It happens to everybody: a week before payday, your roof starts to leak, your computer crashes and the technician tells you that its cheaper to buy a new one than to have it repaired, or a friend invites you to join her for a weekend vacation at a hotel with a limited promo.

These are the financial emergencies that you cant quite factor into your budget. You can afford to pay for it, you just dont have the money with you right now and for one reason or another, you cant use a credit card. One option available to you is a payday loan.

Payday loans are short-term loans where you are lent a small amount to tide you over until your salary comes in. Many payday loan companies can be found on the Internet (allowing for a quick search, for that quick solution to an urgent problem). These companies, in turn, will be the one to find the lending institutions that can spot you for that amount. Your application will be processed within days, and when you need it, the money appears in your account, ready to be spent as you wished. They simply withdraw the money from the bank account, with interest, when your salary comes in.

When should you get a payday loan?

1. When the purposes of your loan may not be accepted by other lending institutions.

One advantage of a payday loan is that you can use it for whatever purposes you like; you do not need to justify your expense. Whether its a vacation to France, a new laptop, or your daughters tuition fees, you do not have to go through the lengthy and often stringent evaluation process that other lending institutions demand. Try telling a bank officer that you always wanted to see Paris. You wont get very far. When you take a payday loan, you dont even have to explain.

2. When you need the money very quickly.

Another advantage is that it is very quickly processed, you have the money in days ,whereas most lending institutions will take days just to look at your application. If you process the payday loan on a Monday, youll get it before the end of the week. If you turn it in on a Friday, you may have to wait a little longer because of the non-banking holidays, but its still going to move much faster than if you had applied for an advance at your office.

3. When you have credit card problems.

Ironically, its the people who need money most who have a hard time borrowing it. But not everyone is so financially secure that you had a gold credit card to charge all emergencies. You may be struggling with maxed out credit cards, but then your car breaks down, or your child gets sick. In this situation, payday loans may be your only solution. At least you know its available.

4. When you want a short-term debt.

And since the amount you borrow is paid back to your creditor by the very next payday, you arent tempted to sit on the debt as you would if you had used your credit card (or borrowed from your mother).. In a way, it is a good solution for those who wouldve paid for that emergency in cash, except for a small logistical problem of when your pay check is released.