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Historically, borrowers have had limited options for a personal loan. You could ask a family member, a friend, or find a personal finance company that offered fixed-rate loans, typically at exobrtantly high interest rates.
Today, however, finding a personal loan brings several more options to the table. While you can still ask a family member, or get a high-rate loan from a finance company, you can also consider using a social lending network. These networks, also called peer-to-peer loans, generally have much lower overhead and as a result can offer much lower interest rates. They're facilitated by professional companies familiar with this type of lending, to simplify things for all parties.
Wednesday, January 27th
SoFi (pronounced "SEW-fi", as in "SOcial FInance") is one of the newest sources of personal loans on the market. Their straightforward application process, user-friendly website, and lack of fees make them a very strong contender. We were especially impressed by their unemployment protection feature, which can allow members to suspend repayments on a loan when they lose their jobs. SoFi is a great lender to consider if you're looking for a personal loan.
Upstart is a professional and organized social lending platform focused on helping people achieve their financial goals. Their loan process is quick and efficient and considers many factors including your education, job history, and credit score. With a solid reputation for success, customers can find answers to many of their financial questions because the site clearly describes how their loans work. They also provide education for those seeking guidance for future financial endeavors.
While LendingTree does not fund loans itself, it does connect borrowers with a wide range of potential lenders and allows customers to negotiate directly with those lenders if they wish. Many of those lenders work with those people who have less-than-perfect credit, making LendingTree a great one-stop shop for researching the best loan for every kind of borrower.
If you'd like to compare rates across multiple lenders with a single application, Credible is a great resource for personal loans. While that kind of one-stop shopping saves you some time, you'll still need to research each lender and read your loan terms carefully. Credible has a strong reputation and gets high marks from customers. Ultimately your personal loan will be funded through a third-party lender, so you'll still need to look at your offers carefully.
LendingClub is a recognized leader in the social lending market, which is an alternative to traditional lender-based institutions. They're reliable and do a great job of bringing together lenders and those who want an affordable loan, anywhere from $1,000 to $40,000.
Avant's newer history as a lending platform may make them less attractive to some prospective customers. However, this online lending platform's lack of loan prepayment fees is worth noting, as well as customer service availability 7 days a week. Loans can range from $2,000-$35,000, with funding as soon as the next business day*. For borrowers looking for a fast turnaround time, Avant may be the ideal choice.
100 Lenders is a service that connects borrowers with a network of financial institutions who provide personal loans. The application process is quick and basic, and numerous customer reviews praise the service received when taking out a personal loan from a 100 Lenders partner.
Prosper provides a simple lending process and a website that's easy to navigate. Loan rates can range a little higher at Prosper but, if you are in the market for a $2,000 to $40,000 loan Prosper is worth your consideration.
Even is one of several services that let you prequalify for personal loans from multiple lenders with one easy application online. This service has 10 lending partners in their network, making it possible to get up to $100,000. However, Even seems to require you to provide much more personal information to even see what you might be eligible to receive, without giving you a similar degree of details about their company or how they operate. You'll probably get better service with a higher-ranked provider of personal loans.
NetCredit is a subsidiary of a major financial lending company and specializes in unsecured personal loans between $1000 and $10,000. The process of completing an application is online and easy to follow. NetCredit works with customers with varying credit scores and looks at more than just credit history to either accept or deny a loan. The biggest downside to working with NetCredit is that they only currently service a handful of States.
Personal Loans serves as a liaison between customers wanting personal loans and available lenders willing to assist. Customers will find three different loan types at this well-organized website along with flexible payment options and the choice to borrow up to $35,000. Our only challenge with reviewing Personal Loans was finding any substantial history or reliability information.
OneMain Financial brings to the table a strong BBB rating and a long history of doing business. However, their personal loan rates can be expensive. While OneMain is a dependable company that you can count on, you many be able to save some money with a higher ranked lender.
If you're looking for a personal loan directly from a lender, LifeLoans will not be on your list. As a borrower-lender matching service, they specialize in pairing applicants with lending companies - although they can't accept applications for loans from residents of 4 states.
Better Loans Mutual operates as a referral service, matching prospective auto loan customers to lenders. However, with no positive reviews and a discrepancy between the information on the site and at the provided toll-free number, we can't recommend that you provide them with your contact details. We recommend you look at our higher-ranked sources of personal loans.
No matter where you borrow money from, before you get your next personal loan you should consider the following:
TopConsumerReviews.com has reviewed and ranked the best online personal loan providers available today. We hope this information helps you find the best loan at an affordable rate that meets your needs!
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