Do Payday Loans Affect Your Credit Rating?

Find out how payday loans affect your credit score and what other options you have if you're in need of short-term financial assistance.

Do Payday Loans Affect Your Credit Rating?

Payday loans are generally not reported to the top three national credit reporting companies, so they are unlikely to have an effect on your credit score. Most store payday lenders do not take into account credit reports or traditional credit scores when deciding whether to approve a loan. As such, requesting a payday loan won't appear as a hard inquiry on your credit report and they won't notify credit reporting agencies when you receive one. Since these loans go unnoticed, they don't help or hurt your credit history if you pay them as agreed.

Usually, a payday loan does not show up on the credit records of Trans Union, Experian, and Equifax, which are three major credit reporting agencies. However, special credit reporting agencies may collect your payday loan history. Lenders can keep this in mind when you apply for loans in the future. This Is How Payday Loans Affect Credit Rating. If you don't pay a payday loan, your file may enter the collection process and a debt collector can report your debt to major national credit bureaus.

This is really the only time payday loans will affect your credit rating. If you get a payday loan and pay it on time, you'll never have any problems. The answer here is “no, with a small caveat”. Payday cash advances are part of a subset of bad credit loans called “loans without credit checks”. Since these lenders without credit checks do not perform any checks of your credit history during the application process, they do not report your payment information to the credit bureaus either.

It may surprise you, but people actually apply for a second payday loan (from a different company) to pay off their first payday loan. Once a payday loan is approved, you may receive cash or a check, or have the money deposited into your bank account. Borrowing money can be tempting when your funds are running low, but a payday loan can have a serious effect on your credit. There are a lot of misconceptions about how this can affect your credit rating, so let's examine how a payday loan and other loan products can help or hurt you. Because of the fast repayment period, no matter how optimistic borrowers may be about paying on time, life goes by and many end up falling behind, borrowing more and generating more commissions. Simply submit the loan application online and the money will be transferred to your bank account via direct deposit. Even if a person doesn't default on a payday loan, there are still many reasons why payday loans aren't the best idea.

If you are in a difficult financial situation, you can turn to payday loans to help cover short-term expenses. Payday loans are fine, but since the interest rate they charge is quite high, those loans should be taken with that knowledge and repaid as quickly as possible. For the 32 states that do allow payday loans, the cost of the loan, fees and maximum loan amount are limited. And while credit card companies and bank loans are required to report a consumer's timely payments when they take out a line of credit, payday lenders are not required to report payments on time. But since you have to repay the loan in two weeks, that 15% finance charge equates to an APR of almost 400% because the loan duration is only 14 days. That said, they may appear on your credit report if the loan becomes delinquent and the lender sells your account to a collection agency. If you're worried you won't be able to quickly repay a payday loan, consider it a sign that it's not a good idea in the first place and look for other options, such as borrowing from family or friends or getting a personal loan.

Carefully read your loan agreement to avoid additional costs such as late fees and penalties, returned check fees, and check processing fees.

Cara Longendyke
Cara Longendyke

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