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PayDay Loans (Cash Advance)

Payday Loans- Wikipedia:  "A payday loan or paycheck advance is a small, short-term loan (typically up to $1,500 in the  U.S.) that is intended to bridge the borrower's cashflow gap between paydays. ... As a form of sub-prime lending, similar to high interest rate credit cards,  payday lending is the subject of controversy. Some critics claim that payday  lenders target the young and the poor, near military bases and in low-income  communities, who may not understand the time value of money. Others go further, comparing payday lenders to loan sharks due to high interest rates — typically 250% or more when annualized."

My personal opinion on Payday Loans:  Avoid Payday loans or cash advance loans at all cost!!! 

Payday loans are generally amongst the worst loans you can get- you will end up paying an interest rate FAR greater than other loans.  Continue reading the resources cited below to educate yourself on these rather unattractive loans. 

FTC Consumer Alert: Payday Loans = Costly Cash
The U.S. government's Federal Trade Commision advises you to consider other alternatives to Payday Loans.

Officials call payday financing "loan sharking"
Bankrate.com article on some peoples' actual experiences with Payday loans.  You'll see stories of huge fees, outrageous interest rates, and calls to ban the practice.


Legal Loan Sharking or Essential Service?  The great "payday loan" controversy.
ReasonOnline article describes payday lending as the transfer of wealth from the poor and poor-risk to the predatory and powerful.

Beware Payday Loans:  Dangerous Consumer Rip-off
About.com calls cash advance loans a very bad idea (for the borrower).

Predatory payday lending practices cost American families $4.2 billion annually.
The Center for Responsible Lending has a detailed research report, entitled "Financial Quicksand"  with lots of statistics detailing the problems with Payday lending.  The typical borrower pays bay $793 for a $325 loan- not a good deal at all!

Seductively Easy, Payday Loans Often Snowball
The New York Times writes on how payday loans can quickly pile up, and discusses some legislation around payday lending.

Payday Lending Laws
The National Conference of State Legislatures has this great page that keeps track of lending laws and loan limits for payday lending in various states in the U.S.

FDIC: Payday Lending
An overview of Payday Lending- what it is, typical loan sizes, typical borrowers, with nice charts and graphs on statistics.

FDIC Guidelines for Payday Lending
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has these regulations that govern the evaluation of payday lenders.

Payday Advance Services
DMOZ listing of various Payday cash advance services (you should Avoid these at all cost).

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