Payday loan advances are generally more expensive than standard loans as the interest charges can range from $10 to $30 per every $100 borrowed.

However, these interest charges can cost you less than the financial consequences you may suffer if you don’t pay your credit card bills, utilities, rent, etc. on time, as well as all of the other problems that can result, such as losing your car or getting evicted from your home.

If you need money in a hurry and don’t have any other options, a payday cash advance loan may be your best alternative. Just make sure you understand the terms and conditions of your payday cash advance loan and follow them carefully to avoid any penalty fees or defaulting on your payday loan.

Payday Cash Advance Loan Tips and Information

This is a list of some of the general features and details of payday cash advance loans.

Types of Income Accepted

You are usually required to have a job to get a payday loan, and you usually must receive direct deposits from your employer.

However, you may be able to qualify for a payday loan if you receive regular benefit income on at least a monthly basis.

Amount of Income Required

Most payday loan advances require that you earn between $800 and $1,000 per month.

Bank Account Requirement

Payday cash advances require that you have a checking account or savings account, and you usually must receive direct deposits from your employer.

General Requirements

You must be 18 years old and a U.S. citizen to qualify for payday cash advance loans.

Application Process

To apply for a payday loan, you simply fill out an online loan application.

Although many payday loan companies advertise that they don’t require you to fax them any documents, it usually depends on the size of your loan, your qualifications, and if you’re a first-time customer.

If you want to borrow a larger amount of money, you may be required to fax them documents to verify your information and income, including your most recent pay stub. However, if you only need a smaller loan (usually $300 or less), then you may not be required to fax any documents.

Some payday cash advance companies will require you to speak with a loan officer by telephone to complete the loan process. However, this is usually just a formality and you shouldn’t have a problem getting your loan.

Once you become a customer, you can often get loans without any of these hassles, and you may receive access to larger loans in the future.

On the other hand, if you’re a highly qualified customer, you may be instantly approved for your loan by just submitting the online application, although this still usually requires some sort of further verification.

Loan Amounts

Payday cash advances can provide you with as much as $1,500, but you’re more likely to only get up to $1,000, unless you’re a highly qualified applicant.

In most cases, you shouldn’t expect to get much more than $500 if you are a first-time customer and are having financial difficulties, as most people seeking payday cash advances tend to be.

Getting Your Loan

Payday loans will usually be deposited into your checking or savings account by the next business day (if you complete your application process before the end of the current business day (usually around 6 PM EST, depending on the location of the company).

Finance Fees

The financial fees for cash advance loans range from $10 to $30 per every $100 borrowed, depending on the cash loan company you choose and your qualifications.

Length of Loan

Loans are generally due by your following payday.

This can range from 4 to 18 days depending on when you apply for the loan and when you get paid from your employer.

Loan Repayment Details

Cash advance loans can be repaid in full by paying the full amount of your loan plus your interest charges on or before the due date.

Payments are usually automatically deducted from your checking or savings account on a preset due date, or you can usually authorize payments anytime before this due date.

However, read the repayment details carefully.

Many payday loan companies will automatically deduct the interest charges ONLY from your bank account for the first few due dates, thereby extending your loan and the amount of charges that you pay.

If you intend to pay your loan in full, find out if you have to notify the company in advance of your intentions to pay in full, or your full payment may not be accepted.

On the other hand, some payday loan companies automatically deduct the entire amount of your loan on a preset due date, and if you need more time to pay off your loan, you may need to notify the payday loan company that you would like to extend your loan within a certain amount of time before your due date.

If you do decide to extend your loan, just make sure you find out if there are any additional fees.

You will be required to pay a minimum payment amount and additional interest charges will apply, but they often charge additional “refinancing” fees on top of the interest charges, which can end up costing you a lot of money if you’re not careful.

About Payday Cash Advance Companies

Although many certified payday cash advance providers exist and provide a perfectly legal and helpful service to many consumers, there are also some unsavory companies that have unscrupulous business practices.

You’ll want to make sure the website signifies a professional company. Do they offer contact information, including a phone number or at least an email address, so that you can contact them if you need to? Do they offer links on their website to their privacy statements and the terms and conditions of their loans?

Google the company’s name, and if the top ten search results are from the rip-off report, move on to a different payday loan company.

You’ll also want to make sure that you are filling out a secure application, so make sure the URL of the application page starts with “https” and not “http”. Usually, when you click the apply button and go to the application page, you will see the “s” appear. If it dosn’t, be wary.

Choose a cash advance provider that you feel comfortable with and trust your instincts.

Payday cash advance loans can be an invaluable option in hard times, and if you take advantage of them carefully, they may prove to be a priceless tool in the process of improving your financial situation.

The following is a list of some established Payday Cash Advance Loan Providers.

MYPAYDAYLOAN.COM

MyPayDayLoan.com offers Free Payday Loans for up to $300 for first-time customers, so take advantage of a free payday cash advance from MyPayDayLoan.com.

Free Payday Loans

CASH CENTRAL

Personal Loans Quick & Secure. Click for Cash Central.

WEGIVECASH.COM – CASH IN ONE HOUR

Click Here to get a $1,500 cash loan wired to you in one hour!

This is just a small list of the hundreds of payday cash advance loan providers available.

If you need money in a hurry, a payday cash advance loan may be the best option for you, and with the proper precautions, you’ll be able to take full advantage of your payday cash advance and avoid the typical payday loan pitfalls.

Come back soon for more payday loan offers and regularly updated information.

The APR you were quoted by your credit card issuer may not necessarily represent the interest rate you will pay on your credit card when you take its annual fee and other factors into consideration.

There are many detailed calculations that go into the interest rate you’ll pay (too detailed for this post), and you can find out more through this Wikipedia APR Explanation.

However, it’s good to know how much you’re actually paying for your Credit Card Loan in order to get a grasp on getting yourself out of debt.

Calculate Your Credit Card APR

Principal – Put the amount of your current balance in this field.
Additional Cost – Put your credit card annual fee in this field.
Interest Rate – Put the APR quoted to you by your credit card issuer.
Number of Months – Put 12 months here to calculate the APR.

That’s what the credit card companies didn’t tell you.

Now of course, you’re credit card balance may decrease over the period of one year, causing your APR to drop as well, and there are other minor fluctuations, but this will give you a better idea of how much your credit card is costing you.

If you are in a situation where you are just making minimum monthly payments that barely cover your interest charges while not really making a dent in your principal balance, you could end up maintaining the same credit card balance over time while paying enormous amounts of money in interest and fees.

Oh well, don’t get depressed, there are still other options.

Consider this Blue Cash card from American Express that gives you a long term fixed low interest rate on your balance transfer with no annual fee. It’s a great way to start paying off your debt if you have a large balance on a credit card with a high interest rate and an annual fee.

Blue Cash® from American Express

The Blue Cash card has no annual fee and a fixed 4.99% interest rate for the life of your loan on balance transfers. You’ll have to pay a balance transfer fee, but depending on your current balance, it may be the equivalent of your current annual fee and this will only be a one-time fee.

From then on, you’ll have a fee-free credit card with a very low interest rate. Plus, you’ll have the opportunity to earn cash back on your purchases.

• Up to 5% Cash Back with Unlimited Cash Rewards
• Earn unlimited cash back
• 0% Intro APR for 6 months
• Low Balance Transfer rate – 4.99% fixed APR for the life of the balance
• No Annual Fee

Apply Now!

Those with small balances may want to consider one of these Balance Transfer Credit Cards that have no annual fees, no balance transfer fees, and 0% interest rates on balance transfer for six full months.

Calculate your current APR and consider some of your options, but make sure you check out the actual interest you’ll be paying before you apply for a credit card with an annual fee.

If you can’t get a loan from a traditional lender, or even if you can and you want to explore alternative loan options with the possibility of lower interest rates, you may want to consider a peer-to-peer lending network.

If you have additional savings that you’d like to invest, peer-to-peer lending groups provide you with the opportunity to lend money at lucrative interest rates, but you’ll have to choose loans wisely in order to minimize your risks.

Lending Club is a reliable peer lending network for high-interest returns on investments or low-interest personal loans, and Prosper.com has done over 81 million in loans and is a very popular community lending website in the U.S., but Zopa.com is an international leader in the peer lending industry that you may also wish to consider.

Loanio is a relatively new peer-to-peer lending network that is currently offering a $25 sign-up bonus when you register and make your first loan.

Here’s how peer loan networks work.

Borrowers list the amount of money they need and the highest interest rate they are willing or able to pay, and then lenders bid on the portion of that loan that they are willing to lend with the interest rate they are willing to offer.

When the listing ends, the borrower gets their loan at the lowest possible interest rate, and the lenders get paid off over a set period of time while earning a profit on the interest charges.

The community lending websites make their profit by charging borrowers a small percentage of their loans and charging lenders a small percentage of their payments received, so lenders and borrowers have to take that into account when calculating APRs.

The benefit for borrowers is that you’ll have the opportunity to get a loan that you otherwise may not have access to and possibly with a lower interest rate, although not always.

Peer loan networks are especially beneficial for poor credit borrowers that have been turned down for loans by banks and other lending institutions. Lending communities can offer you a last chance loan if you’re desperate to consolidate high-interest credit card debt or just can’t get a loan anywhere else.

However, these loans will adversely affect your credit if you don’t follow the terms of your loan and make your payments, so it is important to borrow money wisely and make your payments on time. Doing so will rebuild your credit and give you the opportunity to receive better interest rates in the future.

Some borrowers with average credit may be able to get better interest rates on loans than they would through traditional lending institutions, but that is not always true, so review current loan listings for similar loan requests to see what type of interest rate you can expect to receive. You’ll also have to consider the additional fees that the lending networks will charge.

However, borrowers with above average credit or excellent credit will probably get better interest rates through traditional lending options such as personal bank loans, lines of credit and credit card loans.

Lenders interested in making some money through lending networks will have to choose their borrowers wisely and consider the risks.

Although you can get a higher interest return from borrowers with poor credit, the risk is also higher making it more likely you’ll never get the full amount repaid. These are unsecured loans, so if the borrowers don’t pay, you may not get your money back. Defaulted loans go into collection and eventually get sold off or possibly just written off. Either way, you could lose money.

On the other hand, if you diversify your lending by making small loans to multiple borrowers with acceptable risk levels, you can get a really nice return on your investment, but it will definitely require research and diligence.

It’s worth mentioning that not all lending websites are for profit, and networks like
Kiva.org allow concerned community members to lend money to people in developing countries that seek loans to grow their businesses or otherwise advance themselves.

Personal lending communities or peer-to-peer loan networks offer a viable option to traditional lending institutions, especially if you can’t get a loan, have poor credit, or are otherwise unable to obtain a loan with an interest rate that you can afford.

Debt collection companies buyout credit card debt and unpaid loans from banks and other lenders, and then try to collect the debt from you in order to turn a profit.

Due to various technicalities, they may not legally have a right to collect the debt, but that won’t stop them from trying.

In some cases, you may indeed owe the debt that they are collecting, but additional fees and high interest charges may have been added to your debt since you defaulted on your loan.

Of course, you always have the option of paying off your debt, but if you feel that the loan is invalid and the collector is mistaken, or that the additional fees and interest charges are excessive and possibly illegal, or if you just want the collector to verify that they are the legal owner of your debt and that they have the right to collect your debt, it is a good idea to write a first response debt dispute letter to make the debt collector verify your debt.

It’s your right to dispute your debt, so you should take advantage of this option, and at least make the debt collection companies work a little harder. It may save you a lot of money and possibly allow you to forgoe paying off your entire debt or a portion of your debt.

As a case study, we are following the actions of one consumer, who is an associate of ours:

On July 25, 2007, the said consumer received a debt collection notification from a debt collection company on a debt of around $2,500.

This consumer concedes that they stopped payment on roughly $900 in credit card bills over 4-5 years ago, and they have never paid off their debt.

The original credit card company sent them regular notifications for several months, which became less frequent over time and eventually stopped.

They hadn’t received any communications regarding the debt for well over a year or two, until this recent debt notification from the collection agency.

However, the current debt collection company is not related to the original credit card issuer and the additional fees and charges are quite high.

The debt collection agency is demanding the complete payment of the debt, but is offering them the option of disputing the debt in a letter (which the consumer has a legal right to do).

In this case, the consumer chose to write a debt dispute letter to the collection agency.

The initial debt dispute letter must be sent within 30 days of of receiving the notification from the collection agency, and the consumer will need to get a return receipt notification from the post office to track the letter.

On August 6, 2007, they sent the following Initial Debt Collection Dispute Letter, which they obtained for free from Debt-n-Credit-Letters.com, which offers this and many other consumer rights letters for use in financial communications.

Example of Initial Debt Collection Dispute Letter

Today’s Date

Your Name
Your Address

Collector’s Name
Collector’s Address

Dear {insert name of collector or company},

I am writing in response to your (letter or phone call) dated {insert date}, (copy enclosed) because I do not believe I owe what you say I owe.

This is the first I’ve heard from you, or any other company on this matter therefore, in accordance with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Section 809(b): Validating Debts:

(b) If the consumer notifies the debt collector in writing within the thirty-day period described in subsection (a) that the debt, or any portion thereof, is disputed, or that the consumer requests the name and address of the original creditor, the debt collector shall cease collection of the debt, or any disputed portion thereof, until the debt collector obtains verification of the debt or any copy of a judgment, or the name and address of the original creditor, and a copy of such verification or judgment, or name and address of the original creditor, is mailed to the consumer by the debt collector.

I respectfully request that you provide me with the following information:
(1) the amount of the debt;
(2) the name of the creditor to whom the debt is owed;
(3) Provide a verification or copy of any judgment (if applicable);
(4) Proof that you are licensed to collect debts in (insert name of your state)

Be advised that I am fully aware of my rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act. For instance, I know that:
(a) because I have disputed this debt in writing within 30 days of receipt of your dunning notice, you must obtain verification of the debt or a copy of the judgment against me and mail these items to me at your expense;
(b) you cannot add interest or fees except those allowed by the original contract or state law.
(c) you do not have to respond to this dispute but if you do, any attempt to collect this debt without validating it, violates the FDCPA;

Also be advised that I am keeping very accurate records of all correspondence from you and your company including recording all phone calls and I will not hesitate to report violations of the law to my State Attorney General, the Federal Trade Commission and the Better Business Bureau.

I have disputed this debt; therefore, until validated you know your information concerning this debt is inaccurate. Thus, if you have already reported this debt to any credit-reporting agency (CRA) or Credit Bureau (CB) then, you must immediately inform them of my dispute with this debt. Reporting information that you know to be inaccurate or failing to report information correctly violates the Fair Credit Reporting Act § 1681s-2. Should you pursue a judgment without validating this debt, I will inform the judge and request the case be dismissed based on your failure to comply with the FDCPA.

Finally, if you do not own this debt, I demand that you immediately send a copy of this dispute letter to the original creditor so they are also aware of my dispute with this debt.

Signature here
Your Printed Name

They included a copy of the original letter from the collection agency and made copies of all of the documents for themselves, as it is important to keep a paper trail.

This will at least stop the collection agency from writing or calling you, and it will take some time for them to verify your debt.

In many cases, upon receiving a debt dispute letter from a consumer, the collection agency will be forced to stop collections for one reason or another.

In other cases, they may be forced to drop some of the fees and charges your account has accumulated.

Either way, this consumer has now made it the collector’s responsibility to prove their debt.

This is just one example of a consumer and their reaction, and we will follow up with this case study on a step by step basis to document the process of disputing debt and resolving bad credit issues.

A debt dispute letter is the first reponse to collection agencies that send you an initial debt collection letter.