Choose the Florida contract before comparing the limit

Selected Jacksonville branches

Two first-party contacts. Published hours and addresses are not a live opening check or an independent license confirmation.

The map is requested from Google only after you press the button. It searches the displayed place or area; it does not verify a business profile or a license.

Identify the product before doing the fee calculation

The Florida Office of Financial Regulation distinguishes the amount advanced from applicable fees. Its consumer information for single-payment deferred presentment describes a fee of up to 10% of the amount and a verification fee of up to $5. The separate installment category has its own statutory provisions. [FL01] [FL02]

These are product limits, not an assurance that you qualify. Ask the store for the contract’s legal category. A longer repayment schedule is not enough to identify a product if the agreement uses another form of consumer lending.

Jacksonville has two contacts here; other cities need their own search

The selected Lending Bear contacts are Southside on Saint Augustine Road and Northside on Lem Turner Road. Both are in Jacksonville. The street name Saint Augustine does not make the Southside address a store in the city of St. Augustine. Each first-party page supplies its own phone and published Monday–Saturday schedule. [FL03] [FL04]

This is a contact selection, not a complete Florida directory or a cheapest-provider ranking. Website and phone buttons belong to the listed business, not Bottom Dollar. The map request is optional and searches the address; it is not a verified business-profile result.

Read the $400 example without turning it into an offer

Illustration using the single-payment maximum fee formula: a $400 advance plus a $40 service fee and $5 verification charge produces $445 due. The $45 cost is separate from the $400 available to use, assuming no other permitted change to the transaction. A provider can charge less; the example is not a price quote from either branch. [FL01]

Do not use $445 as a default installment-loan payment. For an installment offer, enter the actual net advance, each contractual payment and any separately paid upfront amount. Compare the total cost and dates using the loan-comparison and repayment tools. The same headline amount can leave a different net balance after charges.

A second branch is not a way around transaction restrictions

OFR’s consumer guidance describes one outstanding deferred-presentment agreement at a time and a waiting period of 24 hours after repayment before a new transaction. A second address for the same brand is another contact, not a separate entitlement to borrow simultaneously. Verify the applicable transaction rules and your account situation directly. [FL01]

Do not assume that a pending application has been approved or counted as a completed transaction. Request an explanation from the actual provider and keep any written confirmation. A directory cannot query the state database or retrieve your loan status.

Prepare a visit around documents and the following payment

Ask the branch which evidence of identity, income and banking it accepts for your selected product. Confirm whether all applicants must attend in person, whether additional verification remains after an online request, and how repayment will be authorized. The CFPB’s generic qualification list cannot replace a provider’s policy. [F04]

Illustrative budget: $530 remains after essential costs, and the proposed single payment is $445. That leaves $85. If you must also pay a $120 bill before more income arrives, the plan is short by $35. Review payment timing with the biller or seek another arrangement rather than treating the state’s maximum amount as a suitable target. [F01]

Keep repayment help and new borrowing separate

For qualifying single-payment hardship, section 560.404(22) describes a 60-day grace period without added charge when the borrower gives the required notice by maturity, schedules approved counseling within 7 days and completes it by the grace-period end, with the required notifications. The installment path is different: subsection (23) allows one payment deferral when notice is given by noon of the preceding business day. Follow the exact product, notice and counseling conditions rather than assuming an automatic extension. [FL02]

When an existing debt is the immediate problem, use the creditor’s hardship or repayment contact rather than beginning another application through a nearby store. Ask what options exist, what documentation is required and whether anything has actually been agreed. A discussion is not a signed extension. [F10]

For authorization or complaint questions, begin with OFR and match the legal name and product type. This page does not certify the selected branches’ current licenses. Do not send a payment to an unrelated person to release a supposedly guaranteed loan; the FTC identifies advance-fee loan guarantees as a warning sign. [F09]

Related decisions

Explore city guides