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Quarterly Loan Market Data: Personal Loans & Small-Dollar Credit

Use Quarterly Loan Market Data: Personal & Small-Dollar to evaluate inputs, estimated cost, timing or affordability and verify provider-controlled terms.

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✓Inputs✓Comparison✓Next step

Check the actual providerConfirm who makes the credit decision.

Normalize the costCompare fees, APR, total due and dates.

Stress-test repaymentProtect essential cash after the payment.

Complete guide

Answers, tradeoffs and next steps

Use the sections below to evaluate fit, not to predict approval.

Q2 2026 unsecured personal-loan balances reached a new high in TransUnion’s dataset

TransUnion reported $281 billion in outstanding unsecured personal-loan balances in Q2 2026, 33.3 million loans and 26.9 million consumers with such loans. Prior-quarter originations were 6.4 million, while borrower-level 60+ DPD delinquency was 3.81%. TU_Q2

Subprime access grew, but the market data is not an approval promise

TransUnion reported strong year-over-year growth in subprime borrowers/accounts while average new subprime loan size declined. Payday Hex uses this to describe market supply, not to tell an individual borrower that approval is more likely. TU_Q2

Alternative small-dollar use rose in the Federal Reserve household survey

The Federal Reserve reported that 7% of adults used a payday, pawn, auto-title or tax-refund-anticipation loan in 2025, up from 6% in the prior survey year. The page preserves the survey definition rather than calling the figure 'payday loan usage.' FED_2025

Interactive decision tool

Short-term cost calculator

Convert a finance charge into total due and annualized APR.

1Enter→2Compare→3Verify

Amount received$Finance charge$Days to repaymentdays

Illustrative resultEnter your numbers

Provider terms and current state requirements control any offer.

Decision infographic

Translate a short-term fee into full cost

Dollar fee, total due and repayment date belong together.

ReceivePrincipalCash delivered to you.

AddFinance chargeEvery required fee.

RepayTotal dueAt the stated date.

What controls the decision

AmountFix

FeeAdd

Due dateTest

3/3

Ready to compare

Inputs, provider disclosure and repayment fit must agree.

Three gates before you continue

1AmountBorrow only the actual gap?
2All-in costFee and APR visible?
3Exit pathTotal due fits the pay cycle?

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Apply the result to this decision

Use the remaining checks before moving to a provider form.

Rate benchmarks need a dated methodology

Bankrate’s Sept. 2, 2026 personal-loan index/market reporting put the average around 12.21% for its tracked benchmark. Payday Hex labels the source/profile/date and never compares a user’s bad-credit offer directly to a prime benchmark without context. BR_INDEX

Decision / data table

Metric	Q2 2026 / current benchmark	Source
Unsecured personal-loan balances	$281B	TransUnion
Number of unsecured personal loans	33.3M	TransUnion
Consumers with unsecured personal loans	26.9M	TransUnion
Prior-quarter originations	6.4M	TransUnion
Borrower-level 60+ DPD	3.81%	TransUnion
2025 alternative small-dollar product use	7% of adults (combined category)	Federal Reserve
Personal-loan rate benchmark	12.21% as of Sep. 2 2026 (source methodology applies)	Bankrate

Lower-cost / safer / methodological alternatives

Use actual prequalified/lender offer instead of market average for a decision.
Use state/regulator data for payday-specific legal supply.
Use complaint/law-change datasets for risk/regulatory context.

Quick comparison

What the product page must answer

Decision	Look for	Stop if
Availability	State eligibility and provider identity	The creditor or license path is unclear
Cost	Amount received, required fees, APR and total repayment	Only the payment size is shown
Timing	Decision, release and bank-posting stages	“Instant” is presented as guaranteed
Repayment	Exact dates, method and late-payment consequences	The payment reopens the same cash gap

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Related guides and tools

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