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Have you ever wondered what exactly is up with
advance cash payday pay day loan payday loans
Payday Loans are the World's Most Expensive Cash If someone told you that they would lend you $500 today if you repaid them with $5000 a year from now, would you take it? What if the repayment amount were only $2500? Would that strike you as a good deal? This may sound like an insane amount to repay on a small loan, but that, in effect, is what thousands of consumers do every day when they take out a payday loan.
Payday loans, also known as cash advance or quick cash loans, are short term loans that typically last about two weeks. In exchange for borrowing relatively small sums ranging from $100-500, the borrower pays a fee that can range from $10-40 per $100 borrowed for the two-week loan. The borrower writes a postdated check for the borrowed sum plus the fee, which the lender may cash two weeks later.
These fees may seem relatively small, but when viewed as an annual percentage rate, they actually amount to anywhere between 250-1000% per year. That's an astronomical amount of interest in a world where a credit card loan at 25% is considered to be high. And yet, the payday loan business is thriving and there are now some 23,000 stores in America that offer some form of these cash advance loans.
Why do people take out such loans? The primary reasons are convenience and a lack of better alternatives. These stores are now so common that there are often several of them on a single block. They don't do credit checks and they will lend money to pretty much anyone with a steady job. And the borrowers tend to be people who do not have access to other borrowing options, such as credit cards, friends with money or a local credit union that offers short term loans.
Defenders of these financial products say that they are simply offering a product that the public wants. That may very well be true, as these businesses are doing very well. What remains to be answered is whether the public really wants to borrow money at 500% per year. In all likelihood, they are doing so only because they cannot find a less expensive option. Anyone who needs a short term loan is more than welcome to go to a payday loan store to get one. But any potential borrowers should realize that they making use of one of the world's most expensive forms of lending.
About the author:
Copyright 2006 by Retro Marketing. Charles Essmeier is the owner of Retro Marketing, a firm devoted to informational Websites, including End-Your-Debt.com, a site devoted to establishing credit, debt consolidation and credit counseling.
More Useful Resource and Updates on advance cash payday pay day loan payday loans
- Check Cashers, Redeemed (New York Times)
Many low-income Americans were wary of banks even before the latest round of failures and takeovers. Is a semi-reformed payday lender the right guy to bring the urban poor into the banking system?
- Election Results Force Cash America to Make Tough Decisions (Business Wire via Yahoo! Finance)
FORT WORTH, Texas----Votes to repeal a portion of Ohio?s new short-term loan statute fell short of the amount necessary to leave the existing cash advance product in place for Ohio consumers.
- Pay Day Lending (WKBN 27 Youngstown)
Ohio voters overwhelmingly said yes to Issue 5 Tuesday night, a bill that would keep the cap on the amount of interest payday loan businesses could charge. But the bill still comes with a price.
- Check Into Cash to keep Ohio, Arizona stores open (Chattanooga Times Free Press)
Check Into Cash, the nation?s biggest privately held payday lender, will keep its Ohio and Arizona stores open despite votes this week to outlaw current payday lending in those states over the next couple of years.
- Cash America to close 43 payday loan shops in Ohio (AP via Yahoo! Finance)
Payday lender and pawn shop operator Cash America International Inc. said Wednesday it will to close about one-third of its Ohio lending locations in the next few months, after voters in the state chose to maintain new payday loan restrictions.
- Pay Day Lending (WYTV Youngstown)
Ohio voters overwhelmingly said yes to Issue 5 last night, a bill that would keep the cap on the amount of interest payday loan businesses could charge.
- Cash America to close 43 Ohio loan shops (Fort Worth Business Press)
Payday lender and pawn shop operator Cash America International Inc. announced on Nov. 5 that it will close about one-third of its Ohio lending locations, after voters in the state chose to keep payday loan restrictions.
- Banks getting into payday loan business (Port Clinton News Herald)
More traditional banks have begun offering customers advances on their direct deposits for a fee, a practice payday lenders equate with loans they give.
- AmeriCash Advance
Cash Advance Loans at AmeriCash Advance. Specializing in fast cash advances, pay day loans, fast cash loans and payday loans online
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