Will Paying Off a Cash Advance Loan Early Save Money - OppLoans

Will Paying Off a Cash Advance Loan Early Save Money - OppLoans Will Paying Off a Cash Advance Loan Early Save Money? Will Paying Off a Cash Advance Loan Early Save Money?With some loans, you can save money by paying them off ahead of scheduleâ€"but paying off a cash advance loan early might leave you disappointed!If you’ve taken out a cash advance loan to cover emergency expenses and you’re in a position to pay it off early, congratulations! You’re getting ahead of the game. But will paying that cash advance loan off ahead of schedule actually save you money? Here’s what you need to know. How do cash advance loans work?If you’re familiar with payday loans, then you can skip to the next section. That’s because payday loans and cash advances are essentially interchangeable. In fact, cash advances are sometimes referred to as “payday cash advances.”Cash advance loans are small-dollar, short-term no credit check loans that are aimed at people with poor credit, the kind whose scores lock them out from borrowing money with traditional lenders. They have an average principal loan amount of a few hundred dollars and an average repayment term of only two weeks.These loans are very easy to apply forâ€"oftentimes all you need is a bank account in order to qualify for oneâ€" and they’re repaid in a single lump-sum balloon payment with the due date set for the borrower’s next payday. Lenders usually “secure” the loan through a post-dated check or an automatic debit agreement for the amount owed.The average interest rate for cash advance loans is $15 per $100, which seems fairly reasonable … at least at first. When measured against regular personal loans, however, that cost is extremely high. A 15 percent interest rate for a two-week online loan adds up to an annual percentage rate (APR) of almost 400 percent!It all depends on how interest is being charged.Any loan you borrow is going to come with some kind of interest. But there are two ways that interest can be charged, and that is what determines whether or not early repayment will save you money.The standard w ay to charge interest is as an ongoing rate. A loan with a 10 percent APR, for example, would accumulate 10 percent of the loan principal in interest every year. That means that interest on this loan accumulates at the rate of .027 percent every day.However, when interest is charged this way, every payment made on the loan lowers the outstanding principal, which means that less money accumulates in interest. To return to the previous example: A one-year $1,000 loan with a 10 percent APR would actually only accumulate $56 in interest.The other way to charge interest is as a simple flat fee. A $500 cash advance loan with a 15 per $100 interest charge, for instance, would charge the borrower $75 in interest right off the bat, to be repaid when the loan is due.If interest is being charged as a flat fee, then paying off your loan early won’t save you a dime. That interest fee is the same on the day the loan issued as it is on the day it’s due. So in answer to the question posed in th e title of this post: No, paying off a cash advance loan early won’t save you money.With amortizing installment loans, on the other hand, paying your loan off early will save you money. (Here’s a quick primer on how amortization works.) The quicker the loan is paid off, the less time there is for interest to accumulate, and the less money you’ll pay on the loan overall.The one exception for installment loans can be prepayment penalties. These are extra fees levied against the borrower if a loan is paid off early. If you’re looking to take out a personal installment loan, do your best to find one that doesn’t charge prepayment penalties.With cash advances, watch out for loan rollover.Even though paying off a payday cash advance loan early might not save you money, they can still seem like a pretty good proposition. Two weeks and you’re out of debt!But the truth of how these short-term bad credit loans work looks a little different. According to data collected by the Consu mer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the average payday loan user takes out 10 loans annually and spends almost 200 days per year in debt.And when interest is charged as a flat fee, the costs can add up quickly. Many borrowers have trouble affording those lump sum payments, which leads to them either reborrowing a loan or rolling to overâ€"at least if they live somewhere that hasn’t banned loan rollover outright.Reborrowing a loan simply means taking out a new loan immediately after youve paid off your old one. Rolling a loan over, on the other hand, means extending the original loan’s due date in return for a new interest charge. Oftentimes, all borrowers have to do to roll over a loan is pay off the original interest charge.Every time someone does this, their cost of borrowing increases. If the first interest charge is 15 percent, then the second charge brings their total interest rate to 30 percent. The next rollover brings them to 45 percent, then 60 percent, etc.When som ebody is rolling a loan over, they’re paying extra money in interest, but they aren’t borrowing any extra money. Any payment they make to roll over their loan increases their cost of borrowing, but it doesn’t pay down their principal, which means it doesn’t bring them any closer to being out of debt.There’s a name for this: It’s called a “debt cycle.” Actually, there are two names for it, as it’s also referred to as a “debt trap.” And while paying off a cash advance loan ahead of schedule won’t save you money, the dangers of one snaring you in a high-interest debt trap could end up costing you hundreds (or even thousands!) of dollars in extra fees and interest. It’s a bit of a lose-lose proposition.To learn more about how you can improve your financial outlookâ€"and avoid payday cash advances altogetherâ€"check out these related posts and articles from OppLoans:A Beginner’s Guide to Budgeting5 Tips for Turning Bad Credit into Good CreditThe Debt Snowball Method Can Help You Get out of Debt8 Good Habits to Get Your Financesâ€"and Your Lifeâ€"on TrackDo you have a personal finance question youd like us to answer? Let us know! You can find us  on  Facebook  and  Twitter.Visit OppLoans on  YouTube  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  LinkedIN  |Instagram