Payday Loan Cost Calculator

Payday lenders quote a flat fee per $100 borrowed, not an interest rate, and the $15 sounds cheap because the term is short. Annualize it and the math is brutal: $15 on a $100 14-day loan is a 15% fee per two-week period, which works out to 0.15 x (365 / 14) = 391% APR. The CFPB has used that 391% figure as the canonical example for years. APR exists precisely so you can compare a two-week loan to a 30-year mortgage on equal footing, and on that footing payday loans are roughly 25 to 50 times more expensive than a typical credit card.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized a Payday, Vehicle Title, and Certain High-Cost Installment Loans Rule in 2017, which would have required lenders to verify a borrower's ability to repay before issuing a loan. The ability-to-repay underwriting piece was rescinded by the CFPB in 2020, though the payment-withdrawal restrictions (limiting how many times a lender can hit your bank account) remain in effect. There is no federal cap on the per-$100 fee, so the $15-per-$100 figure is an industry benchmark, not a federal law. Several states have written it into their own usury statutes as the explicit ceiling.

A rollover means you pay another fee to extend the loan without reducing the principal you owe. Roll a $500 loan with a $75 fee just four times and you have paid $375 in fees on top of still owing the original $500, so a borrower in the standard debt cycle pays back $875 on a $500 advance. CFPB research found that about 80% of payday loans are rolled over or reborrowed within two weeks, and the median borrower ends up taking out 10 loans in a year. Total fees often exceed the original principal long before the debt is actually cleared.

Payday-loan laws vary by state and can change through rate caps, fee limits, licensing rules, and product definitions. Check the current rules from your state financial regulator before relying on a lender's quoted fee. The federal Military Lending Act limits the Military Annual Percentage Rate to 36% for covered active-duty service members and covered dependents. That measure includes certain fees, so it is not identical to the ordinary APR shown in this calculator.

Three options usually beat a payday loan by a wide margin. Credit-union Payday Alternative Loans (PALs) are capped at 28% APR under NCUA rules, lend $200 to $2,000 over one to twelve months, and are designed specifically to replace storefront payday loans. Many employers now offer earned-wage access through services like DailyPay or PayActiv that let you draw already-earned wages early for a flat fee of a few dollars. A credit-card cash advance, even at the typical 25 to 29% APR plus a 3 to 5% upfront fee, is still cheaper than a 391% APR payday loan over a two-week window. Asking family or friends for a short-term loan, or negotiating a payment plan with the creditor you are trying to pay, costs nothing at all.