What Is The Deal On Payday Loan Companies Being Able To Sue Or Not?

Generally speaking, payday loan companies cannot unilaterally 'extend' a loan unless the person who borrowed the money cannot (or will not) repay it on the date s/he agreed to pay it back, and essentially applies for a new loan to make the promised payment. These are sometimes referred to as "rollover" loans, and you may have authorized the lender to do this when you signed the contract for your initial loan in May. Of course, this just creates a further obligation to pay the loan back, and because of the fees and interest accrual involved with these loans, the amount will in fact be higher (probably much higher) than the amount of the original loan.

Your note said that you'd done everything you could to get them to let you pay it off and suggested that they wouldn't allow you to pay them back. While the lender may not have been willing to accept partial payments, or to set up a payment plan for your convenience, I suspect that they would have been willing to accept full repayment of your loan at any time. That is, after all, what you probably agreed to when you took out the loan (to pay it back in one lump sum. not in payments).

What you need to do is to read the contract(s) you signed when you took out the loan(s). Your obligations, as well as those of the lender, will be spelled out in detail (possibly on the back of the document(s)). If you can find a lawyer who will give you a free consultation, you might want to find out if your state (assuming you are in the U.S.) has any specific regulations targeting payday loan firms. Some states restrict the number of times a loan can be rolled over, while others cap the annual interest rate (which can exceed 300% in some cases!). But in all likelihood, chances are that you will  have to pay the amount they are requesting or run the risk of being successfully sued and damaging your credit record.