Frequently Asked Questions
US Cash Advance is a direct lender. We take your application, underwrite it ourselves and fund the loan, so there is no broker and no second company in the middle. The answers below cover how a cash advance works, what it takes to qualify and how repayment runs, and they hold wherever you live. The figures that change from one state to the next sit on each state’s own page. Those are what an advance may cost, how much you can borrow, how long you get, and whether renewals are allowed at all.
Cash Advance Basics
What the product is, and how it sits against the other ways to borrow.
A cash advance from US Cash Advance is a small, short-term loan you repay out of your next paycheck. You receive a set amount now, and the balance plus a fixed fee comes due on the date written into your loan agreement. It is unsecured, so you do not pledge anything you own to get one. It is built for a gap of a few weeks, not for a debt you plan to carry.
For what we offer, yes. Cash advance is the everyday name and payday loan is the term the statutes use, so the payday lending rules your state writes are the rules that govern the advance you get from us. A credit card cash advance is a different product. That one draws against a credit card limit, starts charging interest immediately, and is issued by your card company rather than by us.
The repayment shape is the difference. An installment loan is cleared through several scheduled payments spread over months. A cash advance is one payment, principal plus fee, due on a single date. So the advance is smaller and much shorter, and the whole balance lands at once, so line the due date up with a paycheck you know is arriving.
Unsecured. You do not pledge property to get one, and there is nothing for us to take back if you fall behind. What we look at is your income and your checking account, not what you own. If you do fall behind we may pursue the balance the way any unsecured creditor can, which is why it is better to call us early than to let a payment slip.
It is a tool for a short gap, not a long one. Used on a one-time expense you can clear on your next payday, it does the job. It goes wrong when a borrower keeps pushing the same balance forward and pays fee after fee on it. Before you apply, look at a payment plan with the biller, a small-dollar loan from a credit union, or an advance on your pay from your employer. If none of those are open to you, borrow the smallest amount that actually solves the problem.
Who Can Get One
What we ask for, and what a weak credit file does and does not mean here.
You need to be at least 18, have income that arrives on a schedule, hold an active checking account, and be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. You also need to live in a state where we are licensed to lend. Meeting all of that lets you apply. The decision itself comes after we have reviewed what you sent.
You need reliable income, and it does not have to come from an employer. Regular self-employment earnings, Social Security, disability payments and a pension can all count. What we are checking is that money lands in your checking account on a predictable schedule, and that enough of it is left after your other obligations to cover the payment.
In many cases, yes. A low score does not rule you out with us, and plenty of our borrowers come to us after a bank has said no. We weigh your income and your bank account activity alongside your credit history rather than screening on a score alone. We do decline applications, so treat an offer as something that arrives after review, never before it.
No, and be wary of any lender who says otherwise. Some form of check runs behind every real lending decision, whether that is a credit bureau, an alternative reporting agency, income verification, or a look at your bank activity. A lender advertising no check at all is either leaving something out or is not licensed. Your state regulator can confirm whether a lender holds a license before you hand over any personal information.
No. No licensed lender can promise approval before reading an application, and an ad that does is a warning sign rather than a good offer. We look at your income, your checking account and the rules in your state, then decide. What helps your odds is applying with accurate details and having your income documents to hand.
Have a government-issued photo ID, your Social Security number, proof of income such as recent pay stubs or a bank statement, the details of an active checking account, and a phone number and email we can reach you on. Bring the ID with you if you are collecting the money at one of our stores. We may ask for one more document if something needs confirming, and we will tell you exactly which.
No. You can hold one payday loan with us at a time. Once you have paid one off or cancelled it, there is a 24 hour waiting period before you can take out another. Your state may also run a database that tracks open loans across every licensed lender, which can be a second reason another loan is not available to you yet.
Applying
How the application runs from the form to a signed agreement.
Start with our online application form. It asks for your contact details, your income and the checking account you use, and most people finish it in a couple of minutes. From there the sequence is fixed: we review it, we send you an offer, you read the offer, you sign, and the funds are released. The form is online and open at any hour.
We review what you sent and verify your income and bank details. If we can approve you, we send an offer setting out the amount, the fee, the APR and the exact date the balance falls due. Nothing is owed until you sign it. Go through the offer, ask us about anything that is not clear, and decide once you understand the total cost and the repayment date.
In many cases you will hear back the same business day, often within a few hours of the application arriving. Applications that come in late at night or over a weekend are picked up when we are next open. If a document is needed to finish the review we will contact you, and the review resumes once it is back with us.
No. Applying is free and you are under no obligation if we make you an offer. The only money in the picture is the fee on the advance itself, and that is disclosed in writing before you sign. If anyone ever asks you to pay a fee up front to secure a loan, that is a scam and you should stop dealing with them.
Yes. Under the federal Equal Credit Opportunity Act, a lender that declines an application has to give you the specific reasons or tell you how to ask for them, and you get that notice in writing. Where a credit report played a part, the notice names the agency that supplied it. You can then get a copy of that report and check it for errors before you apply anywhere else.
Getting Your Money
How approved funds actually reach you, and what sets the timing.
Two routes, and you pick. We can send the funds to the checking account on your application, or you can complete the application online and collect the cash at one of our stores. Which routes are open depends on where you live and whether there is a store near you. Your offer will say which apply to your loan.
Once you have signed, we release the money the same day in many cases. Bank transfers then move on the banking calendar, so a transfer sent on a Friday evening, a weekend or a federal holiday arrives on the next banking day. Collecting in store is usually the quicker route where there is one nearby and you are approved during opening hours. We cannot promise a specific arrival time, because the last leg belongs to your bank.
What It Costs
How the pricing is built. The figures themselves are set state by state.
The charge is a fixed fee tied to the amount you borrow, rather than a rate that climbs while the loan is open. Your offer states the fee in dollars, the APR that fee works out to, and the total you will repay. What a licensed lender may charge is set by the state you live in, and the ceilings differ widely, so the limit that applies to you is on your state’s page in our locations directory and the exact figure is in your offer.
APR is an annual measure and an advance is repaid over a few weeks. Take a flat fee charged over that short window, stretch it across a full year, and the percentage comes out large even when the dollar cost of one cycle is modest. Both numbers are worth reading. APR is the fair way to compare two offers of the same length, and the dollar figure tells you what will actually leave your account.
The main charge is the fee disclosed in your agreement. Beyond that, a returned payment can trigger a charge from us and a separate overdraft or NSF charge from your own bank, and some states permit a late charge. All of them are written into the agreement before you sign, nothing can be added later that is not in there, and your state sets the ceiling on each.
Each state writes its own limits on what an advance can cost, how much you can borrow and how long you get. We keep those on the individual state pages, so choose your state from the list of locations to see the limits where you live. Your own offer is the other place to check, since it carries the exact figures for the loan you were approved for.
Paying It Back
Due dates, the payment channels we accept, and what to do if the date is a problem.
On the date printed in your loan agreement, which is normally lined up with your next payday. The date, the amount and the way the payment is collected are all written there, and we go through them with you before you sign. Put the date in your phone the day you sign so it does not creep up on you.
You have a few options and you choose the one that suits you. You can pay by phone with us, deposit cash at a Bank of America branch into our account, drop the payment at our office, or mail a check. The account details and the mailing address are on our How to Pay page. If you are paying by mail, send it early enough to arrive before the due date rather than on it.
No. Automatic debit is convenient and many borrowers choose it, but under the federal Electronic Fund Transfer Act no lender can require it as a condition of giving you the loan. You may pick another method from the start. If you have already authorized automatic debits you can withdraw that authorization by telling us, and your bank can stop payment as well.
Yes, and there is no penalty for doing so. Call us or come in for the exact payoff amount for the day you intend to pay, since it can differ from the figure printed on your agreement. Whether paying early reduces the cost depends on how the advance is priced in your state, because a single flat fee behaves differently from interest that accrues daily. Once it clears, the loan closes.
Tell us before the due date rather than after it. There is more we can do while the loan is still current, and a missed automatic debit can stack a bank overdraft charge on top of what you already owe. Many states require a lender to offer an extended payment plan at no extra charge, and what is available to you is set by your state’s rules, so check your state page or just ask us. Taking a second advance to cover the first is the move worth avoiding.
That depends entirely on where you live. Some states ban renewals and rollovers outright, some cap how many you may have, and some require an extended payment plan in their place. We follow whatever your state permits and we cannot go beyond it. Your state page sets out the rule that applies to you, and any extension we can arrange will be put in writing before it starts.
We will try to reach you first, because a payment plan is nearly always better for both sides than a default. If the balance stays unpaid it can be passed to collections, and in some states the matter can go to court. Nothing of yours is pledged against the advance, so there is no property for us to take. How and when a debt collector may contact you is governed by the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
Your Credit
What a cash advance does, and does not do, to your credit file.
Less than most people expect, and unevenly. Payday lenders generally do not report on-time payments to the three main credit bureaus, so repaying on schedule will not build your score the way a credit card or an installment loan can. The downside is not symmetrical: a balance that reaches collections can be reported and can pull your score down. Ask us what we report before you assume a loan will help your credit.
Get it from the source rather than from a lender. You are entitled under federal law to free copies of your credit report from each of the three nationwide bureaus through AnnualCreditReport.com, which is the only site authorized to provide them. Read it for accounts you do not recognize and for balances that look wrong, and dispute anything incorrect with the bureau that listed it.
Where We Lend
Which states we serve, and how the stores fit alongside the online application.
No, and no payday lender does. Payday lending is regulated state by state and several states do not permit it at all, including Arizona, Georgia, Maryland and North Carolina. We lend only where we hold a license. The locations directory lists the states we serve, and each state page carries the rules that apply there.
Open the locations directory, pick your state, then your city. Every store has its own page with the address, the phone number, the opening hours and directions. If there is no store near you, the online application covers the same states we are licensed in, so a store is a convenience rather than a requirement.
No. The application is online and that is the main route in. A store is useful if you would rather hand over your documents in person or collect the cash instead of waiting on a bank transfer. Either way you are dealing with us directly, because we are the lender. There is no broker in the middle and no second company you have to apply to.
Call us at (704) 727-4785, Monday to Friday between 8am and 9pm and on weekends between 10am and 7pm. You can also email support@cash-advance.us or use the form on our contact page. If the question is about an advance you already hold, have the loan agreement with you and we can pull the details up faster.
State Rules and More Resources
Every state sets its own limits on cost, loan amount and repayment terms, and some states do not permit payday lending at all. Choose your state in the locations directory for the rules and the licensed stores that apply where you live.
For neutral guidance on borrowing, your rights and what to do about a problem with a lender, the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau publishes free consumer guides.
Ready to start? Complete the application form online, or reach us at (704) 727-4785 if you would rather talk it through first.