Most of these payday lenders will auto renew your loan and just take the fee from your checking account for so many weeks,but then they begin to take out some of the principal(usually $50) plus the fee after 3 or 4 paydays.You have to notify them if you want the total loan paid off or more than the standard $50 in principal taken each payday .I had one loan that was $300 plus $90 for fees,this is how it worked.
Payday 1 Debit $90 Loan renewed (Principal still $300
Payday 2 Debit $90 Loan renewed "
Payday 3 Debit $90 Loan renewed "
Payday 4 Debit $140 Loan renewed (principal now $240)
Payday 5 Debit $110 Loan renewed (principal now $190)
Payday 6 Debit $110 Loan renewed (principal now $140)
Payday 7 Debit $90 Loan renewed (principal now $90)
Payday 8 Debit $80 Loan renewed (principal now $40)
Payday 9 Debit $70 Loan paid off
As you can see I paid almost $900 for a $300 loan.And it took almost 5 months to pay it off.This is what happens if you do nothing,and they just keep renewing,and only take a small amount of principal after the 3 renewals.The fees will keep getting added on,and will get lower as you are renewing a smaller amount.I will never get another payday loan as long as I live,they only make a bad situation worst.