The media has been telling people about how easy it is to get a payday loan where you can get an unsecured until your next payday. What most people do not realize until it is too late is that a payday loan is actually a very expensive form of credit. This article would therefore explain how payday loans work and why they can be very expensive for the borrower.



Payday Loans are unsecured loans which charge high interest for short periods of lending. Many people seem to flock to them to tide over their credit card debts until their next payday thus the name. Other names for payday loans include cash advance loans, check advance loans or deferred deposit check loans.

What usually happens when a borrower signs up for a payday loan is that they write a personal check to the lender for the amount plus a fee. The company then gives the borrower the amount of the check less the fee. This fee is usually a portion of the loan sum.

Thus we can see that a payday loan secured by a personal check is a very expensive form of credit. A simple loan of $100 would cost you $115 for 14 days and depending on your contract, it may then increase to $160 later if you choose to roll over the loan. It would therefore be prudent of the borrower to choose a lender of a payday loan that charges you the least annual percentage rate (APR) or in other words the cost of credit provided to you on a yearly basis.

In conclusion, payday loans while popular, represent a very expensive form of credit. If you should decide on taking up a payday loan, you should consider spending some time shopping around and looking for the payday loan finance company with the lowest APR so as to reduce the amount of fees you would have to pay come your next payday.