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What to Do If You Can't Repay a Payday Loan in Florida

Use the free tool — Emergency Cash Options

Do these two things today

If a payday loan payment is due and you can't cover it, don't panic and don't take out a second loan to pay the first — Florida law doesn't allow that anyway. Start here.

• Call the lender and ask for credit counseling and the 60-day grace period — it is your right under Florida law, not a favor.
• Call 211 to ask about help with rent, utilities, food, or medical bills, so this loan isn't fighting the next bill too.

Your right to a 60-day grace period

Florida law says a payday lender must give you a 60-day grace period if you cannot repay and you complete credit counseling, per Fla. Stat. 560.404(19). Florida also allows only one payday loan at a time, statewide — there is no legal rollover here. If a lender suggests renewing or extending the loan for another fee, that is not how Florida law works.

• Ask the lender directly for the grace period and which credit counseling agency to use.
• A free credit counselor at NFCC can walk you through the paperwork by phone, at no charge for the first session.

What the loan actually costs, and cheaper ways to end it

Florida caps a payday loan at $500, with the fee capped at 10% of the amount plus a $5 verification fee, under Fla. Stat. ch. 560 Part IV (Florida Office of Financial Regulation). That fee is fixed by law — it doesn't grow on its own — but the loan still needs to be repaid or handled through the grace period.

• A Payday Alternative Loan (PAL) from a federal credit union runs $200 to $2,000, up to 12 months, capped at 28% APR — sometimes used to pay off a payday loan at far less cost. Ask your credit union if it offers one.
• An employer pay advance, if your job offers one, has no interest at all — ask payroll or HR.

If it's a title loan, not a payday loan

Title loans are handled under a different Florida law (Fla. Stat. ch. 537). The real risk with a title loan is losing the car — talk to the lender and a counselor before a missed payment turns into repossession.

Other help while you sort this out

• 211 — one call for utility, rent, food, and medical assistance programs in your county.
• Florida Office of Financial Regulation — confirm your lender is licensed, and read the rules for deferred presentment (payday) loans.

What to do next

This page is general. The free tool reads your own numbers — the loan amount, the due date, your next paycheck date — and lays out, in order, what's cheapest for your exact situation, in English or Spanish. Nothing you type is stored. This is not legal or financial advice; confirm any loan's terms in writing before signing, and check licensing at flofr.gov.

Emergency Cash Options lists borrowing and assistance options in plain language with approximate costs; it can be wrong, and it is not financial or legal advice. Florida payday-loan rules are cited from Fla. Stat. ch. 560 as published — confirm with the Florida Office of Financial Regulation. Nothing you type is stored.