January is generally a month when people find it difficult to make ends meet. The excesses of the Christmas festivities often leave bank accounts in bad shape, credit card bills worryingly high, and plenty of competing demands on whatever spare funds is unspent. It's not surprising then that for many of us, our January finances are a circle that just can't be squared, and towards the end of the month cash simply runs out.

If you're lucky, your bank overdraft may be able to come to the rescue, letting you postpone dealing with some of your expenses until your budget settles down again in the spring. Or, you might have credit on your credit card that you can utilize to cover essential costs, although taking out cash on creditt card accounts is well known for being expensive.

Is there another choice if neither of these options are appropriate?

The answer is, for many, to take out a cash advance loan. While these kinds of loans are relatively pricy, they can be arranged rapidly and are obtainable by more or less anyone who has a regular job and a suitable bank account, with credit rating not normally being a barrier. Wage day advances are usually for a small amount, a few hundred or thereabouts, and are taken out over a time period of days or weeks rather than months or years. A flat fee of around a fifth of the amount you borrow is levied, which you pay when you pay back the debt on your next payday.