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Among the tighter states — $500 cap, one loan at a time, tracked in a state database. And a right most borrowers never hear about: if you cannot repay, you are entitled to 60 more days at no extra charge.
Florida law says that if you tell the lender in person, before the due date, that you cannot pay in full, they must give you a 60-day extension of the agreement — without any additional charge.Florida · StatuteFla. Stat. § 560.404(22) — any consumer who informs a provider in person before the due date that they cannot pay in full shall be given a 60-day grace period without additional charges
They may not deposit your check during those 60 days. And the statute says explicitly that they may not discourage you from using it.
The condition is that you complete consumer credit counselling from an agency on a list the lender must give you. It can be done by phone or online. If you complete an approved repayment plan, the lender has to pay half your fee to the counselling agency.
How many Florida borrowers use it
0.71%Grace periods were used in roughly seven of every thousand transactions, according to the Legislature’s own analysis. In the same period, 37.6% of borrowers took ten or more payday loans in a year.Florida · Legislative analysisHouse staff analysis of CS/HB 857 — grace periods used for approximately 0.71 percent of transactions; 37.6 percent of consumers engaged in ten or more transactions
Four steps, and the first one has a deadline that matters more than the rest.
It must be in person, and it must be before the payment is due. Say plainly that you cannot pay in full and you are requesting the grace period under section 560.404. After the due date passes, this right is gone.
The lender must give you a list prepared by the Office of Financial Regulation, drawn from non-profit agencies affiliated with the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. Counselling may be in person, by telephone or online.Florida · StatuteFla. Stat. § 560.404(22)(b) — provider must supply the office list of approved non-profit counselling agencies, including phone counselling and internet counselling options
You must notify the lender within 7 days that you have made an appointment. Miss this and they may deposit your check.
Notify the lender within 60 days that you completed the counselling. They may verify it with the agency. Complete an approved repayment plan and the lender must pay half your original fee to the counselling agency.
Florida’s rules genuinely work at limiting each individual loan. What they do not stop is repeat borrowing. The state’s own figures show 37.6% of borrowers took ten or more loans in a single year, and only 31.8% took three or fewer.
A capped loan taken twelve times a year is still a debt cycle. That is what the grace period exists for, and it is why the take-up figure matters.
You can revoke authorisation and instruct your bank to stop the payment, regardless of what your agreement says.
What Regulation E says about automatic payments →
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A payday loan is a consumer debt. If it goes unpaid, two Florida rules decide what a lender can do next: how long it has to sue you, and how much of your pay a court can order taken.
Being sued over an old payday loan? A collector can still file, but the time limit is a defence you can raise — and you cannot be jailed for the debt. What can and cannot happen if you don’t pay →