Money is essential to our lives. It is always needed to make ends meet. Simply stated, we cannot do without it in some form or fashion,

Sometimes though, life rears its ugly head – usually through a crisis. We call these emergencies. Hopefully, when these come, you have saved enough in an emergency fund to make it through the financial struggle.

But what if you haven’t? What if there is no money available to you? What if you are so deep in debt, you can’t see a way out? When you are deprived of cash and trapped in a financial calamity, it’s hard to know the right way out. It is an awful scenario.

When you get in this tight of a spot, it’s easy to just spend your days and nights waiting for a miracle to happen. But you have to make some wise decisions and hunt for a resolution to the situation. Being depressed and frustrated is not the solution.

In times like this, some people have turned to securing a payday loan to help them out. This article will share the benefits and risks of this method to help get you out of your crisis.

What are Payday Loans?

Payday loans are short-termed loans. They are used for borrowing small debts for a short period of time, usually for $500 or less. You can usually find them via storefront lenders or online.

Payday loans are most often paid back in one single payment when the borrower receives their next paycheck. They serve as a bridge to cover expenses until you get paid again. The repayment date is usually set two to four weeks from when the loan was made.

If you use a payday loan for your genuine needs and pay it back to the lender according to an agreement, you will definitely be going to have a more positive and fruitful experience. Payday loans do have many controversies linked to them though. So, in order to get benefit from them, you should have to be familiar with both the positive and negative impacts of these loans.

Advantages of Payday Loans

The primary benefit of a payday loan is that you can get fast financial assistance for a short period of time. Some of their advantages are:

No hard and fast terms and conditions required. It sounds so appealing for people in trouble because they do not have time to waste in long and document verifications, faxing or paper procedures.

Easy to access.Payday loans are easily accessible and available to every person. Fast payday loan lenders should not bother about your financial background or credit score.

24/7 customer care service. You won’t have to follow typical bank hours, as online payday loan services are available 24/7. You can approach these websites anywhere, anytime with just a single click. Customer care representatives are always there for financial assistance.

100% secured procedure. Payday loan lenders secure your information. It will remain confidential. Their modern encryption technologies will protect your information and keep it secure.

On the spot approval of the loan. No matter what is your financial background, these loans will be approved quickly soon after your verification.

Online availability of payday loans.Payday loans are very handy because the borrower does not need to go anywhere and search for a loan. They can be found easily online. So many lenders have online websites. You just have to visit these websites and select the appropriate option for yourself. All procedures from the beginning till the end will take place online.

Disadvantages of Payday Loans

When there are so many positive aspects, there must be some cons as well. Everything has its positive and negative features and so do payday loans have. Some of the downsides of payday loans are given below.

Elevated APR and interest rates. This is by far the biggest disadvantage when it comes to payday loans. These kind of loans are much more expensive because interest rates tend to be extremely high. The highest interest on credit cards for example average 28-36 APR%. An average APR of a payday loan is 300 – 500 times more than a regular loan.

Payday loan encourages cycle-of-debts. When a person is unable to return the money by the fixed date, they incur more debt. They will most likely have to take out another loan to repay the previous one. This just sinks them further into debt. The further they go into debt, the tougher the cycle will be to break.

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No de-commitment period. Once you sign the paperwork, there is no backing out. With many bank loans there is a period where you can de-commit from the loan if you have second thoughts. You won’t get this with most payday lenders.

Access to bank account. Some payday lenders want/require access to your bank account. If they don’t get paid, they may try to pull funds from your account. This could result in overdraft charges billed to you for having insufficient funds in your account.

Damage to your credit. Payday loans can be damaging to your credit. This will happen when you can’t pay them back. Ultimately, they could refer you to a collection agency. If that happened, it would be something extremely hard to get your credit score positive again.

What to consider before taking out a payday loan?

Payday loans have a lot of risk. They can be a debt trap that you have a really hard time getting out of. There are better ways to get out of debt and handle life’s emergencies.

Related Content: Emergency Fund Basics: The Step on Which All Other Success Is Built

However, if you choose to go this route make sure you:

•    Are aware of the consequences and how a specific loan works

•    Know the terms and conditions set by the lender

•    Understand what the penalty for the non-repayment is

To read more about them, you can visit this article at Debt.org.

Share a Comment Below: Have you ever taken out a payday loan before? What was your experience? What are the other benefits and risks of payday loans?