Almost half have used a payday loan, and many don’t have enough savings to cover a single $400 emergency expense.

AUSTIN, TX, USA, October 31, 2023 /EINPresswire.com/ — Payday loans are generally considered an emergency option, but as families struggle to pay for essentials like gas, groceries and rent, more people use them as a financial lifeline.

According to new survey findings from DebtHammer, almost half of Americans have used payday loans to cover some type of expense.

Oct. 31, 2023, is World Savings Day, a day designed to inform residents across the globe about the importance of saving. To mark this, DebtHammer surveyed more than 1,000 Americans to learn how they use short-term loans and whether they have enough savings to cover a sudden expense.

Unfortunately, Americans still fall short. Almost half of survey respondents said they don’t have enough money saved to be able to cover an unexpected $400 expense, and 5% said they’d experience severe depression or other mental health problems if faced with this situation.

Key takeaways

Borrowers can’t afford to repay the loans: Though a $200 loan with a $30 fee doesn’t sound like much, borrowers simply can’t afford to make the lump-sum payment in two weeks. 19% repaid their loan late, while another 14% got an extension or rolled it over into a new payday loan. About 5% never repaid the loan at all.

Americans use loans to repay other loans: More than half of payday loan users borrowed from a payday lender and used the money to pay another loan.

Households aren’t saving for emergencies: Almost half of Americans said they don’t have enough savings to cover an unexpected $400 expense

Read the full report at https://debthammer.org/payday-loan-use-survey/.

DebtHammer is an industry leader in the business of fighting to get Americans out of debt.

Please email [email protected] for more information or if you would like to schedule a phone or video call.

Feel free to embed any of the visuals included in the report on your website or to use or edit the raw files as needed. Full data sets are available upon request.

Jake Hill
DebtHammer
+1 214-542-2502
email us here