A recent circular made it through my door offering me a small ‘cash’ loan of up to £500.

‘Quick cash’ and ‘payday’ loans have been available in America for many years and have recently started to gain more ground in the UK too. Indicative of the fact that debt problems are on the rise (a fact very few would dispute).

People that are likely to need small cash injections are also likely to be people on very low incomes. People on higher incomes have more opportunity to save or have more options by way of debt consolidation.

The more you earn, the more lenders are likely to consider giving you.

So if the income is low, anyone thinking about taking out one of these ‘quick cash’ solutions MUST think about the repayments, NOT just the quick solution.

My circular stated an example of a £300 cash loan repaid over 55 weeks. Repayments of £9 per week (collected by a friendly agent) making a total of £495 repayable with a typical APR of, 177%

£9 per week may sound like nothing to some people but the to the kind of people likely to need a quick cash solution, it could make a huge difference.

£9 per week is enough to feed someone, cover the electricity during winter months etc.

Always think very carefully before any kind of borrowing if the repayments could mean you go without.