financial information for their own
illegal use.
Again, I am not trying to scare you. I just want you to be well
aware of the pitfalls that can be associated with giving your
personal financial information to unknown identities. Most
websites will tell you if their are the actual payday lender.
They will either tell you on their home page or on their FAQ
page. Please keep in mind, that payday loan providers can and
will have mulitple websites selling their services. So, do not
be alarmed if you see multiple websites that have similar
content or have a familiar feel to them.
3) What are the minimum requirements for the payday loan?
Payday loan providers will give you their minimum requirements
for their services. Employment, income, checking account,
citizenery, age, and other requirements that may apply.
Make sure you meeting all requirements before you apply for the
payday loan. Many providers enter applicants into a data base.
This data base is shared and used by many lenders. Mulitple
applications can have an effect on whether your payday loan
application is accepted.
4) How much is the maximum payday loan available?
You'll find payday loan sites offering $200, $500, or even $1500
payday loans. Due to the high risk nature of payday loans, do
not expect to receive the maximum loan amount on your first
loan. You will not be given the max loan until you have proven
to the payday loan provider your trustworthiness. This is
usually proven after you have completed mulitple loans. They
will slowly bump up your available loan amount only after they
are convinced their risk has been reduced. This is no different
than any other type of loan or credit card. More credit is made
available once you have proven yourself.
5) How much does the payday loan cost?
This is where you should be very carefull. Finance may or may
not be listed on the provider's website. Fees will range
anywhere from $10 - $30 per $100 borrowed.
If they the interest are not listed on the website and they only
offer that they are lower than overdraft fees and late charges,
they most likely charge $25 to $30 per $100 borrowed.
The industry trend for online payday loan providers offering
cheaper loan rates is changing. You may now see they no longer
offer no credit check payday loans. Again, it is all due to the
risk you present to them. By checking your credit, they can
predetermine your credit risk. Even though they charge lower
rates, you may not be able to get a payday loan through them
because of your poor credit.
No credit check payday loan providers will normally charge you
$20 to $30 per $100 borrowed.
6) What are their repayment terms?
I cannot stress this enough, you should only borrow what you
need and only what you can afford to pay back on your very next
payday.
Payday loan providers will normally have multiple payment terms.
Make sure you are very clear on what they are and what
requirements they may have before you complete their online
payday loan application.
- You can payoff your loan on your next payday. Some providers
may require you to complete and fax them your written
authorization to withdraw the funds on the agreed upon due date.
They may even automatically withdraw the entire amount
(including interest fees) on your next payday. Unless you
require an extension.
- If you need to extend your loan, they will require you to log
on to your account and complete a new contract if you wish to
extend your loan. If you are short on cash, most if not all,
lenders with gladly allow you to extend your loan. In this case,
the interest fess will be automatically be debited from your
checking account.
- You may also have the option of paying down your loan. You
extend your loan and pay a percentage of the principle loan
amount. Some payday loan providers will do this automatically or
you need to request this be done. This option is recommended if
you are unable to completely pay your loan off.
Hopefully, this paper will help you in making a better payday
loan provider choice. This is not intended as financial advice.
Its only intent is to help you make a better, more educated
choice when considering a payday loan.