Payday Loan Laws in Georgia

Payday loans in GA are short-term loans that have been available to borrowers for more than a decade. Consumers appreciate payday loans because they can usually obtain them within 24 hours, and they do not have to have perfect credit. Unfortunately, some payday lenders got involved with predatory practices, and many of the states started regulating the loans because of such.

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Payday Loans in Georgia

The state of Georgia is one of the states that has regulations on its payday advances. The following contains some information on the matter:

Minimum Qualifications for a Georgia Cash Advance

Georgia payday loans have minimum qualifications just as the rest of the states have minimum qualifications. The applicant must be 18 years of age with a stable job and a significant amount of pay in his or her paycheck. A good rule of thumb is for the person to earn at least $1,000 a month. The applicant must also have a valid bank account that is free of adverse transactions such as overdrafts and negative balances. Many payday loans online lenders do not check credit, but some of them do. The consumer should ask questions or read the website FAQ section before he or she applies for a payday advance.

Georgia Payday Loan Regulations

In 2004, the state of Georgia incorporated some strict laws against payday loans in Georgia. The state prohibits the issuance of payday loans in Georgia from non-banking institutions. Industrial loan lenders can still offer cash advances to Georgia residents, and out-of-state banks can still offer such loans to Georgia residents if they are FDIC insured. Consumers can seek assistance from Internet lenders if they would like to have access to quick cash advances.

Short Term Loan Laws in Georgia

The payday loan laws in Georgia fall under the Georgia Payday Loan Act. Lenders may not issue loans to consumers that are more than $3,000 in total. Furthermore, the act places a stipulation on the amount of time that a lender can stretch a loan. Lenders may only lend money to consumers for 36 months and 15 days.

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The small consumer loan laws in Georgia prohibit lenders from charging anyone more than 60 percent per year for their loans. Many of the payday lenders that were operating in Georgia stopped operating when the two previously mentioned laws came about.

Requirements for a Payday Loan

A consumer will have to meet certain requirements for applying for a cash advance:

  1. The first requirement that the person will need to meet is the age requirement. All loans require a person to be at least 18 years of age or older.
  2. The second requirement that the person will need to meet is the employment requirement. Applicants must earn enough money to qualify for a payday loan, and the lender will want to see proof of such income. Lenders usually require a person to have a regular job, but in some cases, they will accept unemployment compensation and other such types of income for a loan approval.

Getting a Payday Loan Online

Georgia residents can still apply for payday loans despite the regulations against them. They can visit online establishments and request loans through an Internet provider. Interested persons should go through a research process before they ask for online payday loans, however. First, they should visit at least three providers and read the section of their websites that talk about their interest charges, loan amounts requirements and so forth. Next, they will want to search for consumer reviews. Consumer reviews will usually disclose any negative aspects of a payday loan company.

Customers will tell about their experiences with customer service, promptness, the speed of fund delivery and the like. Some review sites have a star rating system that they go by, as well. Typically star systems will have a five-star tier or a 10-star tier. An interested consumer should not visit a site that has less than three stars out of five or five stars out of 10. Those thresholds depict an average lender, and any rating that is less than average depicts a poor lending institution.

Once the consumer finds a lender that meets all of his or her requirements, the person should then apply for a payday advance with confidence.