If you do your home work and know exactly what you are looking for, you may be surprised by what you can find. In this case, what you may find is that payday loan companies are not all "sharks" preying on hapless poor consumers. In fact, you will find that a savvy consumer can take advantage of a few of these companies. How?
Well, take a look at this package offered by one such company.
FREE loan of up to $600: If you are a first-time customer, you could apply for a payday cash advance of up to $6oo and the finance fee of $25 for every $100 will be waived. In other words, as a first-time customer, you could get quick cash of up to $600 for two weeks FREE as long as you submit a cash advance payment request online promising to pay your loan in full on the due date. This is similar to what happens to your credit card account where your monthly purchases are not subject to interest charges if you pay your balance in full at the end of each month. Now, what does this company require for these loans?
Very few requirements: This Company will approve your application for a no-fax payday loan provided you have a checking account that is at least 90 days old, are currently employed for at least 6 months, and earns a net income of at least $1000.00. From these requirements, you can easily surmise that this offer is not designed to rip off consumers. If you qualify for this loan, you have an opportunity and the means to pay off your loan on the due date without triggering the high finance fees.
Fast approval: Depending on what time of day you apply and how quickly you complete the application process, you could be approved for this quick loan within minutes. If your application is approved by 5 pm EST, for example, you will receive your fast cash the following business day. The funds are deposited directly into your checking account, and it is available for withdrawal immediately.
No doubt, payday loans represent a potential minefield for consumers and should be used only as a last resort. If you are forced by some unexpected event to apply for one of these loans, look for a company that offers a good package that includes, but not limited to, no-fax quick cash, few requirements for approval and low or no finance fees. Under these strict conditions, payday cash advance can be helpful rather than hurtful to consumers.
Did you know there is no standard definition for 'excellent credit'? You see, 'excellent credit' is a subjective term. Its definition varies from situation to situation, as well as from lender to lender. You may not think you have excellent credit, but even if your credit score is in the 600's, you may still be considered to have an excellent credit profile according to some lenders. There are several variables that contribute to your credit profile that may make lenders view it as 'excellent'.
Even without a standard definition that all lenders adhere to, one thing is true across the board: having an excellent credit profile can save you a lot of money and headache when applying for loans. With excellent credit, you are eligible to receive perks such as: no-documentation loans (saving you loads of time during the loan process), 0% interest rate loan promotions, $0 down payment loans, low fixed interest rates, and quick loan closings which allow you to get your loan funds fast.
After completing these steps, you should have a general idea of how your credit profile will rank as you apply for a loan.
Think about the money you deposit in a bank. The bank happily pays you interest from the day you deposit the money. And the longer you agree to leave it there, the higher the interest rate the bank is willing to pay. Did you every wonder why?
The answer lies in what the bank does with your money after you deposit it. You may say that the answer is very simple; they lend the money back out at a higher rate. That answer would be accurate but not complete. In fact, they do not just lend your money out. They effectively lend out up to TEN TIMES your deposit. They have the advantage of LEVERAGE. The reason for this is that the Federal Reserve Bank only requires banks to keep a portion of their loans in reserve; currently 10%. As the bank makes a loan, the loaned money is deposited back into the banking system and a new loan is made. This happens repeatedly until ten times the amount of the original deposit is loaned.
So the bank is very happy to pay the 2% interest on your loan when they will in effect be able to lend out ten times the amount at, say 6%. So on your $1,000 deposit, they pay you $20 and they earn $600. Not a bad return, considering they are using YOUR MONEY. Of course, the more the bank receives in deposits and the more loans it can make, the greater its returns and profit.
Now, there's absolutely nothing wrong or evil with the way banks make money. In fact, it is essential to an expanding economy for the banks to create money in the way they do. What most of us don't realize is that we can use the same principles to expand our own money supply. We simply have to apply these principles to our own investing.
What the bank does is use leverage, i.e., other people's money and velocity, continually moving that money, to continually expand their profit base. Individuals have the same opportunities but many of don't realize it. A simple example of compound interest can illustrate how individuals can use the bank's money to increase their own wealth and cash flow:
Suppose, for example, that an individual has $20,000 to invest. Most investment advisors would tell that individual to put the money in a mutual fund to receive the "high" returns of the stock market. So, let's suppose the investor follows that advice and invests the $20,000 in a mutual fund. Let's say also that the mutual fund does well and returns a 10% return every year for seven years and that all income from the mutual fund is reinvested at the same 10% rate.
At the end of seven years, the investor's $20,000 will have grown to $39,000, or almost double the original investment. Most investment advisors (and most investors) would be very happy with this return. In fact, it would be most unusual to do this well over a seven-year period given the stock market's fluctuations. This result is actually a demonstration of compound interest.
Now let's look at what happens if the investor instead uses leverage to increase the return on that $20,000 investment. For simplicity, let's use real estate for our example. We could use other investment vehicles, such as business activities or stock options, but we are all familiar with how leverage works in real estate.
Instead of investing the $20,000 in a mutual fund, let's suppose instead that the individual invested in a single-family home. Let's suppose the investor puts down 10% on a $200,000 house (including closing costs). Let's further suppose that the investor then rents the house for an amount equal to the monthly mortgage and maintenance expenses of the house. Then, let's say that the house appreciates at an annual rate of 5%.
At the end of seven years, the house will be worth $281,000. The investor's $20,000 will have grown to $101,000, or roughly 2.5 times the return from a good mutual fund. It's probably safe to say that this is a considerably better result than the mutual fund. This result occurs because of the principle of LEVERAGE.
The investor in this case received not only the 5% appreciation on the original $20,000 investment, but also received 5% on the bank's loan of $180,000. Of course, many real estate markets are currently appreciating at a much higher rate than 5%, so this return could be unrealistically low. But the average appreciation in real estate over the past several decades has been around 7%, so 5% is a nice, CONSERVATIVE, example.
You may now be thinking that this whole idea of leverage is great and earning $81,000 on a $20,000 investment over seven years would be terrific. The problem with this is "IT'S STILL TOO SLOW." We can still do much better. Besides leverage, we need to add the principle of VELOCITY. For more on Velocity, please see my article: "The Fast Track to Your Financial Freedom (Part 2) - Adding Velocity to Your Investments".