Rollover
Extending a loan you can’t repay for another fee — the mechanism that turns a short loan into long debt.
What "rollover" means
A rollover (or renewal) is when a borrower who can't repay a short-term loan on the due date pays a fee to extend it for another cycle instead of paying it off. It's most associated with payday and tribal payday loans, where the lump-sum due date makes it common.
Each rollover adds cost without reducing principal, which is how a few-hundred-dollar loan balloons into a balance several times larger. Some states ban rollovers outright; tribal lenders claiming immunity may offer them anyway.