If you’re in the market for a payday loan, you had better be careful. Although there are many payday lenders that won’t try to take advantage of you, there are just as many who will. Having said that, try to keep up to speed on the laws about payday loans, especially those that are unique to your state.

Whether you knew it or not, payday advance loan laws actually help to protect you from money hungry loan companies. Unfortunately though, that protection only extends as far as the customers knowledge about the laws themselves — meaning if the consumer doesn’t know they exist, it’s open season for payday lender companies. It’s a sad fact, but 100% true; if you don’t know about your state’s payday loans, a shady company will tear your credit and your bank balance to shreds.

The most important cash advance laws to familiarize yourself with are the ones that stipulate the interest & fee charges attached to cash advance loans. Since these laws about payday loans govern how much a payday lender can charge when it comes to interest & fees, it’s important to know whether or not you’re being cheated — and yes, many lenders will try to cheat you out of money.

Aside from knowing the legally allowed interest rates & fees, you should know that each & every payday loan company MUST clearly display their terms and fees. This means the contract you read must be easily understandable and hide nothing. Before this particular law on payday loan, lenders could hide their enormous fees and overwhelming interest rates in a sea of financial jargon that only bank representatives could understand. But, now that times have changed, all lenders must abide by this rule and be 100% upfront with all costs and interest rates or suffer the wrath of unyielding lawsuits and government sanctions.

Your state’s cash advance laws will protect you, but only if you know them well enough. That being said, gather some information on the laws about payday loans before you dive head first into the cash advance world.