Payday loans are short term loans that are supposed to be paid back in a few weeks and have high-interest rates. The term payday means you are supposed to make your payments on your next payday, generally within a fortnight or a month. Payday loan lenders are currently operating online and others at the storefront where you can pop in, and you are sure of getting cash within a couple of minutes.
Payday lenders usually verify your income to access your ability to collect, not particularly your ability to pay other financial obligations and your bank checking account for some particular reasons. They will also find out whether you have financial obligations with other lenders.
How payday loans work
After reviewing your details, payday lenders will deposit the funds into your account. Some lenders will require you to write a postdated cheque to coincide with the loan’s due date. For instance, if you get a loan on the fifteenth day of January, the lender will require you to write a postdated cheque on the thirtieth day of January when the payroll cheque will be deposited in your account and offset the loan together with interest. Borrowers end up sinking in more financial difficulties due to huge fees and interests that payday loans carry. Online borrowers get their loans rolled over to the next payday with huge rollover fees, and some end up defaulting.
Payday lenders target people with little or no credit score and those who have no savings because the latter do not rely on savings and credit scores, unlike banks. Most people turn to payday loans in times of emergencies, but others use them to cover their everyday expenses.
Banks have also come up with payday loans where they use various names to refer to the loans. Whichever names they call them, the terms of these loans remain the same. Bank payday loans are worse than other lenders because banks have access to your account, and they can always deduct any income deposited into the account, meaning you cannot control the way you pay. Let us look at the features of payday loans, in a nutshell, to understand how they work.
- You can access the loans at the comfort of your bed, and online platforms are available twenty-four hours a day and seven hours a day, and you do not require any paperwork.
- Payday lenders have very few requirements, unlike other lenders. Wit a national identity card, a minimum age of eighteen years, and a bank account, you are good to go. Traditional lenders require multiple security documents.
- Payday loans are not secured, meaning your property cannot be taken to settle your outstanding loans, but they have the option of taking you to collection agents or sue you in a court.
The downside of payday loans seems to outweigh the merits of the loans, and you need to note the following.
- They have very high-interest rates going up to four hundred percent
- Payday loans are predatory because of their misleading and unfavorable terms and cost of payments, which can escalate.
- They do not help you increase your savings or credit score
- They target poor and low -income earners, which end up spoiling their financial position further.
- Payday loans get people in debt cycles, hard to get out as amounts payable increases due to rollover fees.