A $500 loan is where the Old Line region stops being one market and becomes six. The table below is the whole picture, priced: read it top down, cheapest first, and you know the board before any lender knows you are looking.
The board
| Route | What $500 costs |
|---|---|
| Employer earned wage access | usually free, sometimes under $10; regulated in Maryland since May 2025 |
| Credit union PAL, 28% APR, 6 months | about $545 all-in |
| Maryland-capped installment, 18%, 6 months | about $527 all-in |
| Virginia or Illinois, 36% APR, 6 months | about $554 all-in |
| Delaware licensed advance | contract price; 391% to 520% market APRs common |
| Sovereign offer, 400% to 600% APR, 6 months | about $1,220 to $1,645 all-in |
| Unlicensed online offer | about 391% APR; not licensed in Maryland, Pennsylvania, or Washington DC |
The top rows are the licensed cheap doors: wage access at effectively zero, a credit union PAL at about $545, and Maryland-capped installment credit at about $527. The 36% market in Virginia and Illinois prices $500 at about $554 over six months, about $92.26 per month. Everything below those rows costs multiples of them, which is the entire point of the table.
The $500 Delaware note
Delaware is the region’s licensed advance state, and $500 is its old small-loan tier: the line the market was built around before the current $1,000 ceiling. A Delaware lender today can write $500 as a licensed, contract-priced advance with no fee cap, a 60-day maximum term, and rollovers to four. Market pricing at this size commonly runs 391% to 520% APR, so the contract, not the statute, sets the price.
The sovereign totals at $500
Sovereign offers at this size commonly price over six months at 400% to 600% APR: about $1,220 to $1,645 all-in. Against the licensed rows, that is two to three times the money borrowed. It is a real door for real situations, and it is printed here at full price so it gets chosen with open eyes or not at all.
What we would pick
Wage access if the gap closes before payday. A PAL at about $545 if it does not. The 36% or Maryland installment rows where residency allows. Any specific quote goes through the installment loan calculator before signing, and the Maryland cost guide keeps the in-state detail in one place.
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