People in serious financial straits have a number of options that can help them meet their cash flow obligation. But thanks to the internet, more often than not, those options are overlooked and people choose the easiest way out which is taking out instant cash loan till payday.
These cash loans have become a thriving industry. It is well patronized among middle class America that have grown used to a lifestyle of deficit spending, courtesy of the ubiquitous credit card.
Many consider cash loans to be the best financial invention towards the close of the 20th century. Never mind the high interest rates that can easily exceed 360% annual percentage rates or APRs.
Cash loans are short term bridge financing that require no collaterals and can be had within the day. Their high interest rates are a way for lenders to absorb the inherent risks of default. But their short term 15-day or 2-week maturities make the interest rates look small compared to the cash flow relief they provide.
Borrowers simply consider the high interest rate as the inevitable cost of being free from sleepless nights and anxieties about where to get the needed cash.
But What Are the Alternatives
Many financial experts opine that instant cash loan till payday should just be the last recourse when every other option to get your needed cash fails. Others are of the opinion that even when you avail of one, it doesn’t really close the other options entirely.
Bear in mind that these need to be settled on your next payday. If you have no other cash sources, you could be facing the same cash flow distress after paying off your loan.
At best, an instant cash loan till payday should be viewed as buying time for you to raise the cash that should end your financial distress. Here are some things you can do within the next 15 days before settling the loan on your next payday
- Set up a garage or yard sale. Inventory some of the stuff you no longer need – clothes you’ve outgrown, old generation electronic gadgets, old furniture and books, etc. People are often surprised that many of the junk they have can still be converted to cash. That’s because what you consider junk could be someone else’s treasure if they can get it at a bargain.
- Never mind losing face. Approach your relatives and friends for an interest-free cash loan you can pay off more liberally and could at least cover half of your instant cash loan till payday. This way, even if most of your payday is used up to pay off the loan, you’d still have cash to meet the next 15-day expenses with some real belt-tightening.
- Withdraw any time deposit you have. If you did not do this before you took out an instant cash loan till payday, you now have enough time to do so. Forget about interest incomes from such deposits. They are nothing compared to the interest expense you will pay if you have to renew or roll over your cash loan which will most likely happen if you use up all your net payday proceed to settle it.
