Payday Loans-How Do They Work?
Payday loans have been around ever since there were people with money to loan and people who wanted to borrow money. Sometimes they were called loan sharks, sometimes pawn brokers and today they are called payday loan stores.
Payday loans are small, unsecured loans granted over a short period of time. Depending on state regulations, payday loans can be for as little as $100 to as much as $1500 and are typically paid back over a period of 7 to 30 days. They are designed to provide emergency funding for expenses that need to be paid before the next paycheck arrives.
When people with good credit find themselves in a cash crunch before payday, they will use their credit card to cover the shortfall. However, people with no credit or bad credit have little choice in how to come up with cash on short notice. Payday loans provide the financial backup that credit cards do for people with good credit. So if the loans are providing a value to people who would otherwise have no access to credit, why do so many people think they are a rip off?
When a person is charged over 500% APR for a loan, many people will call it a rip off. Consumer advocates say the rates charged are usurous and unsupported. The industry says it needs the rates to cover the 25% default rate and the cost of running businesses in depressed areas. As a practical matter, a payday loan can cost $30 for every $100 borrowed. Couple this high rate with the fact that most of the payday loan locations are in poor neighborhoods, and it would appear that they are predatory lenders.
How do payday loan companies get away with such high interest rates? Who would agree to those kinds of terms? 83% of the payday shops are located within 1/4 mile of distressed communities. Compare that to 51% of credit unions and only 34% of banks. Payday loans can charge that kind of interest because nobody else is serving that community. The poor in this country are sometimes referred to as the unbanked. That is to say the banking industry does little to provide them with the same services as they do wealthier consumers.
Conventional banks are not competing for this lucrative lending market, yet. The loan amounts are too small and the turn around is too short. Also payday loan companies have made applying and approval exceptionally easy compared to a bank application and approval process. With a payday loan the applicant simply has to verify his ID, have a checking account, and have proof of employment. Applications are usually approved same day and the funds are wired to the applicant’s bank the next day.
It would not be surprising to discover some banks planning to enter this lucrative market at some point in time. Today however, they do not serve this market in any significant way. Payday loan customers actually see the loans as their safety net. When the $100 utility bill is due four days before you get paid, where else can you go to get the cash to cover it. The $30 that the $100 loan will cost is just the cost of doing business. Paycheck loan customers do not view these loans as an ongoing resource but rather a one time expense.
With unemployment nearly at 10%, payday loans are now tapping into a new market via the internet. Scores of payday loan companies are now reaching the formerly good credit customers who now find that there credit has taken a dive and are unable to obtain conventional lending. Online loans work the same way as the shop loans and are fast, convenient and offer the financial support that is not available otherwise.
As a one time deal to get over a temporary shortfall in cash, the payday loan can be useful if it is paid back in full at the end of the term. Where people get into trouble is they only pay the interest and stretch out the term of the loan. That interest can quickly become more than the loan amount itself. If you are considering such a loan, be sure you fully understand the terms and conditions.