What are the Pros and Cons of Payday Loans?

Payday Loans: What are the Pros and Cons?

Aakash Jain Posted on October 08, 2025

What is a payday loan?

Payday loans are short-term loans available online which can be availed with minimum paperwork within a few hours for emergency purposes. The idea is that you pay the loan back on your next payday. The interest charged on these loans is usually on a per-day basis and is much higher than a personal loan. There are a lot of companies that offer a payday loan online. They haven’t really taken off in India because of advertising regulations and other reasons. If you are on the lookout for an alternative to a payday loan, you can check out Pocket Personal Loan, available on Bajaj Markets, wherein you can get quick disbursal for loan amounts from Rs.10000 to Rs.50000 with a completely paperless, 100% DIY process and an attractive interest rate of 12-18%.

What are the pros?

Convenience

There could be occasions when your salary isn’t credited on time, and you require cash urgently for an emergency, or even for your regular expenses. Borrowing from friends or relatives isn’t always an option. Borrowing from traditional money lenders also takes some paperwork and the loan won’t get processed in a day. You need not put off your emergency expense in this scenario. A payday loan will provide you with the required amount of money in a few hours with minimum paperwork. All you have to submit is salary slips for three months, bank account statements, security cheques, and the application form.

Reliability

If you are borrowing from a moneylender, there is a chance that the loan may not come through. Friends and family probably would not be ready to lend the huge amount that you need for emergencies like major car repairs, medical bills, etc. At such a time, you can quickly avail a payday loan online. The chances of you getting a loan are much higher.

Credit history doesn’t count

Online payday lenders consider your current financial situation and not your past credit record. If you have a low credit score, traditional lenders may hesitate to give you a loan. But payday lenders consider your current financial situation instead of your credit history.

What are the cons?

Interest rates

Payday loans online charge an unbelievably high-interest rate of around 36% a month. The annual interest on these loans comes up to an unreasonably high rate of 540%. If you compare it to the highest interest rate from other sources, credit card loans charge 40% per year, which is still considered to be very high. This sounds unreal because customers often do not look at the interest rates of payday loans as an annual rate.

Other charges

As if the high-interest rates were not enough, there is also a 1-2% processing fee, 1-4% per day late payment penalty, and Rs.500 to Rs.1000 cheque bounce fee. If you end up paying so many costs for something that is supposed to ease your financial burden, you end up with a bigger burden by the end of it.

Type of Loan	Rate of interest	Term	Other charges
Payday Loan	0.5-2%/ day	30-90 days	1-4 % per day for late payment penalty, 1-2% for processing fees, Rs.500 to Rs.1,000 for cheque bounce fee
Personal Loan	Up to 25% per year	1-5 years	0.25-2.5% for processing fee; up to 5% for prepayment fee*
Credit Card	Up to 3.49%/ month**	Monthly payments	Yearly fees of up to Rs.3,000; late payment fees of up to Rs.750*

Type of Loan

Rate of interest

Term

Other charges

Payday Loan

0.5-2%/ day

30-90 days

1-4 % per day for late payment penalty, 1-2% for processing fees, Rs.500 to Rs.1,000 for cheque bounce fee

Personal Loan

Up to 25% per year

1-5 years

0.25-2.5% for processing fee; up to 5% for prepayment fee*

Credit Card

Up to 3.49%/ month**

Monthly payments

Yearly fees of up to Rs.3,000; late payment fees of up to Rs.750*

Parameter	Personal loans	Payday loans
Loan Amount	You can avail a high loan amount in case of personal loans	The loan amount that you can avail is significantly lower as compared to personal loans
Interest Rate	Lower interest rate as compared to payday loans	Higher interest rate as compared to personal loans
Credit Score Check	To avail a personal loan, you would be required to have a good credit score	Lenders don’t usually check the credit score while granting payday loans. This is one of the major pros of payday loan
Loan Term	Personal loans have a minimum term of 1 year and can last as long as 5 years	Payday loans are short term loans that come for a short duration of 2-4 weeks
Lenders	Personal loans are offered by banks, NBFCs, credit unions, online lenders, etc.	Payday loans are offered by lenders that specialize in short-term lending.

Parameter

Personal loans

Payday loans

Loan Amount

You can avail a high loan amount in case of personal loans

The loan amount that you can avail is significantly lower as compared to personal loans

Interest Rate

Lower interest rate as compared to payday loans

Higher interest rate as compared to personal loans

Credit Score Check

To avail a personal loan, you would be required to have a good credit score

Lenders don’t usually check the credit score while granting payday loans. This is one of the major pros of payday loan

Loan Term

Personal loans have a minimum term of 1 year and can last as long as 5 years

Payday loans are short term loans that come for a short duration of 2-4 weeks

Lenders

Personal loans are offered by banks, NBFCs, credit unions, online lenders, etc.

Payday loans are offered by lenders that specialize in short-term lending.

The verdict

However attractive they may seem at first, payday loans are an unnecessary strain on your wallet. The best way of avoiding them is by keeping an emergency fund at hand, which is worth a minimum of three-four months of your salary. So if your car breaks down in the middle of a trip, you don’t have to worry about borrowing money at all. And if your emergency fund is also exhausted, there are personal loans that you can avail with convenience. For example, the Bajaj Finserv Hybrid Flexi Personal Loan, available on Bajaj Markets. It offers you interest-only- EMIs and flexibility in repayment of the principal amount. There are no additional charges or tedious paperwork.