Paycheck-to-Paycheck Consumers 42% More Likely to Tap Personal Loans

Living paycheck to paycheck has brought many individuals and families to tap lenders to manage their financial lives.

In a recent Reality Check: The Paycheck to Paycheck Report, issued by PYMNTS and LendingClub, the survey of more than 2,300 customers revealed that consumers who live paycheck to paycheck are 42% more likely than other consumers to have taken out personal loans. Extrapolate the data and 36 million personal loan users live paycheck to paycheck.

We found that 32% of millennial and bridge millennial peers who live paycheck to paycheck use personal loans — a higher rate than seen across other demographics.

Broadly speaking, the harder it has been to make ends meet, the more likely it is that respondents have embraced loans. As many as 27% of personal loan users report living paycheck to paycheck, with difficulty.

Perhaps not surprisingly, some financial obligations factor a bit into whether or not consumers turned to personal loans. Of the share of consumers who took out loans and who live paycheck to paycheck, 37.5% have mortgages. Roughly 45% of them rent.