Payday Loan Lenders: How to Spot a Shark

Payday Loan Lenders: How to Spot a Shark

If you are in need of fast cash with minimal requirements, you may be inclined to get a payday loan. With the variety of payday loan lenders available these days, you need to know what to watch out for. There are plenty of sharks in the payday lending world, and you have to make sure you are not a victim of one of them. Here are some tips explaining how to spot a shark when you get a payday loan.

The Lender Asks for Money

If you are applying for a payday loan, you obviously don't have money to pay into a loan right this second. Thus you should steer clear of any loans that require you to pay money upfront. You may be asked for bank account or credit card information as a backup for the lender to get his money, but even then, you need to be cautious. See if you can opt to pay the company in person to protect yourself as much as possible.



Any true payday loan provider should be registered with the Better Business Bureau. You can check their website for information about your potential lender and see what other customers have had to say about it. This is a good idea even if you know the business is legitimate because it will help you avoid bad experiences.

The Lender Hides Fees in the Contract

Before you sign off on a payday loan, you have to read over your contract carefully. That means going through all of the fine print details, even if it takes you a while to read them. A lot of payday loan lenders like to hide fees and other information in their contracts, like permission to take out extra money with your monthly payments. If you authorize that, you may end up losing out on money that you cannot get back. When you see something suspicious in your contract, confront the company about it and see if they have a logical explanation.

The Lender Doesn't Check Anything

It is common practice for a payday loan company to not look at a person's credit and focus on income instead. With that in mind, your lender should ask for some sort of verification before issuing a loan. This may be in the form of paystubs for proof of income, phone bills for proof of address, bank statements for proof of a bank account, etc. If the lender just hands you a check from the start, you need to reconsider the situation. A payday loan is easy to get, but it should not be given to you for free.

The Lender Asks for Part of the Check Back

This is perhaps the biggest sign of all. If a lender asks you to cash a check and then bring back part of the money for your first payment, you need to work with someone else. All that person is trying to do is get you to cash a fake check your bank will eventually catch onto. You will be out the money for the check, plus a fake check fee. All the lender will be out is a piece of paper. By the time you try to get your money back, the lender will be long gone.