Understand your options for an unexpected expense. Work out what a short-term loan would cost, compare it against the alternatives, and, if our matching service is available in your state, choose whether to submit a loan request.
We're paid by lending networks for loan requests submitted through our form.
Payday loans are marketed as a quick fix between paychecks, and they can put money in your account within a day or two. That speed comes at a price. Because the fee is charged against a loan due in just two to four weeks, the annualized cost often works out to 300 to 500 percent APR or more, even though the flat fee on the loan itself looks small. Move the sliders to see how the amount, the fee, the term, and any rollovers change what you would repay.
Total fees $45.00, you repay $345.00, 391.1% APR.
For comparison, a 36% APR loan of $300 for the same 14 days would cost about $4.14 in interest.
These figures are an illustration based on the fee, term, and amount you set, not a quote or an offer from any lender. Actual fees are set by each lender and capped differently by each state, and some states prohibit this product. If you are connected with a lender, that lender will disclose the exact finance charge and APR before you accept any loan.
Read how payday loans work and what they cost for a full breakdown of the fee structure before you sign anything.
Not every state treats payday lending the same way. Some cap the fees and loan amounts tightly, some prohibit the product outright, and others allow it with few restrictions. What happens if you fall behind, and whether you're entitled to a payment plan, also depends on where you live. Check payday loan laws by state before you borrow, and read what happens if you default so you know what to expect if repayment doesn't go as planned. For the three biggest markets we have state-specific breakdowns: what a payday loan costs in Texas, California's $300 cap and 15% fee, and Florida's fee limits and 60-day grace period. If you are borrowing in one of those states, start with its state page, which covers the rules, the regulator, and the lenders we review that serve it: payday loans in Texas, payday loans in Florida, and payday loans in California.
Every state below has its own page covering the statute, the regulator, the cost of a typical loan, and the lenders we review that serve it. The status and the summary come from our payday loan laws by state guide, which cites the statute behind each line. "Permitted with limits" means the state caps the fee, the amount, the term, or the number of rollovers; "effectively prohibited" means a rate cap or a ban keeps the two-week product out, even where a small loan is still legal.
| State | Payday lending | What the law says |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Permitted with limits | One rollover allowed (Section 5-18A-12(b)); $500 cap across lenders; state loan database. |
| Alaska | Permitted | Fee capped at $15 per $100 advanced, or 15%, whichever is less, plus a $5 origination fee (AS 06.50.460(a)); $500 outstanding per licensee (AS 06.50.410); 14-day minimum term; two renewals; a six-month payment plan must be offered before collection (AS 06.50.550); a 2025 bill capping payday loans at 36% APR was vetoed. |
| Arizona | Effectively prohibited | Payday-lending law sunset in 2010; general small-loan cap applies. |
| California | Permitted with limits | $300 maximum check including a 15% fee; 31-day term; no fee to extend; no rollovers. |
| Colorado | Effectively prohibited | 36% APR cap, voter-approved 2018, effective 2019. |
| Delaware | Permitted | No statutory interest or fee cap (5 Del. C. §2229); no more than 5 short-term loans in 12 months and 4 rollovers per loan (§2235A); delinquency charge capped at 5% (§2231). |
| Florida | Permitted with limits | Fees capped; 24-hour cooling-off period; real-time loan database; 60-day grace period on request. |
| Georgia | Effectively prohibited | Unlicensed loans of $3,000 or less are a crime under the Payday Lending Act, online included; criminal usury above 5% a month. |
| Idaho | Permitted | No rate cap (fee disclosed per $100, Idaho Code §28-46-412); $1,000 per-loan cap (§28-46-412(2)) and 25%-of-income limit (§28-46-413(2)); a 36% cap bill has been introduced but not passed. |
| Illinois | Effectively prohibited | 2021 Predatory Loan Prevention Act caps consumer loans, payday included, at 36% APR with fees counted; loans over the cap are void. |
| Indiana | Permitted with limits | Tiered fee caps; cooling-off after consecutive loans; database. |
| Iowa | Permitted with limits | $500 check cap per licensee, $15 + $10 per $100 fee, 31-day limit, rollovers prohibited (Iowa Code §533D.9, §533D.10); no statewide database. |
| Kansas | Permitted with limits | Loan-count and rollover limits: no more than two loans at once and three in 30 days per lender (K.S.A. 16a-2-404(3)). |
| Kentucky | Permitted | Fee capped at $15 per $100 of the check (KRS 286.9-100(1)); rollovers barred. |
| Louisiana | Permitted | Fee capped at 16.75% of the check's face amount (La. R.S. 9:3578.4(A)(1)). |
| Maryland | Effectively prohibited | Consumer Loan Law rate cap bars payday-style lending: 33% APR on the first $1,000 and 24% above it on a loan of $2,000 or less, 24% on the whole balance above $2,000 (Com. Law §12-306(a)(6)). |
| Massachusetts | Effectively prohibited | Small-loan license required above 12% a year (M.G.L. c. 140 §96), regulated rate cap 23% plus a $20 fee (209 CMR 26.01), 20% criminal usury cap (c. 271 §49). |
| Michigan | Permitted with limits | Fee schedule capped; loan database; per-borrower limits. |
| Mississippi | Permitted | Fee capped at $20 per $100 advanced on checks up to $250 and $21.95 per $100 above that (Miss. Code Ann. 75-67-519(4)). |
| Missouri | Permitted | No rate cap; total charges capped at 75% of the loan; up to 6 renewals; state-reported average APR about 406%. |
| Nevada | Permitted with limits | Loan size tied to borrower income; extended repayment plan required on default. |
| New Jersey | Effectively prohibited | Criminal usury cap bars payday-style lending. |
| New York | Effectively prohibited | Criminal usury cap, 25%. |
| North Carolina | Effectively prohibited | Let its payday-lending law sunset in 2001; actively enforced since. |
| North Dakota | Permitted with limits | Fee capped at 20% of the amount advanced, so $100 on a $500 loan (N.D.C.C. §13-08-12(2)); $500 per transaction and $600 outstanding across all licensees (§13-08-12(3), (4)); one renewal at the same 20% cap, 60-day combined term, 15-day renewal minimum (§13-08-12(12)); no criminal prosecution over a bad check unless the account was closed on the loan date (§13-08-12(8)). |
| Ohio | Permitted with limits | 2018 reform: $1,000 max, 91-day minimum term in most cases, 28% interest plus a capped monthly fee, total charges capped at 60% of the loan. |
| Oklahoma | Permitted with limits | No new payday loans since August 1, 2020 (59 O.S. 3101.1); Small Lenders Act installment loans instead: 60 days to 12 months, 17% a month, $1,824.60 balance cap. |
| Oregon | Permitted with limits | 36% interest cap plus a separate origination fee — effective APR runs well above 36%. |
| Pennsylvania | Effectively prohibited | Small-loan rate cap, roughly 24%. |
| Rhode Island | Permitted | Fee capped at 10% of the amount advanced (R.I. Gen. Laws §19-14.4-4); $500 check cap, 13-day minimum, one rollover (§19-14.4-5.1); the deferred-deposit authority is repealed effective January 1, 2027 (P.L. 2025, ch. 373 and ch. 391). |
| South Carolina | Permitted with limits | One-loan-at-a-time database. |
| Tennessee | Permitted | Fee capped at 15% of the check; $500 maximum; 31 days or less; no renewals. |
| Texas | Permitted | Storefront lenders route around the state's own usury caps via a broker (credit services organization) structure — one of the least-restricted markets in the country. |
| Utah | Permitted | No rate cap. |
| Virginia | Permitted with limits | 2021 Fairness in Lending Act: installment-only short-term loans up to $2,500 over 4–24 months, 36% interest plus a monthly fee of up to $25, total charges capped at 50–60%. |
| Washington | Permitted with limits | Annual loan-count cap; mandatory installment repayment option. |
| Wisconsin | Permitted | No rate cap. |
| Wyoming | Permitted | Fee capped at the greater of $30 or 20% per month of the principal (W.S. 40-14-363(a)); one-month term; no refinancing. |
Thirteen states and the District of Columbia are covered in the guide only. A stated rate cap can still leave a two-week loan in triple-digit APR territory once a flat fee is added (Maine and Oregon are the usual examples), so read the state page before you treat a cap as the price.
A payday loan should usually be the last option, not the first. A credit union small-dollar loan, a payment plan with whoever you already owe, or an advance on wages you've already earned can cover the same short-term gap for far less. See payday loan alternatives that actually work for a rundown of each option and when it makes sense. If you're already behind on a payday loan, look into the extended payment plans many states require lenders to offer, and our step-by-step guide to escaping the payday loan cycle.
The full walkthrough, including timing and what each status message means, is in what happens after you submit a loan request.
Our matching service currently accepts requests from residents of 49 states. It is not available in the District of Columbia or New York. Availability depends on the lending networks we work with and can change; the form checks your state before you submit. Loan amounts, fees, and terms are set by each lender and vary by state.
EconoCents is not a lender. We publish independent guides about short-term borrowing, and we run a matching service: when you submit a loan request through our form, we pass it to lending networks whose participating lenders may make you an offer, and those networks pay us for the request. We do not charge you for this, we do not make credit decisions, and submitting a request does not guarantee that you will be connected with a lender or approved. Every guide on this page is written to help you decide whether to borrow at all, before you decide who to borrow from.
How cash advance apps work, the three fees that make a small advance expensive, worked APR math you can check, the CFPB's current position on whether earned-wage advances are credit, and how they compare with a payday loan or a small installment loan.
Where Possible Finance's $50-$600, four-payment loan sits next to other small-dollar lenders, the mid-cost lenders worth checking first, and what to do if Possible Finance turned you down.
Where CashNetUSA sits on cost, six lenders in the same high-APR bracket, five lower-cost lenders worth checking first, and what to do next if CashNetUSA turned you down.
A step-by-step check you can run in about ten minutes before you sign: search NMLS Consumer Access, confirm with your state regulator's own lookup, match the legal name on the agreement, and know what an unlicensed loan can mean for what you actually owe.
How to tell whether a 'lender' who contacted you (or a site you found) is real: the advance-fee scam the FTC's own rule bans, the red flags that give it away, how to verify a lender through NMLS and your state regulator, and what to do if you already paid.
Online payday loans vs. storefront loans differ in who is legally allowed to lend to you, what the loan actually costs, how repayment is collected from your bank account, and where your application data goes before you see an offer.
Most storefront payday lenders don't report on-time payments to Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion, so a payday loan rarely builds your score — but a collection or charge-off from one can still hurt it for years.
What a tribal lender is, why sovereign immunity means state rate caps and licensing rules may not apply, how courts and regulators have treated the model, and where to complain if something looks wrong.
The same $500, two-week payday loan can cost more than $100 in one state and be unavailable in the next. Here is the legal maximum cost and APR in all 50 states and DC, computed from each state's own statute, with every source linked.
California caps a payday loan at a $300 check, a 15% fee, and 31 days, bars a second loan while the first is open, and lets the lender extend your due date only if it adds no fee. Here is what each rule means in dollars, what the state's own 2024 data shows about who uses these loans, and how to check a lender's license.
Florida writes its payday loan rules into one statute: a $500 cap, a 10% fee plus $5, a 7-to-31-day term, one loan at a time, no rollovers, and a 60-day grace period the lender must give you if you ask before the due date. Here is what each rule means in dollars, what the newer installment version costs, and how to check a lender's license.
Exactly what our loan-request form collects, who receives it, what you see on the result screen, who may contact you afterward, how your data is protected, and how to withdraw consent or come back to an unfinished request.
Texas has usury limits, yet it is one of the most expensive short-term lending markets in the country. The reason is a legal structure most borrowers never hear about: the storefront you walk into is usually not the lender. Here is how that works, what it does to the price, and how to read your own paperwork before you sign it.
Sixteen states have extended payment plan (EPP) laws, and thirteen of them require the lender to offer one before you default: installments, no extra fee, and a far cheaper way out than a rollover. Which states, how to ask, what to expect, and what to do if you're refused.
Seven realistic alternatives to a payday loan, each with who qualifies, how long it takes, what it costs, and the catch: credit union PALs, bank small-dollar loans, earned-wage advances, employer help, 211, and a card cash advance.
Defaulting on a payday loan is not a crime, whatever a collector might imply. What actually happens: repeated ACH debit attempts, internal collections, a possible sale to a debt buyer, and how it can affect your credit — plus your rights at each stage.
No federal law caps what a payday lender can charge — each state decides for itself. Roughly two-fifths of states have capped or banned the product outright, most of the rest allow it with real strings attached, and a handful leave it almost unregulated. The full state-by-state breakdown.
The full life of a payday loan, from the application through the debit on your due date, what a $300 loan costs at the CFPB's example fee, what happens when the payment bounces, how state rules change the picture, and the difference between a lender and a loan-request site like this one.
One request goes to the lending networks we work with. If a lender in a network wants to make you an offer, you are sent to that lender to review the exact terms before you accept anything. Submitting does not guarantee an offer.
We're paid by lending networks for loan requests submitted through our form.
