Number crunching: the statistics behind payday loans
3rd March 2011
You’ve probably seen payday loans being advertised rather a lot, of late. It would seem that whenever we experience an economic slump, and whenever people begin losing their jobs, or become at risk of losing their jobs, that payday loans begin to thrive. The recent economic climate has meant that more people have started to consider payday loans, no matter what their background is, and from August 2007 to June 2008, the amount of payday loans that were taken out grew by a large 130% in the UK.
“It goes to show that the scepticism that was once involved with payday loans lenders has begun to wear off, as people have started to realise benefits that can be provided by these short-term credit agreements.
Payday loans are by nature relatively small sums of cash. People who need to obtain cash as quickly as they would do in a payday loan situation wouldn’t usually need thousands of pounds – and those who do would often just resort to getting a conventional bank loan, mortgage, or other credit agreement.
A payday loan is very different to these kinds of credit agreements, and whilst they generally consist of a monetary value less than £1000 – most companies within the United Kingdom will only allow borrowers to take up to £750.
In 2010, a year where payday loan lenders have continued to increase in popularity, the average size of a loan was estimated to be just short of £300. This makes sense. Given that most people would need to repay all of the debt on their next payday, they’re not going to be wanting to take out a loan that consists of nearly all of what their wages will provide them with. Very few people are able to spend more than £300 out of their next set of wages, without experiencing financial difficulty – and avoiding financial difficulty is the whole point of taking out a payday loan. Hence, people generally stick to around £300 or less when it comes to taking out this kind of loan.
Should you want to receive a payment of more than £300, however, there should be no issue with that. Lending companies are quite happy to lend in excess of £600, but depending on the company that you use you might find they have different policies in how they give you the money.
Whilst you will usually receive your cash payment within the same working day that you apply for your loan, when you are applying for a larger sum you might find that the company would rather pay you a proportion of the amount until you have proved that you can pay the repayment on the date that you have agreed. Many companies will feel a little reluctant to part with this cash without some kind of assurance that they will receive the cash back within the time that was initially agreed. Should you take out a loan like this, you should simply ensure that you have a means of repaying – and you shouldn’t encounter a problem.
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