Illinois’s cost story is not a fee table, it is a legal line with a market on one side of it. The state licenses no payday product; the Illinois’ 36% all-in cap prices licensed small credit at a 36% APR; and everything above that line is disclosed rather than capped. This guide works the arithmetic on both sides of the line.
The Licensed Side, Worked
| Structure | Rate | Monthly (12 mo on $1,300) | Total repaid |
|---|---|---|---|
| Credit union PAL | 28% APR | $125.46 | $1,505.52 |
| Consumer finance installment | 36% APR | $130.60 | $1,567.21 |
| Bad-credit online installment | 136% APR | $198.65 | $2,383.80 |
| Tribal installment (sovereign) | 500% APR | $550.08 | $6,600.96 |
The top two rows are the rulebook’s promise: the same $1,300, twelve months, and a total within about fifteen dollars of each other regardless of which licensed door you walk through. The bottom two rows are what the market charges where the cap does not reach.
A $300 Gap, Both Sides
At the 36% cap over six months, $300 costs about $51.79 a month and $314.60 in total, $14.60 of interest. The classic two-week shape at $15 per $100 charges $45 for a single cycle and asks one paycheck to carry all of it; annualized, that shape runs about 391% APR. The licensed installment costs more calendar and a fraction of the total, which is the trade the 2000-2021 rate cap chose deliberately.
Reading an Offer Against the Line
- Find the APR. If the offer states one, compare it to 30%: anything at or under the cap from a licensed lender is the regulated market.
- Find the license. The Department of Financial and Professional Regulation keeps the records; a lender that cannot be found there is pricing outside the statute.
- Find the total. Two offers with identical payments can differ enormously in totals; the total-of-payments line settles it in one read.
The calculators reproduce every figure on this page, and the alternatives ranking orders the doors by cost for specific gaps.
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Illinois Payday Loan Laws: the 2000-2021 Sunset and the 30% Line
Illinois does not license payday lending: the authorizing statute carried a rate cap, the Predatory Loan Prevention Act failed in 2008, and the authority expired on July 1, 2021, the Illinois' 36% all-in cap caps licensed small loans at 36% APR, and enforcement through 2006 cleared the out-of-state holdouts. The full rulebook on what is banned and what still lends lawfully.
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