Wallet Wizard is a payday lending provider with plenty of negative reviews online and with good reason. When we say that Wallet Wizard is dangerous and should be avoided, what we are really referring to is the act of payday lending.

Payday lending itself might look like a good deal that can get you out of sticky situations fast, but you will be knee-deep in fees before you know it. These fees can eventually add up to almost or more than half of the principal loan amount.

Unlike conventional loans, payday lending providers in Australia are legally allowed to charge up to 30% interest rates. And that is not all. When you default on a payday loan, the lenders hit you with harsh penalties on top of your dues.

Other lenders also do not like seeing payday loans on your credit history. For example, if you try to get a car or a housing loan, the bank might put your payday loan history against you. They will think that because you need a payday loan at some point in your life, you do not have many available funds and that, therefore, you are a high-risk lender who must be rejected or slapped with high-interest fees as well.

The icing on the cake against payday loans is that they send you into a deep downwards finance spiral. You are already probably considering a payday loan because you are in a tight spot, but all the consequences, financial or otherwise, that come with getting a payday loan all add up, and you eventually find yourself in a worse spot than when you started before you know it.

We cannot really blame you for believing that payday loans were put up to help Australians who are in need, but the truth is, payday loans were created for the benefit of the lenders, not the consumers. Those unethical interest rates will get you nowhere near financial stability, and the benefits do not justify taking on that level of risk at all.

The good news is that if you are already reading this, chances are, you had your doubts about Wallet Wizard, and you had the presence of mind to look them up online before committing to any unscrupulous and exploitative loans.

Alternatives to Payday Loans

Having read all that, are there still good alternatives to payday loans? How else will you be able to secure quick funds when you really need them? The good news is that there are plenty of alternatives that are just as good, with almost none of the harshness that payday loans have.

First, you might want to consider calling the National Debt Helpline on their contact number at 1 800 007 007. Calling them is free; they are a government-created financial assistance service for those who are deep in debt or are about to enter into deep debt. Unlike payday lenders, the National Debt Helpline actually cares about you.

You might also want to sell off some things that you no longer need. This is a quick and easy way to raise cash, and it does not penalize you in any way. Online shopping platforms nowadays make it quite easy to sell anything you might have, and with the level of interconnectivity on the Internet, there is always at least one person interested in the things you have to sell.

You might also want to look into getting an additional job on the side, getting a salary raise at your current job, or getting a new job that pays more.

We are in what is called a “gig economy,” and in this economy, there are so many opportunities everywhere for you to slowly crawl out of the debt pit safely and steadily.

If you have already contacted Wallet Wizard and have gotten a loan from them, then it is not the end of the world for you. First, monitor the actions of their debt collectors. Debt collectors have limitations on what they can do when performing their job, and if you believe that they are harassing, abusive, threatening, or deceitful, then you might have a cause of action to file a complaint against them with the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission.

Conclusion

We cannot deny that for some people in specific financial emergencies, Wallet Wizard and other similar payday lending providers might be the only solution that is really in sight. But that does not necessarily apply to everyone, and odds are, it does not apply to you too.

If you have the time to read up an article like this, then it is most likely that you are still not in that extreme emergency situation where Wallet Wizard is the only solution in sight.