A payday loan is a short-term loan with a flat fee instead of interest, repaid from your next paycheque. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) describes it as an expensive way to borrow: you may borrow up to $1,500 and have up to 62 days to pay it back, usually without a credit check. In the provinces that regulate payday lending, the most a lender may charge is $14 for each $100 borrowed, which FCAC equates to an annual interest rate of about 365% on a two-week loan. This page explains how payday loans work, what they cost under each province’s rules, how repeat borrowing adds up, and the alternatives FCAC compares it with. It is one of our personal loans and lines of credit guides.
How payday loans work
| Feature | How it works |
|---|---|
| Amount | Up to $1,500 |
| Term | Usually weeks, up to 62 days, timed to your pay schedule |
| Cost | A flat fee if you repay on time, plus fees and interest if you don’t |
| What lenders ask for | Proof of a regular income, a bank account and a permanent address |
| Security for the lender | A pre-authorized debit form or a post-dated cheque for the loan plus fees |
| How you get the money | A deposit to your bank account, cash, or sometimes a prepaid card that can cost extra to activate and use |
| Who offers them | Privately owned companies, in stores and online, licensed by the province where they do business |
FCAC adds three rules that apply in most provinces. A payday lender can’t extend or roll over your loan, which usually means it can’t push back the due date and charge a new fee, though it may charge interest if you don’t repay on time. Provincial laws prevent payday lenders from asking you to sign a form that transfers your wages directly to them. And lenders must be licensed in your province or territory; online payday lenders based outside Canada are hard to deal with if something goes wrong.
What a payday loan costs, by province
Each province sets its own payday loan rules, and the territories don’t have specific ones. FCAC lists the provinces that regulate payday lending fees and penalties: Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Saskatchewan. In those provinces:
- the maximum cost of borrowing is $14 for each $100 you borrow;
- the lender may charge a one-time fee of $20 for a dishonoured cheque.
The dishonoured cheque fee is a provincial rule, not a federal cap, and FCAC notes that the most a payday lender may charge, including penalty fees, varies by province; your provincial consumer affairs office has the details. In the other provinces and territories, a payday loan is held to the criminal interest rate of 35% like any other loan, which FCAC works out to about $1.35 per $100 for two weeks. Our guide to bad credit loans explains how that criminal rate cap is calculated.
FCAC’s own example shows how the cost grows when a payment is missed:
| Step | Amount owed |
|---|---|
| Borrow $300 for 2 weeks | $300 |
| Charges over the 2 weeks ($14 per $100) | $42, owed with the loan: $342 |
| Payment missed: penalty | $20, bringing the total to $362 |
If the pre-authorized payment bounces, your own bank may also charge an insufficient funds (NSF) fee, and the lender may charge interest on what is still owed, send the debt to a collection agency (which can appear on your credit report) or sue.
How repeat borrowing adds up
The cost comes less from one loan than from the next one. When repaying the loan and fee takes most of a paycheque, the shortfall that caused the first loan is often back two weeks later.
A borrower in a regulated province takes $500 to cover a rent shortfall. Two weeks later the paycheque has to cover the loan plus a fee of $70. That leaves them short for groceries, so they borrow $300 more, with a fee of $42. After four weeks they have paid $112 in fees and are no further ahead.
FCAC’s 2016 survey of 1,500 payday loan borrowers found that 45% typically used payday loans for unexpected necessary expenses, such as car repairs, and 41% for recurring, expected expenses such as rent or utility bills. Borrowing for a recurring bill tends to repeat, since the same bill comes due again. The same survey found over 50 percent of borrowers lived in households with incomes under $55,000, but that higher-income households used payday loans too.
Cheaper alternatives to a payday loan
FCAC compared the cost of borrowing $300 for 14 days four ways:
| Option | Assumptions | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Line of credit | $5 administration fee, 8% a year | $5.92 |
| Overdraft protection on a chequing account | $5 fee, 21% a year | $7.42 |
| Cash advance on a credit card | $5 fee, 23% a year | $7.65 |
| Payday loan | $14 per $100 | $42.00 |
Before borrowing at all, FCAC suggests asking for more time to pay your bills, cashing in vacation days, asking your employer for a pay advance, or a loan from family or friends. Beyond those, the main options are:
- A pay advance from your employer. Some employers advance wages already earned, or offer an earned-wage app through payroll, and recover it from the next paycheque, usually at little or no cost.
- A small loan from a credit union. Credit unions are member-owned and set their own lending rules; some offer small emergency loans to members who would struggle to borrow from a bank. Joining usually means buying a small membership share. Our list of the best credit unions covers the larger ones.
- A line of credit. In FCAC’s comparison it cost $5.92, but it has to be approved before you need it. Line of credit rates compares what lenders charge for an unsecured line of credit.
- A credit card cash advance. Interest usually starts the day you take the cash, plus a fee; FCAC’s two-week example put the cost at $7.65. See how cash advances work.
- Overdraft protection. A fee plus interest on the overdrawn amount, set up on a chequing account in advance.
- A balance transfer card. It doesn’t put cash in hand, but a promotional rate on existing card debt can free up room in a budget; the balance transfer cards page lists current offers.
- Help from your community. Dialling 2-1-1 connects you to local emergency financial help, food banks and utility assistance programs, and many utilities and landlords have hardship arrangements.
Buy now, pay later plans split a purchase into instalments at checkout. They don’t provide cash for a bill, and missed instalments bring late fees. If the need is speed rather than a small amount, same-day personal loans explains how quickly mainstream lenders can fund an instalment loan and the warning signs of a predatory one.
If you already owe a payday loan
Taking a new payday loan to repay the last one is how the fees multiply, and in most provinces a lender can’t roll a loan over for a new fee anyway. Non-profit credit counselling can help you negotiate with the lender and plan a way out, and if your total debts are more than you can repay, a consumer proposal can reduce what you owe. Replacing several high-cost debts with one cheaper loan is covered in our guide to debt consolidation.
A small cash buffer removes the need for many payday loans in the first place. Even a few hundred dollars in a high-interest savings account covers a typical shortfall, and the emergency fund calculator estimates a target for a larger cushion.
Sources
The figures and rules on this page come from these sources, last checked against them on September 25, 2026. How we check facts.
- Financial Consumer Agency of Canada: Payday loans
- Financial Consumer Agency of Canada: Payday loans: Market trends