We will always find times in life when money suddenly becomes stretched and you might discover that urgent, unforeseen costs leave you unable to keep up with all your essential monthly payments like your rent. Even if you budget well and make a conscious effort to manage your money effectively, unexpected expenses can arise leaving you feeling stressed and anxious about your finances. Unsecured loans, like payday loans are designed to ease cashflow shortfall so you can remain in control of your finances and meet those emergency payments more easily.

What can go wrong if I don’t pay my rent?

Losing your place to live is obviously a very scary prospect. A roof over your head is something we often take for granted, but when financial shocks leave you without money for rent, it can become a major and very real worry. If you get into more than 2 months’ arrears with your rent, then a landlord can take you to court to have you evicted from the property, although some landlords may threaten eviction after less time.

If you feel like you can’t afford to cover your rent this month, don’t stick your head in the sand and ignore the issue. Talk to your landlord to explain your circumstances and make them aware of your predicament as soon as possible. Transparency can make these issues easier to manage and clear communication is likely to help. Your landlord may even understand the difficulty you are facing and offer support or an alternative payment arrangement. They are also less likely to exercise enforcement action if you engage with them.

Remember, you can’t leave your rent arrears behind by leaving the property. Even if you do move out, you will still be liable to pay the amount owed and finding a new place to live without a good reference from your previous landlord is likely to prove difficult.

How does a payday loan help me pay my rent?

There are different cases where a payday loan could help you pay your rent.

Renting a new property

A particularly challenging scenario when money is tight is having to move into a new rented accommodation and handing over a deposit at the start of your tenancy. The amount of the deposit can be the equivalent of one or two months’ rent, and with your actual rent to pay on top, the pay-out for that first month can be unmanageable all in one go. An instalment loan could help you by spreading the costs over a few months, so the repayments are smaller and typically more manageable. This means you can pay your landlord in full up front and settle the loan when your wages come in.

Unexpected expenses causing cashflow shortfall

If you experience an emergency payment in the middle of the month, such as replacing a blown tyre, your carefully prepared budget could go out the window, making your remaining essential bills difficult to meet. Using short term credit like payday loans or instalment loans to cover these emergency costs means you can meet your priority bills on time and not worry about how you are going to cover the unexpected costs.

What if I frequently struggle to pay my rent?

If you are looking for urgent cash loans because you are consistently struggling to meet your rent payments, it may be that your rent is too expensive, or it could be that your non-essential outgoings have increased. If your rent is too much for you to manage, no amount of credit is likely to help as you will be constantly borrowing and repaying loans to meet your payments each month. Consider whether you can move to cheaper accommodation, or if better budgeting would help you keep better control of your finances. If you are really worried about your circumstances, you could contact a charity for advice, like Shelter, who help with issues related to housing and homelessness.

Why choose a payday loan?

A payday loan can help you raise the funds to pay your rent when you realise there is not enough money in your budget to make the payment until payday. The applications are quick and simple, and most payday lenders operate an online service so that you can apply anywhere at any time. If you are approved, the funds are typically transferred the same day (often within a few minutes) so you can resolve your cashflow issue almost immediately. Payday loans also consider people who have a bad credit history and may not be able to access mainstream credit. Though your credit score and credit file will be taken into consideration, a poor history does not guarantee rejection. This is because lenders know that sometimes things don’t go to plan, and your credit history may not be an accurate reflection of your current financial circumstances.

However, you shouldn’t rely on a payday loan every month to cover regular essential costs. Even if you desperately need cash to meet your rent, using credit when the repayments are unaffordable could cause bigger money issues and make credit much harder to obtain in the future. If the issue is expected to be temporary, however, and you’re confident your finances will be back to normal next month, payday loans could assist you in the short term.