Payday Loans in Florida: Laws, Costs, and Your Options (2026)

Payday loans in Florida are legal and, compared with most states that allow them, contained: the amount is capped, the fee is capped, rollovers are banned, and the law gives you a way to get 60 more days if you ask in time. This page covers what Florida law allows, what a loan actually costs, the rights you have before and after you sign, and which of the lenders we review serve Florida. For the statute walked through rule by rule, read our Florida payday loan rules guide; for how Florida compares with every other state, see payday loan laws by state.

Florida payday loan rules at a glance

Rule	Florida
Legal status	Permitted, through a licensed deferred presentment provider (Florida Statutes, chapter 560, part IV)
Regulator	Florida Office of Financial Regulation (OFR), Division of Consumer Finance, (850) 487-9687
Maximum loan amount	$500 on a single-payment loan; $1,000 outstanding on the installment version (section 560.404)
Fee cap	10% of the amount borrowed, plus a verification fee of up to $5; installment loans 8% of the balance biweekly
Term	7 to 31 days single-payment; 60 to 90 days installment
Loans at a time	One statewide, checked against the OFR’s real-time database
Between loans	24 hours after the previous loan is paid off
Rollovers	Prohibited, as is paying off one loan with another
If you cannot pay	60-day grace period at no additional charge, on request, with credit counseling
Criminal charges	Prohibited; the agreement must say so in at least 14-point type (section 560.406)
Military borrowers	36% federal MAPR cap under the Military Lending Act

How a Florida payday loan works

Florida law never says “payday loan.” The product is a deferred presentment transaction: you write the lender a check, or authorize a debit, for the amount you borrow plus the fee, and the lender agrees to hold it until an agreed date up to 31 days out. The lender is a deferred presentment provider, licensed as a money services business by the OFR under chapter 560. Before every loan, the provider must query the state’s database to confirm you have no other deferred presentment loan open anywhere in Florida.

Since July 1, 2019 a provider can also offer a deferred presentment installment transaction: up to $1,000, repaid over 60 to 90 days in roughly equal installments spaced 13 days to a month apart. It must be fully amortizing, so each payment reduces what you owe, and you can prepay without penalty.

What a payday loan costs in Florida

Because the fee is a flat share of the loan, not an interest rate, a single-payment loan costs the same whether it runs 7 days or 31. On the maximum amount:

	Amount
Borrowed	$500
Fee at 10%	$50
Verification fee (maximum)	$5
Due on the date the check is held to	$555
Annualized over 14 days	About 287% APR
Annualized over 31 days	About 130% APR

The APR falls as the term lengthens, so if the lender offers a choice of due dates, the later one inside the 31-day limit costs nothing extra. On the installment version, the 8% biweekly fee on the outstanding balance works out to roughly 208% annualized while a balance is open, and because it is charged on the balance, paying early reduces the total cost. Ask for the federal Truth in Lending box before you sign and compare the Total of Payments with the Amount Financed; the dollar math for both products is in the Florida rules guide.

The 60-day grace period: the rule to know before the due date

This is the part of Florida’s statute lenders rarely volunteer. Under section 560.404(22), if, by the end of the loan term, you tell the provider in writing or in person that you cannot pay in full, the provider must extend the agreement for 60 days after the original due date, without any additional charge. The one condition is credit counseling: you must make an appointment with a consumer credit counseling agency within seven days after the end of the term and complete it before the grace period ends. Skip the counseling and the provider is no longer bound.

Four steps: ask before the due date, in writing, citing section 560.404(22), and keep a copy; book the counseling within seven days (the NFCC agency finder locates a nonprofit member agency); finish it and keep the proof; and if you gave a debit authorization, confirm in writing that it will not run on the original date. The installment version has a smaller relief under section 560.404(23): tell the provider by noon of the business day before a scheduled payment that you cannot pay it, and it must defer that one payment to the end of the schedule at no additional fee. One deferral per loan.

Your rights at the counter

1. A licensed counterparty. Chapter 560 binds licensed providers. The OFR’s own consumer page says to be especially careful to check the license when the lender is online; an unlicensed lender, including some tribal and offshore operations, may follow none of these rules. Verify on the OFR website or call (850) 487-9687, option 2.
2. A capped loan. No more than $500 single-payment or $1,000 installment, and no more than one loan open at a time. A lender offering more, or lending while you have a loan open elsewhere, is breaking its license terms.
3. A capped fee and no rollover. 10% plus up to $5, once. A second fee to extend the same loan is the rollover the statute prohibits.
4. No criminal exposure over the check. Section 560.406 and the 14-point notice in every agreement say you cannot be prosecuted in criminal court for the check. A collector who threatens arrest is wrong.
5. No presentment after you have asked for the grace period. Section 560.404(21) bars the provider from depositing your check once you have said, in writing or in person, that you cannot pay in full and are meeting the grace-period conditions, and bars new fees or penalties because the account had insufficient funds.
6. The federal Truth in Lending box. The APR, finance charge, amount financed, and total of payments must be disclosed in a standard box. Anything a salesperson says that the box does not confirm is not a term of your loan.

Active-duty servicemembers and their dependents have one more: the Military Lending Act caps the Military Annual Percentage Rate on payday loans at 36%.

What happens if you cannot repay

Use the grace period first; it is the cheapest option in the statute and it exists for exactly this moment. If the grace period has run or you did not claim it in time, the provider can present the check, and if it bounces, pursue the debt civilly. Read what happens if you default on a payday loan for what that process looks like, and how to escape the payday loan cycle if a new loan the day after the old one closes has become the pattern. If the underlying problem is a bill you cannot cover, start with what to do when you can’t make this month’s payment: a payment plan with the creditor you actually owe is almost always cheaper than a 287% loan to keep that account current.

Alternatives worth trying first in Florida

A payday loan is legal in Florida but is the most expensive route here, so these come first, roughly cheapest first:

Option	What it costs	The catch
Payment plan on the bill itself	Often nothing	You have to ask before the due date
211 referral to rent, utility, or food help	Nothing	What is funded varies by county
Federal credit union PAL I	Up to 28% APR plus an application fee of up to $20; $200 to $1,000, 1–6 months	One month of membership first; one PAL at a time
Federal credit union PAL II	The same caps; up to $2,000, 1–12 months	Not every federal credit union offers one
Florida payday loan	$55 in fees on $500 over 14 days, about 287% APR (above)	Rollovers are banned; you can ask for a 60-day grace period

The credit union limits come from federal regulation (12 CFR 701.21(c)(7)): no more than three PALs in six months, and no rollovers. Call 211 to reach the local referral line. Employer pay advances and earned-wage apps cost more than their small fees suggest; payday loan alternatives that actually work has the numbers for each option. If an installment loan is on the table, installment loans vs. payday loans explains how to compare total cost.

If you do borrow, borrow the smallest amount over the longest term inside the 31-day limit, read the four numbers in the Truth in Lending box, and confirm the provider’s license before you sign.