I’ve made two shopping trips and hit three payday loan stores and conclude that the situation is pretty straightforward. Around here, you can get up to $255 at a cost of $45 in each of the three check cashing stores I tried.  Must be a regulatory limit. The picture at left shows the whopping interest rate of 460% and peanuts. And you get to hang on to the loot for only two weeks.

All it takes is a paystub, your most recent bank statement (a printed version), a government-issued ID, and a check. In one store I was directed to cough up my social security number, for reasons unspecified. Social security number? When they are not actually checking your credit? I wonder if real customers feel ok just handing it over. (Perhaps I should hang out there for a while one Saturday and see what people do.)

If you compare this loan to taking out a mortgage, it is super-easy. But it’s actually not half as easy as I had imagined it to be. The printed statement is definitely a pain. And then you have to go back again, in person, at your next payday to hand over the entire $300. You have got to want that money.

Marijke