Payday Loans

Your great-grandparents didn’t have this problem. They quoted, “Use it up, Wear it out, Make it do, Do without.” Rightly so, the only cash advance payday loan they had access to could cost you a couple of broken legs, if you didn’t pay it back on schedule. But it seems now that a lot more goes out than comes in, even with a conservative spending plan. Still, there are some ways to give yourself that loan that’s not one of those advance payday loans you see on TV all the time.

First choice: make sure you can’t wait a few days. Incurring a small late charge or doing without something until you get paid works. In the first case, you get to call your creditor or utility company and explain that you’ll be late. You tell them exactly when they will receive full payment. If there’s no way your upcoming paycheck will cover it, you ask for a payment plan to get caught up. A payday loan would not have helped anyway. (Inquire about late fees or additional interest you may acquire by doing so.) In the second case, develop your own self-discipline. You may find the anticipation either makes you want the object of your desires more or, perhaps, not at all.

Second choice: raise some money! No, not a bank robbery. Walk through your home and garage. Note all the stuff you currently own. If you don’t use it, don’t like it or don’t want it, add it to the “payday loan” garage sale pile. If it’s really valuable, list it on craigslist.com or take it to a resale shop. Turn everything into cash and DON’T REPLACE IT! Resist the desire to spend this payday loan on something else for a garage sale. At some point, you have to stop spending more than you make.

Third choice: If you need a service or product from a local businessman and you have something they want or need, then trade. Say goodbye to that beautiful framed, limited edition poster, and smile when your child announces that they didn’t know you were supposed to see the individual leaves on a tree. Priceless. Need legal work done. Spend this weekend sprucing up your lawyer’s yard and covering that expense without a cash advance payday loan.

Fourth choice: use your credit card. To get a low or no cost payday loan, pay by credit card, or use the cash advance for a small fee. The trick is to treat it as if it were a commercial payday cash loan. You pay off the amount, in full, at your very next payday. Compound interest on your savings account is wonderful; compound interest on your credit card keeps you in debt forever. Pay it off monthly.

A payday cash loan only covers the bases for a few days, until the next time you get paid. And, desperation keeps you from checking out all your alternatives first. Making a list of possibilities before you’re in need keeps you from digging in deeper. Check it out first; maybe you can give yourself that cash advance payday loan.