Payday Loans in Richmond, VA
Virginia capped one product and watched the money move next door. In 2021 it capped the category instead.
- Short-term loans of $300 to $2,500, repayable over 4 to 24 months
- 36% a year plus a monthly maintenance fee capped at $25
- Balloon payments prohibited by statute
- Same-day funding if approved by 11:30 am Richmond time*
- No Virginia storefront, so the Commonwealth is served online
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Can You Get a Payday Loan in Richmond?
Not under that name. Virginia renamed the product a short-term loan and rebuilt it from the ground up. The Fairness in Lending Act took effect on January 1, 2021, and it is the most complete rewrite of small-dollar lending law covered anywhere on this site.
What makes Virginia worth studying is not the 36% cap. Several states have one. It is what Virginia learned before arriving at it. The Commonwealth had already regulated payday loans for years. The business simply moved into a product the rules did not name.
That product was the open-end credit plan. Under the old Va. Code 6.2-312 an open-end line of credit carried no rate cap at all. A lender who found payday rules inconvenient could offer a line of credit instead and charge whatever the contract said. Alongside it sat two more routes around the rules. Internet lenders operated without a Virginia license by keeping no physical presence in the state. Credit services businesses brokered loans they did not technically make, which placed the fee outside the lending statute entirely.
The 2020 law closed all three in one bill. That is the reason Richmond gets its own page rather than a paragraph.
Why this matters: the numbers from 2019 show what the loopholes cost. In that year, the last full year before reform, more than 83,000 Virginians took out 268,097 payday loans worth close to $111 million at an average APR of 253%. Separately, over 102,000 Virginians borrowed more than $137 million against their car titles, and almost 10,000 of them had the vehicle repossessed and sold. Verify any lender with the Virginia State Corporation Commission.
Borrowing and Debt in Richmond: What the Numbers Show
The figures below split into two groups. The first describes a market that no longer exists. The second describes the city as it is now, and it does not move in the direction the first group might lead you to expect.
253%
Average APR on Virginia payday loans in 2019, across 268,097 loans worth close to $111 million taken by more than 83,000 residents
Source: Virginia Attorney General
Nearly 10,000
Virginians whose vehicles were repossessed and sold in 2019 because they could not repay a car title loan
Source: Virginia Attorney General
No cap
The interest ceiling on Virginia open-end credit plans before 2021. Lenders moved into this product precisely because the rules did not reach it
36% plus $25
The current price ceiling on a short-term loan. Annual interest of 36% plus a monthly maintenance fee of up to 8% of the loan amount, capped at $25 a month
Source: Pew Charitable Trusts analysis
$500 to $2,500
How the maximum short-term loan changed. The term also gained a floor of four months and a ceiling of twenty-four, replacing a rule tied to the borrower's pay cycle
Source: House Bill 789 summary
$63,865
Median household income in the city of Richmond in 2024, down from $64,903 the year before. It is the only city on this site whose most recent figure fell
Richmond city median household income, 2020 to 2024
| Year | Median income | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $54,815 | |
| 2021 | $52,011 | |
| 2022 | $58,719 | |
| 2023 | $64,903 | |
| 2024 | $63,865 |
Put the two halves together and the honest reading is narrow. Virginia made small credit substantially cheaper, and the analysis by Pew put the improvement at roughly threefold. That is a genuine result and this page is not going to talk it down. What the reform did not do, and was never built to do, is raise anyone’s income. Richmond households were not earning more in 2024 than in 2023. A better price on borrowing is worth having. It is not the same thing as needing to borrow less.
What the Fairness in Lending Act Changed
House Bill 789 was carried by Delegate Lamont Bagby of Henrico, the county wrapped around Richmond, with Senate Bill 421 carried by Senator Mamie Locke of Hampton. An advocacy group for low-income Virginians helped draft the text. The House passed it 65 to 33 and the Senate 23 to 16. Governor Northam then proposed moving the start date forward, and on April 22, 2020 the General Assembly agreed, pulling the effective date from July 1, 2021 back to January 1, 2021.
Pricing and structure. A short-term loan now runs from $300 to $2,500 with a term of no fewer than four months and no more than twenty-four. Interest is capped at 36% a year. On top of that a lender may charge a monthly maintenance fee of up to 8% of the loan amount, which is itself capped at $25 a month. Balloon payments are prohibited outright, so the loan must be repayable in substantially equal installments.
The four-month floor deserves a moment. The old rule set the term at twice the borrower’s pay cycle, which for someone paid every two weeks meant a month. A one-month term on a lump sum is the mechanism that produces repeat borrowing, because the whole balance falls due before the household has recovered. Virginia replaced that with a floor of four months and required the balance to amortize along the way.
The three loopholes. Open-end credit plans under Va. Code 6.2-312 now carry the same 36% ceiling plus an annual participation fee of no more than $50, and a violation is a prohibited practice under the Virginia Consumer Protection Act. Lenders making loans over the internet must hold a Virginia license whether or not they keep an office in the state, and online short-term and title lenders face the same limits as storefronts. Credit services businesses are barred from advertising, offering or arranging credit above 36% APR, under $5,000, with a term under one year, or under an open-end plan.
That third item is worth sitting with. Brokering a loan rather than making it is the entire architecture of the Texas market, where a storefront registers as a credit access business and charges a fee nobody caps. Our San Antonio page describes how that works in practice. Virginia looked at the same model and made it unlawful.
Title loans. These remain legal in Virginia but were pulled into the same framework, and a title lender may not lend to a borrower who already has an outstanding short-term loan. Consumer finance loans were also reworked, running from $300 to $35,000 over six to 120 months at 36% plus a processing fee of 6% of principal, with a minimum of $50 and a cap of $150.
Loan Products Available in Richmond
Short-Term Loans
$300 to $2,500 · 4 to 24 months
What Virginia used to call a payday loan. Repayable in substantially equal installments with no balloon payment at the end, priced at 36% a year plus a monthly maintenance fee capped at $25. The four-month floor is set by statute and cannot be shortened.
Installment Loans
Up to $5,000 · 2 to 24 months
Fixed payments on a set schedule sized to your income, unsecured, with nothing pledged against them. The better choice when the amount you need runs past the short-term ceiling. Repay early at any time with no prepayment penalty.
How to Apply from Richmond
Fill out the online form
The application is open 24/7 and takes about five minutes. You enter your income, bank details and contact information. No documents to scan at this stage.
Get a decision
We verify your information and respond quickly, usually within the hour during business hours. Prequalifying uses a soft inquiry that does not touch your credit score.
Receive the funds
Approved loans are deposited to your bank account. The funding cutoff is 10:30 am Central, which is 11:30 am in Richmond. Eastern Time works in your favor here, since the deadline arrives an hour later on your clock than it does for most of the country.*
*Same-day deposits are not available to all customers. Applications finalized after the cutoff or on weekends and bank holidays fund on the next business day. Approval is not guaranteed and depends on verification of your income and application details.
What You Need to Qualify
Have these ready and the application goes fast:
- Government-issued photo ID
- Social Security number
- Active checking account with a routing number
- Recent pay stub or other proof of income
- Proof of your Virginia address
- Working phone number and email
- Age 18 or older
Check the license first
Virginia now requires a State Corporation Commission license for anyone lending to residents, including online lenders with no office in the Commonwealth. That single change turned licensing into a useful filter for borrowers. An unlicensed online lender is not operating in a grey area here. It is operating outside the law.
If a lender approves your application a hard inquiry may follow, and final decisions can draw on data from TransUnion, Equifax, LexisNexis or FactorTrust.
Rates and Terms in Virginia
Two products, two schedules. Both are set by the Fairness in Lending Act.
| Item | Short-term loan | Consumer finance loan |
|---|---|---|
| Loan size | $300 to $2,500 | $300 to $35,000 |
| Term | 4 to 24 months | 6 to 120 months |
| Interest | 36% a year | 36% a year |
| Additional charge | Monthly maintenance fee up to 8% of the loan, capped at $25 a month | Processing fee of 6% of principal, minimum $50 and maximum $150 |
| Repayment | Substantially equal installments | Substantially equal installments |
| Balloon payments | Prohibited | Prohibited |
Open-end credit plans, once uncapped, now carry the same 36% ceiling plus an annual participation fee of no more than $50. If you are offered a line of credit in Virginia at a rate above 36%, that is not a product this state permits, and it is a prohibited practice under the Virginia Consumer Protection Act.
There Is No 1F Cash Advance Storefront in Richmond
We do not have a branch in Richmond. Our nearest Virginia store is in Reston, about 130 miles north, so for most people in the Richmond area applying online is the practical route, with funds arriving by ACH deposit. The same terms apply whether you are in the Fan, Church Hill, Southside, Henrico or Chesterfield. Virginia law treats an online lender exactly as it treats a storefront, so nothing about the pricing or the protections changes because you applied from a phone.
How to reach a person
Phone: (720) 428-2247
Email: [email protected]
Nearest store: Reston, Virginia, about 130 miles north
Regulator: Virginia State Corporation Commission, Bureau of Financial Institutions
Customer service hours, Eastern Time:
Monday to Friday: 8:00 am to 10:00 pm
Saturday: 9:00 am to 6:00 pm
Sunday: Closed
Richmond is on Eastern Time, two hours ahead of our Mountain cutoff, so the 10:30 am posted deadline is 12:30 pm local.
Other Ways to Cover a Shortfall in Richmond
Virginia’s ceiling is one of the lower ones in this country. That makes the comparison worth running, because several of these options now sit close to it rather than far below.
Credit union small dollar loans
Federally chartered credit unions offer Payday Alternative Loans of $200 to $2,000 with the annual rate capped at 28%, which undercuts the Virginia ceiling. The Richmond area has credit unions with broad community eligibility. Ask whether the one you approach holds a federal or a state charter, because that determines what it can offer.
Utility and rent assistance
Dominion Energy and Richmond’s Department of Public Utilities both run payment arrangements, and the state administers federal energy assistance through local social services. Ask while the bill is late rather than after a disconnection notice. The city and surrounding counties also run eviction prevention and rent relief programs worth checking before you borrow.
Check the license, then compare
Because every lender to Virginians must now be licensed by the State Corporation Commission, you can verify a company before you apply and rule out anyone operating outside the framework. This is a faster filter than reading terms, and it costs nothing.
Bank loans and advance apps
With fair credit or better, a bank or online personal loan will often beat 36% plus a monthly fee. Paycheck advance apps cover a few hundred dollars against your next check, frequently at no interest. Watch the optional tips and instant transfer charges, which add up quickly on small amounts.
Borrow Carefully
Virginia gives a borrower more real protection than most states covered on this site. Prices are capped across every product rather than one, the loan has to amortize, the term cannot be squeezed below four months, and everyone lending here has to be licensed. It is worth knowing that you are standing on all of that.
The thing to watch is the direction of the ceiling. A cap makes credit cheaper for the people who receive it. It does not make a repayment affordable, and 36% plus $25 a month is still meaningfully more expensive than a bank loan or a credit union product. Treat the legal maximum as a maximum rather than a benchmark.
Watch the maintenance fee on small loans in particular. Because it is charged monthly and capped at 8% of the loan, a borrower who takes $400 over the minimum four-month term pays $25 four times over. Ask for the total cost of credit in dollars across the full term, not the monthly figure, and compare that number rather than the rate.
If a lender in Virginia offers you a line of credit above 36%, brokers a loan while charging a separate fee, or cannot show a State Corporation Commission license, all three of those are things the 2020 law was written to stop. Report them rather than signing.
Before you apply anywhere, total your monthly obligations, subtract them from your take home pay and confirm that the repayment fits inside what remains with room to spare. To verify a lender or file a complaint, contact the Virginia State Corporation Commission. You can also file with the federal CFPB.
Richmond Borrowers Ask
Are payday loans legal in Richmond?
They exist under a different name and a different structure. Virginia replaced the term payday loan with short-term loan in the Fairness in Lending Act, which took effect on January 1, 2021. A short-term loan runs from $300 to $2,500 over a term of four to twenty-four months. Interest is capped at 36% a year plus a monthly maintenance fee of up to 8% of the loan amount, itself capped at $25 a month. Balloon payments are prohibited, so the balance must be repaid in substantially equal installments.
What was the open-end credit loophole and is it really closed?
Before 2021 an open-end credit plan in Virginia carried no interest rate cap whatsoever. Lenders who found the payday rules restrictive could offer a line of credit instead and price it freely, which is how the business migrated out of a regulated product into an unregulated one. The Fairness in Lending Act set a 36% ceiling on open-end plans under Va. Code 6.2-312 and allowed only an annual participation fee of up to $50. A violation is a prohibited practice under the Virginia Consumer Protection Act. The same bill also required internet lenders to hold a Virginia license regardless of physical presence, and barred credit services businesses from brokering credit above 36%, under $5,000 or with a term under a year.
How much cheaper is borrowing in Virginia now?
In 2019, the last full year before the reform, Virginians took out 268,097 payday loans at an average APR of 253%, and nearly 10,000 residents had a vehicle repossessed and sold over a title loan. Analysis by the Pew Charitable Trusts estimated that loans issued under the new framework would cost roughly three times less than before. That is a substantial improvement and it applies to the price of credit only. Median household income in the city of Richmond was $63,865 in 2024, slightly below the $64,903 recorded in 2023, so cheaper borrowing has not been matched by rising earnings.
