Payday borrowing guide and legality in Arizona
Each one of us art some or the other point of time get entangled in circumstances which are beyond our control. These unexpected situations can be medical bill, urgent home repair, car breakage, utility bills etc. and all of it demands an immediate money supply and douse the need. When in such situations, people tend to borrow shot term money through a payday loan and get over the financial crisis.
A payday loan by definition is the loan meant for addressing the financial needs in the middle of the month and repayable by the end of the month at the time of next payday. These loans are very easy to secure and do not require a sophisticated process compliance or any collateral to back the loan.
Any individual fulfilling the following qualifying criteria can apply for it and can secure it within few hours of application.
- The applicant should be in a legal job and drawing a salary with a fixed frequencies. Some of the lenders insist on having a minimum monthly income threshold at $1000.
- The applicant should be a legitimate US resident and possess documentary proofs of residence.
- The applicant should have a running bank account.
- The applicant should be above 18 years of age.
- The applicant must be working with the same employer for over 90 days
- The applicant must not be a declared bankrupt or shouldn’t be a defaulter in an existing loan agreement with some other lender.
If there are ticks against all the above points, the applicant is eligible to receive a payday loan. The amount of the loan can range from $50 t0 $1000 depending on the state laws and guidelines. Once an applicant receives the loan, he is required to pay it off by the next paycheck date. For the purpose of such repayment, he is required to provide the lender with a postdated check or a debit authorization to enable him to directly debit the bank account through an ACH. There is a huge cost attached to the amount so borrowed, hence it is always advised to pay off the loan amount as soon as possible. The borrower should try not to roll over the loan amount to the next month as it will attract additional fee/charges not to forget the interest which is anyway accruing.
Such loans are definitely a quick fix solution to the financial need. But it has a flip side too. The danger of getting into the borrowing using a payday loan can be:
- Getting into a debt trap: since the money is required to be paid off by the next month, it makes the financial position for next month a big mess. Thus now another fresh source of money is required to get over with this shortage. Hence a person keeps on rotating the debt and end up in a vicious cycle of debt.
- Extremely high rate of interest: this factor is the most criticized aspect in the cycle of such loans. With an average $15 as interest for two weeks on a $100 loan, the APR hovers over 500 – 700% & makes borrowing this loan an unfavorable deal.
For the above reasons, payday loans in Arizona have been declared as illegitimate since July 2010. This loan has been vigorously prohibited by the Arizona Attorney general’s office. The interest rate chargeable by any other licensed financial institution has now been capped at 36% along with 5% fee and the loan amount to $10000.
To handle any kind of unforeseen financial difficulties, it is required to have some additional savings and planned expenditure. Some of the tips include
- Planning a monthly budget and shelling out expenses only as per the need. Impulsive buying must not be done at all. Putting aside some money in some kind of emergency fund is highly recommended and having a tight budget can help meet and generate this corpus.
- Generate additional source of income by engaging some hours in another job during off days or after work. This can help by increasing money supply to provide cushion against the rising expenses.