Payday Loans and Cash Advance in Florida

Legal, capped at $500 and 10%. Below: the law, the limits, what $300 costs here, who regulates it, and how to request a cash advance online in Florida.

Is a Cash Advance Legal in Florida?

Payday loans are legal in Florida under the deferred presentment provisions of Chapter 560, Part IV of the Florida Statutes, enforced by the Office of Financial Regulation. A licensed provider can advance you up to $500 on a check or debit authorization it agrees to hold for 7 to 31 days, for a fee of no more than 10 percent of the amount advanced plus a verification fee capped at $5. Since 2018 the statute has also allowed a deferred presentment installment transaction: up to $1,000 outstanding, repaid in equal installments over 60 to 90 days, with fees of up to 8 percent of the outstanding balance every two weeks. Every transaction is logged in a statewide real-time database, you may have only one open at a time, and rollovers are banned outright. If you cannot pay on the due date and say so before the check is deposited, the provider must give you a 60-day grace period at no charge, provided you make an appointment with a credit counselor within 7 days. A $300 two-week loan at the maximum fee costs $35, roughly a 304 percent APR, so the Florida rules make the product predictable, not cheap.

The governing law is Florida Statutes Chapter 560, Part IV, Deferred Presentment (Fla. Stat. 560.402 to 560.408; fee and term limits at 560.404; verification fee at 560.309(8)).

Loan Limits and Terms in Florida

The 10 percent fee is charged once, on the amount advanced, no matter how many days the provider holds the check inside the 7 to 31 day window. The verification fee covers the database check and is capped by rule at $5. Because the database blocks a second loan and the law bans rollovers, the borrower cannot stack or renew; the only ways to get more time are the 24-hour wait and a new loan, or the 60-day grace period with credit counseling. Installment transactions follow different math: the 8 percent charge applies to the declining balance every two weeks, payments must be substantially equal and no more than a calendar month apart, and the whole loan must amortize inside 90 days.

What a $300 Loan Costs in Florida

Fla. Stat. 560.404(6) caps the fee at 10 percent of the amount advanced, so on $300 the fee is 300 x 0.10 = $30. Section 560.309(8) allows a separate verification fee capped at $5, which the Office of Financial Regulation lists as part of the maximum cost, bringing the finance charge to $35 and the payoff to $335. APR = 35 / 300 x 365 / 14 = 3.042, or about 304 percent. On a 31-day term the same $35 works out to about 137 percent, which is why the due date matters more than the sticker fee.

Run your own numbers with the cash advance calculator.

Consumer Protections and Who to Call in Florida

• Providers must be licensed by the Office of Financial Regulation and must run every transaction through the statewide deferred presentment database before advancing money, which stops a second open loan (Fla. Stat. 560.404(19), (24)).
• Fees are capped at 10 percent of the amount advanced plus a verification fee of no more than $5, and the provider may not charge anything else for the transaction (Fla. Stat. 560.404(6), 560.309(8)).
• Rollovers are banned: a provider may not renew, extend or refinance a deferred presentment agreement, and must wait 24 hours after your last transaction closes before it can open a new one (Fla. Stat. 560.404(18), (19)).
• If you tell the provider before the due date that you cannot pay, it may not deposit your check and must give you a 60-day grace period once you book credit counseling within 7 days (Fla. Stat. 560.404(21), (22)).
• The agreement must carry a notice in capital letters that you cannot be prosecuted in criminal court for a check written under it; the provider is limited to civil collection (Fla. Stat. 560.404(20)).
• The provider must hold your check for the agreed number of days and may not present it early, though you can redeem it at any time before the presentment date (Fla. Stat. 560.404(15)).

Complaints and licence checks go to the Florida Office of Financial Regulation, Division of Consumer Finance: 850-487-9687, flofr.gov, or file a complaint at the regulator's complaint page. The federal CFPB also takes complaints about any lender.

Online vs Storefront Lenders in Florida

The statute applies to any deferred presentment transaction with a Florida drawer, so an online lender needs the same Florida license and must use the same database as a storefront. The Office of Financial Regulation tells consumers to verify a license on its website or by calling 850-487-9687, option 1, before borrowing, and the same lookup covers Internet lenders. Unlicensed sites that skip the database can lend to someone who already has an open loan, charge more than $10 per $100 and ignore the 24-hour wait and the grace period, which is exactly why they are unlicensed. Out-of-state lenders and lenders claiming tribal sovereignty appear regularly in OFR consumer alerts. A loan from a provider that is not licensed in Florida does not carry the statutory protections, and the OFR can only act against companies it regulates, so it may not be able to unwind such a loan. It can still take a complaint or tip and refer the matter to another agency or the Attorney General.

Alternatives If a Payday Loan Is Not the Right Fit

The cheapest legal short-term product in Florida is usually the deferred presentment installment transaction itself when repaid on schedule over 60 to 90 days, because the 8 percent biweekly charge sits on a falling balance rather than a single $500 lump sum. Beyond that, Florida consumer finance lenders licensed under Chapter 516 make installment loans over longer terms at lower annual rates than payday products, and federal credit unions offer Payday Alternative Loans, a small-dollar product with a capped rate and a small application fee for members. Practical non-loan options are a wage advance from your employer, a payment plan with the utility or medical provider you owe, an overdraft line at your bank, and the nonprofit credit counseling agencies that the payday statute itself relies on for its grace period. If you already have a payday loan you cannot repay, the 60-day grace period costs nothing and is the first thing to ask for.

Compare the installment loan and payday alternative loan options before you decide.

Cities We Cover in Florida

• Jacksonville, FLLocal cost of living, ordinances and help lines
• Lakeland, FLLocal cost of living, ordinances and help lines

Frequently Asked Questions

Nearby States

• GeorgiaThe fee cap, a worked example and the regulator to call in Georgia.
• AlabamaThe fee cap, a worked example and the regulator to call in Alabama.