Most of us at one time or another will encounter a short-term financial situation that needs the injection of some cash to resolve. Maybe you need such a small amount of money that it does not make sense borrowing it over a long period, but the lenders will not allow you to borrow money for such a small amount of time. So what are you to do now, if your car is in need of repair and you have not got the money to repair it? This is where payday loans come in.
A payday loan is designed to help people overcome short-term problems; as such they are only available for small amounts up to £750. However some lenders will actually restrict the amount that you can borrow the first time that you apply. Once the loan is repaid in its entirety on your next payday, they will then allow you to borrow more the next time you need any money. The lenders fees are simple and straight forward with a simple percentage added to the amount that you borrow. This means that you know exactly what the loan will cost you to repay, even before you apply, because there are no other hidden costs or admin fees.
On successful completion of your loan the money is normally paid into your bank account on the same day that you apply, quite often without the need of any faxes or post. However in some cases where the lender is unable to confirm your details automatically they will request that you fax in some simple documentation to prove you are who you say you are.
The lenders do what they can to make sure that they will only lend money to people who they think are able to repay them on their next payday. They do this because if you repay the loan on full at the end of the month then a payday loan is a viable option. However if you roll the loan over to another month or more, then you may as well have taken out a more long-term loan in the first place as that would then become a more cost effective alternative.
So why do payday loans get so much bad publicity?
The main reason that payday loans get as much bad publicity is because most people only look as far as the advertised APR (Annual Percentage Rate). What they should be doing is looking at what the loan is going to cost them in real terms, by looking at the total interest that is charged.
So what is APR?
The APR is the interest rate and any other charges expressed as an annual interest rate charge. The use of an APR is a useful way of comparing loans that are alike i.e. paid back over a longer period of time. But when you are comparing products which are miles apart such like payday loans with only one repayment or any other loan type that is repaid over numerous monthly repayments.
See the details below which should make it easier for you to understand this;
With a personal loan for £500 which has an APR of 19.9% taken out for 36 months will cost a total of £653 to repay; this equates to 31% being added to the cost of the loan in interest charges.
If you were to take out the exact same loan but this time for 60 months it would cost a total £766 to repay the loan; this equates to an interest charge or 53% of the loan amount.
Yet if you were to take out a payday loan for the same amount it would only cost you £625 to repay at an APR of 1737%; this equates to 25% being added in the way of interest.
As you can see from the examples detailed above the APR for the two multiple repayment loans are exactly the same, yet the amount repaid and the actual interest charged expressed as a percentage of the amount borrowed is significantly different. They both also cost much more than a payday loan yet the APR indicates a totally different story.
So if you need a small amount of cash to overcome a short-term financial issue ignore the APR and look at what the loan will actually cost you. You will then see that a payday loan is in fact a very competitive option indeed.
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