It’s always slightly amusing to see lenders advertising “low fee payday loans,” as though paying less to get an advance on a paycheck that was already coming to you is some sort of a great deal. Even if you only pay a few bucks to get a payday loan, that’s still a few bucks that you wouldn’t have lost if you would have just waited for your doggone paycheck instead of going to a high-interest lender. But it isn’t just the first fee that ends up costing you a bunch when you go and get a payday loan. Instead, the real damage comes when you start getting addicted to paycheck advances and start going back again and again. That’s when you start to see fees add up and your credit score drop.
The reason why low fee payday loans can be so addicting is that when you get into the habit of getting your paycheck earlier than you should every month, you start counting on that money on a certain date to pay for genuine expenses or just recreational expenses. It can be fun to get money early to purchase something fun that you’ve had your eye on, but when you start abusing payday loans, you’ll find that it will start to get more and more difficult to pay for the real necessary things like rent, mortgage, food and clothing. And there’s where the real trap is revealed when it comes to payday loans.
Let’s talk for a minute about the differences between legitimate emergencies the call for payday loans and unnecessary spending. Real cash emergencies involve paying for problems with unforeseen medical bills, lack of money for food or rent, and a very few other exceptions. A legitimate financial emergency does not include new electronics, concert tickets, or even keeping the cable turned on in your house. If it doesn’t involve keeping you and your family safe and alive, that isn’t really an emergency, and taking out low fee payday loans to pay for it is probably not the best decision in the world.
Believe it or not, it’s that very reasoning that allows people to ascertain the difference between necessary and unnecessary spending that spells the difference of wasting money on low fee payday loans and saving money for a better financial future. If you can just tell the difference, you’ll be much less likely to take out a payday loan and adversely affect your bank account and credit score. Having said that, however, there are also some people who do understand these differences but still take out payday loans anyway. To tell the truth, if you’re one of those people, I doubt there is much anyone can really do to help you much.
But if you do want to work hard and build a better future for yourself and your family, then going the route of payday loans is definitely not the choice you want to make. Instead, start planning ahead by putting a bit of money into a separate savings account every month, creating a fixed and realistic budget to follow, and watching your non-essential spending. It’s find if you’ve taken out low fee payday loans in the past, but you need to forget about those kind of high-interest personal advance loans if you really want to turn things around. And hey, there’s no better time to start than today!