What Borrowers Wish They Had Known: The Cheaper Options They Found Too Late
Most borrowers learn about cheaper options only after they have already overpaid.
- 44 — states in the sample
- 63.1 — did not know about credit-union loans, %
- 55.2 — did not know about payment plans, %
- 28.0 — had used a cheaper option before, %
The numbers
States with at least 30 respondents. The 15 where most borrowers say they wish they had known.
| State | Code | Respondents | Credit-union loan (PAL), % | Extended payment plan, % | Earned-wage access, % | Used an alternative before, % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Hampshire | NH | 30 | 78.0 | 58.3 | 50.5 | 22.8 |
| Alaska | AK | 34 | 61.8 | 69.6 | 45.9 | 44.8 |
| Hawaii | HI | 35 | 70.0 | 58.7 | 56.5 | 26.3 |
| Idaho | ID | 104 | 73.1 | 53.5 | 55.6 | 22.6 |
| Oklahoma | OK | 249 | 68.8 | 57.7 | 48.0 | 23.6 |
| Washington | WA | 262 | 66.3 | 59.1 | 46.2 | 25.7 |
| Massachusetts | MA | 45 | 67.8 | 57.0 | 54.5 | 37.4 |
| Louisiana | LA | 247 | 64.2 | 59.1 | 53.1 | 25.9 |
| Arizona | AZ | 165 | 65.3 | 57.6 | 48.7 | 26.9 |
| North Carolina | NC | 80 | 64.2 | 58.1 | 52.4 | 29.6 |
| Nebraska | NE | 81 | 66.8 | 55.5 | 45.8 | 30.8 |
| Illinois | IL | 202 | 66.6 | 55.1 | 51.0 | 25.0 |
| New Mexico | NM | 109 | 62.3 | 59.4 | 52.8 | 35.8 |
| New York | NY | 148 | 63.4 | 58.3 | 52.1 | 29.5 |
| Georgia | GA | 121 | 68.6 | 52.0 | 53.8 | 24.1 |
How we counted
- The question asked what borrowers wish they had known before taking the loan.
- Three alternatives: a credit-union payday alternative loan, an extended payment plan from the lender, and earned-wage access.
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: Paykedge, “What Borrowers Wish They Had Known: The Cheaper Options They Found Too Late”, 2026. Available at https://paykedge.com/research/what-borrowers-wish-they-knew/