Rainy day alert

Half of Americans have little put away for setback

TALK ABOUT LIVING on the edge.

Nearly one quarter of Americans have less than $100 in savings to cover an emergency, according to a new survey from pay day lender CashNetUSA.com.

And nearly half of Americans have less than $800 to live on in the event of an unexpected setback.

The survey results underscore just how hard many have fallen in the face of high unemployment and a rocky economy.

“I am barely surviving,” upper West Side resident Alladin Ullah told the Daily News.

Ullah, a teacher’s assistant for the New York City Department of Education, said the several hundred dollars a week he earns barely cover his expenses.

“When you’re trying to survive day by day, you can’t think about an emergency,” said Ullah, who is also an actor and writer.

Parents with kids under the age of 18 are especially vulnerable: 55% of Americans in that group have less than $800 to handle an emergency.

Melody, a 53-year-old single mother of four from East Harlem, said she has zero in savings to fall back on. “I live check by check,” she said. Unemployed since 1996, Melody has two children at home, including one with special needs. She lives off of $20,000 a year in Social Security checks.

Would she have someone to turn to if she needed cash?

“I may — and I may not,” Melody said. “I wouldn’t feel comfortable asking, but if it came down to the survival of my child I would.”

Family members are facing the burden of helping out, the survey found: 41% of individuals with no savings said they would likely turn to a relative for a loan in the event of an emergency.

Women are slightly more willing than men to ask a family member for a loan. Likewise, people with kids under the age of 18 are more likely to ask a relative for help vs. those with no children under the age of 18.