Theres no doubt that the thought of borrowing money from some unknown entity is one that, for a very long time, has had a certain stigma attached to it. The concept of this type of money lending being dangerous has been portrayed in films and TV programmes time after time, although it is likely that it originated from Shakespeares play The Merchant of Venice. This play tells the story of a Jewish money lender who goes by the name Shylock, who after lending money to someone, claims a pound of flesh from them as repayment. Since then the term Shylock has come to mean someone who lends money at excessive rates of interest.

Although the association between lending money from unknown people and running into problems is one that still holds a place in many peoples minds it is not likely that people actually worry about being physically harmed. It is far more likely that human instinct and pessimism are driving factors that keep people from such situations. In modern day it seems that the majority of people are realists and quite sceptical, following the notion of if it seems to good to be true than it usually is. So when presented with opportunities for getting quick loans many people are quite quick to dismiss them as unreliable with little thought or attention to detail.

However, this being said it seems that fewer people are dismissing the idea of quick short-term loans as they are growing in popularity. As to why they are rising in popularity there could be a number of reasons, perhaps it is simply the economic recession taking its toll and pushing people toward momentary financial aid, or maybe people are just becoming more trusting of such services. It is likely that the most off-putting aspect of short-term loan companies is the huge APR rates. Although these high levels of interest are present they can still be avoided by using the services in the right way, so make sure that you borrow at the right time of the month and then the debt can be cleared quickly.

The idea of loan companies functioning like legitimate loan sharks is one that is ill founded and is likely more derived from fictional media than any solid fact. The assumption that a money lender simply wants to make as much money as possible does not quite stand, as when you think about it they dont really have much to gain by completely destroying their clients.