Payday loans and cash advances cost you money and are not cheap.

However as many payday loan specialists say "Your fees are less than the cost of not having the cash you need when you need it - overdraft fees, bounced check charges, taxes, even losing your job because you can't get to work!"

Actual fees are determined based on the information you provide when you submit your loan application and tend to be $20 - $40 per hundred that you borrow when you pay the loan back as agreed, usually 5 - 17 days.

So if you borrow $300, you give them a pre-dated check, or if online, the right and ability to take the amount directly out of your account. The amount that you are paying them is $360 - $420, the $300 plus a charge of $60 -$120.

This is "if" you pay the loan back within the agreed upon time, 5 - 17 days. If you aren't able to, and you do have the option, they begin charging you interest, usually at least 15%.

So yes, a cash advance or payday loan is very helpful when you have those short term emergencies, as long as you pay them back right aways, however the charges will rack up if you decide too or need to not pay the loan back.

What should have been a $360 dollar payment could turn into $600 before you know it.

You need to ask yourself and add up the costs of not having the $300 from the cash advance.

* Did you write one check that will be submitted to your bank and then be returned NSF and you'll be charged $15? Seems to me that one $15 charge is not that bad

* However if you wrote five checks that will be returned NSF? If your bank is going to charge you a $25 NSF fee, per check, whoa! $125 in fees, you sure do need a cash advance.