If you are reading this article, you probably know what a "payday loan" or "cash advance" is. (If not, you can read more about payday loans or cash advances or see Wikipedia's definition of a payday loan). You may also be painfully aware of the debt trap that you can find yourself in once you've taken out, and "renewed" or "rolled over" a loan once or twice. It's amazing how quickly a $300 loan taken out to help you through a financial emergency can turn into a cycle of debt, eating away more and more of your hard earned paycheck or government benefits check.

We've heard many horror stories of people's financial lives being ruined by the payday loan debt cycle. Jill was a 22 year old single mother with a young child who took out a $200 loan to fix her car so she could drive to her job as a secretary. Her weekly take home pay was just over $600. Because she was paid weekly, the payday lender gave her a 1 week loan with a fee of $40 (which translates into a whopping 1040% APR). Jill couldn't pay the full amount on her first due date, so she "rolled" the loan over for another week, adding an extra $40 to the amount due. Because her funds were tight, she "rolled" the loan over 5 more times, racking up a total amount due of $480 -- over double the amount she originally borrowed just over 1 1/2 months earlier. Of course Jill couldn't pay the whole loan off. She was trapped in a downward death spiral of a cycle of debt.

This is just one story of thousands. Unfortunately, people in Jill's situation are stuck on the fringes of the banking system. Traditional banks were not able to lend Jill the $200 she needed to fix her car because she didn't have a bank account or a decent credit score. Jill couldn't get a credit card since her credit score was too low (and even if she could get one, she could not get it quickly enough to fix her car and avoid missing work). So, although payday lenders arguably provide a needed service to some customers, the fact is that a large number of payday loan borrowers get stuck in an endless cycle of payday loan debt. How does someone like Jill break the cycle of debt? How can she get back to the point where her hard-earned paycheck is not eaten away by loan fees?

There are several steps that payday loan borrowers can take to win back their paychecks.

1. First, pick a responsible, licensed lender. Licensed lenders charge lower rates, and are often limited in the number of times they can allow their customers to roll their loans over.

2. Next, get a clear picture of your debt situation. If you already have a loan (or more than one), spend a few minutes and get an accurate view of how bad your debt is. Collect all your loan agreements and create a financial worksheet with information from each loan agreement.

3. Now, get a clear picture of your credit outlook. Are you eligible for cheaper credit? Do some simple (and free) research to understand your credit score and credit history. Also contact the credit bureaus that track your "subprime" or payday loan credit history. If your credit history is reasonably good, you may be eligible for cheaper and less destructive credit.

4. Finally, take action to clear up your payday loan debt. Based on your debt situation and your credit outlook, you can make good decisions about how to pay off your payday loan debt.

The payday loan debt cycle can be crushing -- but you can get out of it! Imagine how relieved and happy you will be once your paycheck or benefits check is free from debts to payday lenders!

Learn more about how to get credit consolidation loans, or simply take the steps outlined above to get organized, and get started. The most important thing to remember is that payday loans should only be used for emergency situations -- don't rely on them for long term credit needs.