The money is there. Should you borrow it?

As if you had the choice! Well, let's take you through the arguments and you can make a better decision. There are two basic possibilities: Situation 1. Let's say you've been unlucky. Your car got in an accident or there are hospital bills. This type of expense can push even the best laid financial plans out the window. Now you're looking at a big hole. You tried to negotiate instalments for paying off the bill but the creditor is unsympathetic - wants the whole amount in one hit. If you do this, you're going to be left with other bills due before the end of the month. No matter how you juggle between accounts, you're going to come up short. In this type of situation, a fast cash advance is about your only alternative. This is a real crisis. The question is how quickly you can put the wheel back onto your financial wagon. Let's say the shortfall is $400. What's the slack in your budgets? How many months will it take you to make up the "lost" $400? The problem is that payday loans are not really designed for this. You would be better finding someone to lend you the $400 over, say, six months and you repay it without getting into trouble. If you cannot borrow this amount from anyone else, be very disciplined through the payday loan system. Take $400 the first month, repay and then reduce each subsequent month's borrowing by $66. This will bridge the gap at the lowest possible cost. Situation 2. This is more worrying. Your monthly net wage/salary hasn't changed for the last year or so but everything has gone up in price. It's not just the gas, it's all the essentials you can't do without. You're slowly arriving at the point where money in does not match money out. Borrowing any money through the instant payday loansystem is going to work out very expensive. You should take an axe to your costs and overheads. It may be hard, but reducing your outgoings is a better solution than borrowing because you are never going to have enough slack in your income to repay what you borrow. Perhaps you can add more to your income by working overtime or getting a second job. Frankly, anything is better than a payday loan in this situation.