Payday loans have become a way for people to get fast cash. Check cashers, finance companies and others are making small, short-term, high-rate payday loans that go by a variety of names. Sometimes, they're called cash advance loans, check advance loans, post-dated check loans or deferred deposit check loans.

But how do payday loans work? Well, usually, a borrower writes a personal check payable to the lender for the amount he or she wishes to borrow plus a fee. Afterwards, the company or the lending institution would then give the borrower the amount of money in the check minus the fee. The fees charged for payday loans are usually a percentage of the face value of the check. Sometimes, the fee may be charged per amount borrowed. For instance, for every $100 loan you borrow, you get charged a fee of $50. If the loan is extended, a process referred to as "roll-over", you are obliged to pay the additional fees that could incur. So for example, you make an extension of two weeks for your $100 loan. That means, you pay a total of $150 in fees, provided that one week equals to a $50 fee.

The Paperwork

Under the Truth in Lending Act, the cost of payday loans, like other types of credit, must be disclosed to the borrower. Other pieces of relevant information that you must receive in writing include the finance charge or the dollar amount and the annual percentage rate or APR. The APR refers to the cost of credit on a yearly basis.

Fast Cash, High Rates

A payday loan, which is a cash advance loan secured by a personal check, is a very expensive source of credit. But despite this, many people still opt for payday loans. To explain to you just how expensive payday loans can be, let's say that you need to borrow $100 and so you write a check for $115 which would pay your loan for up to 14 days. The check casher or payday lender agrees to hold the check until your next payday. At that time, depending on the particular plan, the lender deposits the check. You then redeem the check by paying the $115 in cash. If you can't make the payment, you can also roll-over the check by paying a fee to extend the loan for another two weeks. In this example, the lender charges you $15 as fee and at the same time, the loan costs you 391 percent APR. If you roll-over the loan three times, the finance charge would climb to $60 to borrow $100.