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A Payday loan (also called a Payday advance) is a small, short-term, loan secured against a customer's next pay check. The loans are also sometimes referred to as cash advances, though that term can also refer to cash provided against a prearranged line of credit such as a credit card. Pay day advance loans rely on the consumer having previous payroll and employment records. Legislation regarding payday loans varies widely between different countries and, within the USA, between different states.

To prevent usury (unreasonable and excessive rates of interest), some jurisdictions limit the annual percentage rate (APR) that any lender, including payday lenders, can charge. Some jurisdictions outlaw payday lending entirely, and some have very few restrictions on payday lenders. Due to the extremely short-term nature of payday loans, the difference between nominal APR and effective APR (EAR) can be substantial, because EAR takes compounding into account. For a $15 charge on a $100 2-week payday loan, the annual percentage rate is 26 × 15% = 390%; the usefulness of an annual rate (such as an APR) has been debated because APRs are designed to enable consumers to compare the cost of long-term credit and may not be meaningful in cases where the loan will be outstanding for only a few weeks. Likewise, an "effective" rate (such as an EAR — (1.15^26 - 1) \times 100% = 3,685%) may have even more limited value because payday loans do not permit interest compounding; the principal amount remains the same, regardless of how long the loan is outstanding. Nevertheless, careful scrutiny of the particular measure of loan cost quoted is necessary to make meaningful comparisons.

Payday loans carry substantial risk to the lender; they have a default rate of 10-20%, and according to one study, defaults cost payday lenders around a quarter of their annual revenue.

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