Introduction to Personal Loans - Understanding the Payday Loan System

A personal loan is extended from a financial institution to a borrower purely for personal matters. Mortgage loans are taken out specifically to buy homes, and car loans are taken out specifically to buy cars. A loan given for personal reasons can be given for any reason, from catching up on bills to buying Christmas presents or purchasing a new television. In the case of a payday loan lender, it is not even asked what the money is being borrowed to cover.

When you go into a bank and ask for a personal loan, they are going to ask a lot of questions. Personal loans can be seen as risky, and they are not seen as essential to your well-being. In most cases, a small loan to pay bills is going to be denied by big financial institutions. They simply see it as too risky.

Also, larger financial institutions look at the credit history of a loan applicant and consider their ability to pay the loan back in the long term. Many people today simply cannot pass that type of scrutiny, so they would never be approved for a personal loan offered from a big bank or other large financial institution.

This is where the payday loan system looks very appealing to many people. They know that they can go to a payday lender and get the smaller loans they need without going through that close analysis required with the banks. They know that they can be approved for a loan without having their credit checked, and without being asked a million questions about their personal finances. It is simply much easier to get a payday loan than it is to get a personal loan from the larger institutions.

How a Payday Loan Works

A payday loan is extended based on solid employment and regular paychecks. Lenders in this business do not care what your credit report looks like, and they do not care whether a customer would be approved through a bank or not. They simply do not care about anything but proof that a customer has a solid job that brings in regular paychecks. The paychecks do not even have to be large. Regular income is all that is required to secure this type of personal loan.

This type of loan is also processed extremely fast. While a bank may take awhile to go through the personal matters of an applicant and give a decision, you can get a payday loan in a matter of hours. You can definitely get the money you need within twenty-four hours from most payday loan services.

What is the catch? There is always a catch, and in this case it is that you have to pay higher interest rates for this type of personal loan. You get fast money, and you do not have to jump through hoops. You just have to agree to pay more interest than you would pay through a bank or another large financial institution.

One final consideration is the fast turnaround time for payment on this loan. The money is typically drafted right out of your bank account on payday. That is definitely something to keep in mind.