It seems like cheap payday loans have taken a real hit in the media of late. Is this fair? We are going to look at this and other issues surrounding this recent financial innovation in this article. The fact is that I’ll let you know my own biases right off the bat, and that is that I don’t believe any politician or regulator has any business getting between two willing parties in a free country. There are many valid reasons to get a same day cash advance which we will also go into here. But just let me state that I don’t think we need politicians telling us everything we can and cannot do. That’s my two cents. So let’s get on with our business.

First of all, for the uninitiated, maybe you have seen a payday loan store or two springing up in your neighborhood over the last ten years or so. They have certainly come into prominence over that time period. You would think that these guys must lose so much money on their lending activities that the business wouldn’t sustain so many individual stores but in fact it does. Why is that? Because they charge pretty high interest rates. Why do they do that? Because they have to if they are going to stay in business and be able to take a little piece of the top

A payday loan store does not require all that much money to operate. If you’ve been inside them you know that there are usually only one or two employees working there. They are often behind a bullet-proof glass window, especially in more crime-ridden neighborhoods. I would suspect most of the upfront fees have to do with passing regulatory schemes devised by the government. But anyway, this is the only place in town where you can ever get a same day cash advance. That’s just how it is. No real bank is going to lend you money in an urgent and needy situation. They will make you fill out an application and then you have to wait for your credit card to come in the mail (if you even pass the credit check).

So, this brings us to the virtue (yes, I said virtue) of cheap payday loans. Thousands upon thousands of people (including myself) have been able to avoid being kicked out of their apartments from time to time only because of these lenders of last resort. When I needed to find a financial bridge to my next paycheck these guys were the only ones willing to take a chance on me. And you know what? Not only did I pay them back two weeks later when I got paid, but I also did not spiral out of control into debt and homelessness. That is why I think these loans are such a great tool when used wisely. What other business service is going to provide you cash until payday? None. This is it

If you can get the loan from your family or friends this may be the better way to go, but oftentimes we don’t have this option. Maybe we have burned that bridge already or we just don’t have any family left. Or maybe they don’t have the money themselves! Just as often you may just want to avoid bringing your loved ones into your temporary financial mess. I think this is a very noble and adult choice to make.

So that is more or less my hurrah for cheap payday loans. I feel like it is an argument that has been completely missing from the newspaper and television pieces on this subject. Of course it is always easy to make a big deal out of something and turn some business into the “devil”, but in this case it is at least partially misleading. Many working families might even be out on the street if they didn’t have access to cheap payday loans now and again. Of course it is not ideal, but what is? You have to understand that there is always an eagerness present in the mass media to demonize someone or something. It just makes for better ratings.

My position is always that we should err on the side of free enterprises and allowed agreements between two consenting adults. Like I said, this won’t always produce utopian results, but neither will anything else in this world. Sometimes it’s all you can do to just barely avoid a disaster by use of a same day cash advance. Not all of us have mommy and daddy there to bail us out whenever things get tough. Nor do we have a sugar daddy! In this case the payday loan store will have to do, won’t it? Done right it will prove to only be a temporary master, anyway.