Cash Advances

[tightgrip]

I was wondering if this is ok? We had some medical emergencies come up in the last week and now we are down to zero in our checking. Is it ok to go to a cash advance to get $200 to get groceries and then we are paying them back 4 days later when our check gets here? We are going to be filing within the next month or so but we really fell behind this paycheck and we need money for groceries. Is it only bad to use cash advances if you are not paying them back ? We don't know anyone to lend us the money so we are stuck with the option of a cash advance. But like I said we are going to pay it back on Friday when we get our paycheck. Is this ok? Has anyone used a small cash advance weekes before filing. I am not worried one bit about us not paying it back just worried about how that would look on our look back?

[justbroke]

I tell people to stay away from these "pay day" advance loans like it's a deadly virus. I think it's a virus because once it gets in you, it's hard to stop the spread. Part of me wants to say "okay, so long as you pay on Friday", but we all know that Friday comes and goes with you just "renewing" the advance.

You must have family somewhere? I may be more inclined go sell something of value (Craigslist or Pawn Shop) before I'd walk into the pay day loan company. At least with the Pawn Shop, if you are serious about "repaying"... you just go get your item back and payoff the loan.

I could be wrong, but that's my opinion.

[keptdigging]

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[bobbyquefour]

I would do anything to avoid doing this....could not this be considered to be a "preferential payment", or is that only for payments of $600 or more....I understand you are desperate, but you are so close to filing....I would do as Justbroke says and try to exhaust all other possibilities, but in the end, you have to eat.......

[justbroke]

It wouldn't be a preference. Yes, you do have to eat in the end, and I was minutes away, one day, from doing one of those pay day advances myself. Then I thought I'd just pawn something to hold me over.

I ended up selling an item of personal property later that week for several hundred dollars and that was enough to fix my temporary issue. I was going to pawn it, but it wouldn't yield what I needed.

[mercedesc350]

Hey, I used a few cash advances within a month of filing. Had to put gas in the car somehow. Had nothing to sell/pawn, had no family to bug for $$$. I took out the loans, paid'em right back on payday a week later. Apart from the $40 bloodmoney for the loan each time, to me it was no issue. If anything, if someone had even asked or found out, it was pretty good proof that I was going belly-up. I didn't even consider these events anything worth indicating as "loans" or payments which may have been construed as "preferential." I just thought of it as having gotten an advance on my paycheck a few days early. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, or what you personally should do. If by chance, after the fact, you were asked whether you had made any payments, etc., to anyone recently, you could honestly answer "yes, I took out a payday advance loan which I repaid on pay day." What are they going to do? Make the payday loan service return the money?

[justbroke]

What are they going to do? Make the payday loan service return the money?

That's what the Trustee could do if it was considered a preference. It doesn't affect the debtor.

On another note, I commend you for having the fortitude to pay them back and not "renew" them. The real problem is when you keep "rolling" over the same amount and even increasing your indebtedness to the pay day advance company. I ran into this young lady once who was proud of the fact that the pay day loan company had her up to $500/week. What a shame.