Frequently Asked Questions

Applying does not always affect your credit. Where a lender performs only a soft review, there is typically no impact on your score.

Repayment is where it can matter. If you miss a payment or pay late, that may be reported and may affect your credit — but reporting practices differ from lender to lender, and not every payday lender reports to the credit bureaus at all. If this matters to you, ask the lender directly what they report before you accept.

Payday lending is regulated province by province, and each province sets limits on what borrowing may cost. Since 1 January 2025 a federal ceiling also applies across the country: a payday loan may not cost more than $14 per $100 borrowed. A province may set a stricter limit, but not a looser one.

A limit is a ceiling, not a price — a lender may charge less. And because a payday loan runs for weeks rather than years, the annualised cost (APR) looks very high even when the dollar figure is modest and fixed. That is not a trick; it is an honest measure of how expensive this form of credit is.

The only figure that binds you is the one written in your loan agreement. Read it before you accept, and work out the total repayment first.

Through participating lenders, you can request up to $1,500. That reflects the federal limit on payday loans in Canada, which also caps the term at a maximum of 62 days.

What you are actually offered may be lower. Individual lenders set their own maximums based on your income and circumstances, and provincial rules apply on top. Being able to request $1,500 does not mean $1,500 will be offered — and borrowing the maximum available is rarely the same as borrowing the amount you need.

Two broad shapes, depending on the lender and your province:

• Lump-sum repayment. The traditional payday loan: the full amount plus the borrowing cost leaves your account on one agreed date, usually your next pay day.
• Instalment repayment, where available. Several smaller payments instead of one. Easier to budget around, though it does not make the loan cheaper.

Which options exist depends on provincial rules and on the individual lender's policies. The repayment structure will be set out in the agreement you are offered — check the date, not just the amount, against your own pay cycle.

The form itself takes a few minutes — it asks for basic details about your province, your income and your banking. Having your information to hand makes it quicker.

How long a lender takes to review it afterwards is the lender's process, not ours, so we cannot put a number on it. See how the process works.

Yes. The application works on a phone, tablet or computer — there is nothing to print, download or post. Most people who apply do it from a phone.

It varies by lender, but many consider employment income, regular government benefits, pension income and, in some cases, self-employment or gig earnings. What most lenders look for is regularity rather than a large amount — income that arrives predictably is easier to assess.

No lender accepts every income type, so the honest answer is that it depends on who reviews your application.

You can apply. Employment Insurance is regular, predictable income, and some lenders count it. Whether a particular lender accepts it, and on what terms, is their decision. More on applying without employment income.

You can apply. Disability support arrives on a schedule, which is the kind of regularity lenders assess for, and some treat it as qualifying income. Acceptance still varies by lender. More on borrowing while receiving ODSP.

You can apply. Canada Pension Plan payments and workplace or private pensions are regular income, and many lenders will consider them. As with every income type, the amount and the lender's own criteria decide the outcome.

Generally, yes. Verifying income is a core part of assessing whether a loan can realistically be repaid, and it is part of what provincial regulation expects of a licensed lender.

How they verify differs — some review recent bank account activity electronically, others ask for documents. A lender who did not check at all would not be protecting you from a loan you cannot service.

Usually, and it is often worth doing. Many lenders allow early repayment, and provincial rules commonly support a borrower's right to pay a payday loan off ahead of schedule.

Ask the lender directly and check the agreement, since the details are theirs to set. If early repayment reduces what you owe, that is one of the few levers you have on a loan of this kind.

Yes, where the lender is licensed. Payday lending operates under a specific exemption in the federal Criminal Code, which requires the province to have its own legislation and cost limits in place. Provinces then licence the lenders and regulate how they operate.

That framework is what caps the cost, limits the term to 62 days and the amount to $1,500, and requires disclosure before you sign. An unlicensed operator is outside all of it.

Every province that permits payday lending maintains its own licensing regime, and provincial consumer protection offices are the authority on who holds a licence. If you are unsure about a lender, check with the consumer protection body for your province rather than taking the lender's word for it.

We work to connect applicants with lenders licensed in the relevant province, because that licensing is what your protections rest on. It is still worth verifying independently — and treating any lender who is vague about it as a warning sign.