It’s almost universal with human beings – we want instant gratification, and we want it now – and the way we think about our money is one of the best examples of that. We want to earn it quickly; we love to spend it quickly; and now we even want to be able to borrow it with no credit check and no waiting period at all. This is how instant unsecured personal loans were born.

Maybe we should clarify what we mean by personal loans; I used to think that personal loans referred to loans made by one person to another, but I was wrong. Personal loans refer to debt instruments more commonly known as payday loans. These are short term borrowing situations designed to help people survive until their next paycheck.

Your goal when seeking an unsecured personal loan is to get the bank to lend you funds without any tangible security protecting their money – as in collateral. When they don’t have collateral covering their money all they have left is their belief in your ability and willingness to repay the debt, which can be suspect at best. That’s why these kinds of loans often come with chunky fees and startling interest rates.

Instant unsecured personal loans are also available for borrowers who need the money and need it now – but it’s going to come at a somewhat steep price. If a lender is going to let you walk into his business and walk out an hour later with hundreds of dollars, he’s going to want to be paid for his trouble and his risk. Instant personal loans like these can come with both double digit percentage fees and at least that in interest rates.

The amounts of these loans can vary – sometimes you will only be able to borrow a couple of hundred dollars and other times the lender may be willing to give up to $1500. As with any type of personal financing, you’d be wise to borrow no more than you absolutely need to float to your next pay day.

Of course, we wouldn’t want to end this article without addressing the fact that you needed an instant unsecured personal loan in the first place. More likely than not you’re in this bind because you haven’t been a diligent budgeter or saver in the past. Decide today that you’re going to set aside at least $50 from every paycheck in an emergency fund so you don’t have to borrow these high interest loans in the future.