Why People Actually Borrow: The Six Reasons Behind Short-Term Loans
Payday loans are rarely about wants. We asked what the money was really for — and which reasons end worst.
- 6 — reasons tracked
- Unexpected bill — most common reason
- 27.6 — its share of all borrowing, %
- Unexpected bill — highest regret reason
- Unexpected bill — highest rollover reason
The numbers
Every surveyed borrower picked one main reason. Ranked by how common it is.
| Reason for borrowing | Share of all borrowers, % | Respondents | Would NOT do it again, % | Fell into rollovers, % | Median fees paid, $ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unexpected bill | 27.6 | 3322 | 40.0 | 41.9 | 70 |
| Rent or utility gap | 24.2 | 2919 | 37.9 | 38.4 | 59 |
| Car repair | 18.2 | 2198 | 35.1 | 38.1 | 55 |
| Medical bill | 13.7 | 1653 | 36.8 | 41.7 | 58 |
| Groceries and essentials | 10.3 | 1239 | 27.2 | 27.7 | 41 |
| Other | 5.9 | 716 | 25.2 | 29.0 | 45 |
How we counted
- Borrowers picked the single main reason they took the loan.
- Regret and rollover shares are averaged across states with at least 20 respondents in that group.
Data updated 2026-07-31. Full dataset: data.csv.
Use this research
Free to cite, quote and chart — with attribution. Journalists and researchers are welcome to reuse the table and the dataset.
Citation: Fenixloans, “Why People Actually Borrow: The Six Reasons Behind Short-Term Loans”, 2026. Available at https://fenixloans.com/research/why-people-borrow/