How Do Payday Loans Work Blog

Despite growing pressure for more regulations, big banks are getting into payday loan type of products to steal a chunk of the $35 billion dollar a year industry.  Banks like Wells Fargo and US Bankcorp are throwing their hats into the ring in hopes of generating additional revenue and will be marketing their triple digit APR products to their own checking account customers.

Some of the consumer watchdog groups are crying foul at this move as they believe the high interest rates and tactics used to market payday loans products would skirt state laws and enable banks to sell these products even though they could be harmful to some people.
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While surfing the web today I came across an interesting cartoon showing other short term services like video rentals, taxi cabs, and even hotel rooms quoting their prices with an annual percentage rate, or APR. The cartoon was quite funny as it showed what a person would pay for a service like movie rental if the company quoted the price based on what it would cost the person annually regardless if they used it that long or not.  The cartoon was intending to show how absurd it would be to use such a calculation, but yet it’s done everyday for short term loans.
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Cash advance loans are very popular these days.  Both consumers trying to get cash loans, and critics trying to get them regulated.  Both sides have been making points and arguments that are both for and against short term loans. Short term loans are usually loans that are paid back within a couple of weeks, or the next payday.  Thus the reason short term loans are often called cash advance payday loans.  These loans are setup for a small amount, and the money needs to be paid back in full within the short period allowed.  Typically, these loans have a set fee with them, and they don’t charge interest.
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Many people today are finding themselves in a cash crunch. With so many people trying to get cash and loans and many banks not willing to loan money at this time, it’s no wonder that Americans are forced to look for alternative sources of funding like payday loans or cash advance.  These loans are typically smaller, short term loans, and usually don’t have the same requirements or procedures in order to get obtain one.  The fact is that these loans are appealing to many people because they don’t require credit checks, most of the time no employment verification, and money is deposited directly into a bank within hours.
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The Obama administration announced Thursday April, 23 2009 that they will be looking into credit card companies and trying to put in place some legislation that will help to curb some of the fine print, unannounced interest rate changes, and yes the biggest headache for many Americans, the high late fees that are charge to accounts with a payment due that is 3 times less that the fee charged.  All we can say is that it’s about time.
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There have been many reports and news over the past few weeks about Congress capping payday loans.  However, there have been a lot of number flying around with these reports, but many of the numbers are just plain wrong, or inaccurate to say the least.  The reason is that many of the critics for payday loans like to use the term APR, or annual percentage rate. This is the formula for calculating long term loans, and what a person pays annually on them given their length of payments. 
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Getting a payday loan or cash advance can be somewhat nerve racking.  Seeing the high fees, interests, and other options are just about enough to make any person want to throw their arms up and quit.  However, having some good tools and education is a good way to not feel overwhelmed.  Resources like the ones found on this blog, as well as others, can help expand your knowledge about the various types of loans and how they can be effective for you.  The following tool is our payday loan A.P.R. calculator that helps to determine how much interest a person would pay for a short-term loan.  Once a person knows how much interest they will pay for the loan, they are able to examine the options and see what the best solution would be for them.

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