Standard payday loan requirements: Applicants to be UK residents above the age of 18, with a bank account and a usual take home pay of at least £750 per month. Most payday loan lenders do carry out a credit check, but do accept those with a bad credit history. A credit check is important since the lender will report back when loan amounts have been repaid, which will improve a damaged credit profile. I believe that EPayday claim that no credit check is taken, but they require faxing and a chequebook is also required. WageDayAdvance headline “no credit check”, but they do in fact carry out one, but state that this is for verification only. The objective here is to provide accurate and unbiased information. If you are a featured payday lender here and any details are incorrect or missing, then do get in contact. This payday loan comparison page will be updated on a regular basis and new lenders will be added as we go along.

Rankings

To compare payday loans, each lender has been ordered by the number of awards they have earned here. If there is a tie then they are then ranked by overall charges.

There are currently 9★ awards possible as addressed below…
50M = A minimum loan of £50 is available. This is more manageable loan amount.
AM = Account management where you can access your loan around the clock.
FT = Flexible terms. Means that you can choose the exact loan date.
FSDP = Free same day payment provided.
NFR = No faxing required. This can be a problematic area since every faxless payday lender may ask for supporting documentation in some instances. I was looking for a specific clear reference of faxing in order to add an award.
PC = Promo code. Not many lenders provide these. More research will be spent here.
RA = Rollover available. Rollovers raise much controversy, but it is better to have the option there since defaulting instead will impact the credit profile and incur charges.
SSL = SSL encryption from the likes of VeriSign means that the data provided in the application is fully secure. This is a critical requirement.
TAM = Trade association members. There are various payday loan trade associations such as BCCA and CFA. Any lender that is a member is following a strict code of practice that equates to a more professionally run service.

Notes

2012 Payments: Some lenders featured today still list free BACS payments, but a new legal requirement in 2012 prevents these payments from being carried out. If a lender is still promoting BACS payments, then any further transfer fee option they offer has been displayed here. BACS Reference: www.paymentscouncil.org.uk/media_centre/press_releases/-/page/1995/

Interest/Overall Charges: The charges are displayed as a percentage of the total loan amount borrowed. For example, a £100 loan with a £25 interest charge would equate to 25%. If there was a further £5 transfer fee then that £25 with that £5 would equate to £30/£100, which is a 30% overall charge. APR figures are very misleading since APR is an annual rate and payday loans are monthly or less loans. These figures with compounding make it difficult to analyse the true value of a loan. This is why the overall charges are displayed as a percentage of the total loan amount borrowed.

Term Variation: Safeloans, TxtLoan and Wonga are each scored on 15 day loan terms rather than the standard 30 days. This is because TxtLoan only offer a 15 day loan term, whilst SafeLoans and Wonga both allow you to choose the specific repayment date. By doing this you can save on interest since most of us may not require cash for a full monthly period.

Compare Payday Loan Lenders

QuickQuid (Quick Quid) from (CashEuroNet UK, Llc)
£50 > £1000 (£1500 return) | 10%
50M AM FSDP NFR PC RA SSL TAM (8★)
Charges: £20/£100 or £25/£100 or £29.50/£100 interest + £0 transfer fee
Charges: £10/£100 or £12.50/£100 or £14.75/£100 interest + £0 transfer fee (NEWCASH50 promo)
= Three interest tiers based on credit score, new 50% promo added. Two month loan also available.

Wonga (Wonga.com Ltd)
£1 > £400 (£1000 return) | 14.79%
50M AM FT NFR PC RA SSL TAM (8★)
Charges: £15.61/£100 interest + £5.50 transfer fee = £21.11/£100
Charges: £15.61/£100 interest + £5.50 transfer fee – £6.32 = £14.79/£100 (vll462 promo)
= The ability to choose the loan term and exact amount sets this lender apart. The promo code is designed to waiver the £5.50 transfer fee, but it takes a little more than this. No FSDP award here though, as the promo is only available to new customers.

PaydayUK (Payday UK) from (MEM Consumer Finance Ltd)
£80 > £750 | 29%
AM FSDP NFR RA SSL TAM (6★)
Charges: £29/£100 interest + £0 transfer fee
= Must be paid monthly.

SafeLoans (PaydayOK) (Safeloans Limited)
£50 > £400 (£750 return) | 30%
50M AM FT RA SSL TAM (6★)
Charges: £15/£100 + £10 transfer fee = £25/£100
Charges: £15/£100 + £15 transfer fee = £30/£100 (second transfer option)
= A nice recent touch from SafeLoans has been to choose the exact loan term (alike with Wonga) and it is good to see the minimum £50 loan as well. They did pay by BACS, but now that is out of the way you will have to opt for additional fees that unfortunately ramps up the overall charges. There is no note on faxing or rollovers.

FLM Quick (FLMQuick) from (Haymarket Lending Ltd/ The Richmond Group)
£50 > £500 | 9.74%
50M AM FSDP RA SSL (5★)
Charges: £9.74/£100 interest + £0 transfer fee
= Outstanding low rates overshadowed by the fact that applicants require a guarantor to back their application. This guarantor can be aged 18-70 and is required to have a good credit rating, although they don’t have to be a homeowner.

EPDL (Early Pay Day Loan Ltd)
£120 > £800 | 25%
AM FSDP NFR RA SSL (5★)
Charges: £25/£100 interest + £0 transfer fee

Payday Express from (Express Finance Bromley Ltd)
£80 > £400 (£800 return) | 25%
FSDP NFR RA SSL TAM (5★)
Charges: £25/£100 interest + £0 transfer fee
= The free same day payment is only available to new customers.

Mr Lender (PDL Finance Limited)
£10 > £500 (£750 return) | 35%
50M NFR RA SSL TAM (5★)
Charges: £30/£100 interest + £5 transfer fee = £35/£100
= The interest fee is 30%, but there is an additional £5 admin fee that I assume would cover the Faster Payments Service transfer cost.

Speed-e-Loans (Speed-e-Loans.com Ltd)
£150 > £500 | 35.65%
AM NFR RA SSL TAM (5★)
Charges: £30.70/£100 interest + £4.95 transfer fee = £35.65/£100
= Although it states that the interest charge is 1% per day there is always some additional pence added on (was actually £30.695 interest for 30 days).

24/7 Moneybox (Active Securities Limited)
£80 > £200 (£800 return) | 39%
AM PC RA SSL TAM (5★)
Charges: £33/£100 interest + £6 transfer fee = £39/£100
= Currently looking into the promo code at the moment.

WageDayAdvance (Wage Day Advance) from (WageDayAdvance Ltd)
£80 > £400 (£750 return) | 44.5%
NFR RA SSL TAM (5★)
Charges: £29.50/£100 interest + £15 transfer fee = £44.50/£100
= Be aware that although they promote “no credit checks” there is in fact a credit check that they state is for verification only.

Lending Stream (Lending Stream Ltd)
£50 > £600 (£1000 return) | 45%
50M AM RA SSL TAM (5★)
Charges: £30/£100 interest + £15 transfer fee = £45/£100
= Despite this product mimicking a payday loan in most regards, the loan terms are actually either 4, 5 or 6 months although they can be repaid early (there are no rollover charges which is an advantage here). Couldn’t find any reference to faxing. Must be paid monthly.

Cash Genie (Cash Genie UK Ltd)
£75 > £500 (£750 return) | 50%
AM NFR RA SSL TAM (5★)
Charges: £30/£100 interest + £20 transfer fee = £50/£100
= Paid by BACS, but no longer available and so the £20 transfer is used here.

TxtLoan or Txt Loan (TxtLoan Ltd)
£100 (£500 return) | 17%
AM FSDP NFR SSL (4★)
Charges: £17/£100 interest + £0 transfer fee
= TxtLoan only offer the single term duration of 15 days for £100 loans. When you repay the loans though the credit limit starts to rise up with trust and stands at a maximum of £500. Once you have paid back your loan you will automatically be accepted for a new loan that can be requested in your account and by phone. The money will then be quickly transferred.

EPayday from (First Choice Credit Limited)
£200 > £500 | 20%
FSDP NCC RA (3★)
Charges: £20/£100 interest + £0 transfer fee
= Will need to confirm whether this is a no credit check lender since there is no reference to this on their site. Do note that a chequebook is required, as is faxing. A high minimum loan of £200 is required.

Micro Lend UK (Micro Lend UK Ltd)
£100 > £500 (£1000 return) | 30%
FSDP RA SSL (3★)
Charges: £30/£100 interest + £3.50 reg fee (£3 refunded) = £30.50/£100
= The interest charge itself is 30%, but a £3.50 reg fee is charged on application and £3 is refunded if you do receive a loan (all applicants rejected are charged £3.50). It is a shame that this fee information is only viewable within their privacy policy.

Uncle Buck (Uncle Buck Limited)
£75 > £400 (£1000 return) | 45%
NFR RA SSL (3★)
Charges: £30/£100 + £15 transfer fee = £45/£100
= Reports that applications can go straight through to other lenders that creates a few credit checks being taken at once. This is a concern since no notification is provided.

Instant Loans Direct (Instant Finance 4U Ltd)
£100 > £300 (£750 return) | 15%
FSDP (1★)
Charges: £15/£100 interest + £0 transfer fee
= The online lender for the H&T pawnbroker. States that you can choose the loan term on the homepage, but set amounts are provided when you apply and this application is not secured by SSL. No reference to faxing or rollovers, very cheap rates though.

Umbrella Loans from (Umbrella Loans Limited)
£100 > £500 | 25%
FSDP (1★)
Charges: £25/£100 + £0 transfer fee
= A few issues with the trade association and SSL details (see mini-review for more info). Cheap rates available from this new lender though; I will certainly be keeping track of their future developments.

THL Direct (Total Home Loans Direct ltd)
£100 > £250 | 62.5%
RA (1★)
Charges: £37.50/£100 interest + £25 transfer fee = £62.50/£100

= Missing many useful features. The biggest concern would be the expensive charges and the lack of being SSL secured. Quite strict as well, only accepting those over the age of 21 and a minimum wage of £900 per month after tax is required.

Note: Further lenders are currently being researched. Updates to follow.

(tags: best payday loan companies, compare payday lender, compare uk payday loans, payday advance lenders only, payday loans compared)