What has been your experience getting a personal loan from an online company? (pay, rate)
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What has been your experience getting a personal loan from an online company?
I am a Senior Citizen living in California. I’m trying to consolidate some of my credit card bills. Though my FICO score is 660 (Fair), I was interested in trying my luck TO EMBRACE some of this modern technology of trying to get a personal loan (around $15,000) maybe with some of these new online personal loan companies (i.e. Lending Club, SoFi, LightStream, Upstart, Best Egg, etc.). Since I live in the United States, I am only interested in doing business with a United States based financial institution.
Has anyone recently got a personal loan from one of these type companies? If so, was it easy/hard, what are the basic documents you had to provide? How long did it take to get your loan funded once you submitted all of your paperwork? Would you use this personal loan option again vs. going to a bank or credit union?
We got a business loan from an online company. The "business loan" could be used for any purpose. It also does not appear on your credit report. The interest rate was pretty high, but we paid it off very quickly.
We paid down some higher interest unsecured debt with proceed from the business loan and our credit score skyrocketed. (technically we used the business loan for business expenses which then allowed us to use personal income to pay off the debt.
Once our credit score skyrocketed, we refinanced our house at a much lower interest rate, which freed up cash flow to pay the business loan off much faster.
The higher credit score also allowed us to obtain more favorable insurance rates (also online) which freed up more cash flow to pay off the business loan and other debt.
With both the online business loan and the online mortgage refinance, they tried to trick up into paying huge fees or other added costs. When I called them out on it and told them I was not going to proceed with the loans, they then offered reasonable terms.
If you are careful, you can get very good terms online. You have to proceed with caution and read everything carefully in advance to avoid them taking advantage of you, but that is true whether you are dealing with an online company, or a stiicks and bricks company. They will all try to take advantage of you while pretending to be your friend - at first.
If you own property do not turn unsecured debt into secured debt. That’s the worst thing you can do. I would cut up the CC’s and make arrangements with them yourself to settle for a lower amount if you are in trouble. Another approach is to read Dave Ramsey and use the snowball approach to paying off debt if you have enough income to do so.
If you can find a Cc that offers a zero percent transfer you could transfer some of your debt to that and in the meantime pay down your CC debt that is charging you interest. It really depends on how tight money is. You should also eliminate anything from your budget that isn’t necessary to live.,
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Join a credit union, better rates, better service, and more generous with the terms. When we needed a new roof we got a $22k "unsecured personal loan" from one of ours, at 8.54%.
We got a business loan from an online company. The "business loan" could be used for any purpose. It also does not appear on your credit report. The interest rate was pretty high, but we paid it off very quickly.
We paid down some higher interest unsecured debt with proceed from the business loan and our credit score skyrocketed. (technically we used the business loan for business expenses which then allowed us to use personal income to pay off the debt.
Once our credit score skyrocketed, we refinanced our house at a much lower interest rate, which freed up cash flow to pay the business loan off much faster.
The higher credit score also allowed us to obtain more favorable insurance rates (also online) which freed up more cash flow to pay off the business loan and other debt.
With both the online business loan and the online mortgage). refinance, they tried to trick up into paying huge fees or other added costs. When I called them out on it and told them I was not going to proceed with the loans, they then offered reasonable terms.
If you are careful, you can get very good terms online. You have to proceed with caution and read everything carefully in advance to avoid them taking advantage of you, but that is true whether you are dealing with an online company, or a stiicks and bricks company. They will all try to take advantage of you while pretending to be your friend - at first.
Coldjensens, thank you very much for sharing all that you did. It sounds like you made out like a bandit. I wish I could get a business loan and do something similar to your plan, that would be a tremendous help in my situation. Yet since I don't have a business, I don't have the necessary paperwork to get a business loan (i.e. business license, business incorporation paperwork/articles of incorporation, etc) to qualify for a business loan. Thank you again for your help. I appreciate it.
If you own property do not turn unsecured debt into secured debt. That’s the worst thing you can do. I would cut up the CC’s and make arrangements with them yourself to settle for a lower amount if you are in trouble. Another approach is to read Dave Ramsey and use the snowball approach to paying off debt if you have enough income to do so.
If you can find a Cc that offers a zero percent transfer you could transfer some of your debt to that and in the meantime pay down your CC debt that is charging you interest. It really depends on how tight money is. You should also eliminate anything from your budget that isn’t necessary to live.,
Thank you very much, Teacher Terry. I appreciate you taking the time to read my post, and to provide very helpful information. For sure, what you have recommended will help in my situation. Thanks again.
Join a credit union, better rates, better service, and more generous with the terms. When we needed a new roof we got a $22k "unsecured personal loan" from one of ours, at 8.54%.
Thank you very much, Hemlock140. I appreciate you taking the time to read my post, and to provide helpful information as you shared your experience with using the credit union for a needed high purchase item (new roof). Since I posted my original post, I now see that various credit unions often offer cheaper interests rates vs. those new online loan company options. Thanks again for your help and for sharing your experience.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,551 posts, read 81,085,957 times
Reputation: 57728
Quote:
Originally Posted by user9430961
Thank you very much, Hemlock140. I appreciate you taking the time to read my post, and to provide helpful information as you shared your experience with using the credit union for a needed high purchase item (new roof). Since I posted my original post, I now see that various credit unions often offer cheaper interests rates vs. those new online loan company options. Thanks again for your help and for sharing your experience.
I appreciate that you responded to our posts giving you advice, most people post and never respond to indicate that they even read the responses.
I agree that credit unions are probably your best bet, but I did take out a personal loan through Discover, the credit card company.
I filled everything out online. Since I had a card with them already it required no SSN or any other personals besides agreeing to the terms basically. I want to say it was around 8.5% but I only had it active for about 3 months to bridge the cost of my new concrete driveway. We paid it off ASAP.
I absolutely LOVED the way they sent me statements of the loan, clearly labeling how much was paid and how much was owed, along with a breakdown of the interest I paid. The money was delivered to my account the same day I was approved.
10/10 would recommend Discover Personal Loans if it's a good option for someone looking.
I do all my banking through my credit union. My only personal loan with them has been to purchase a lakeside lot using one of my savings accounts as collateral which gave me an incredibly low interest rate. Land loan are normally a high rate otherwise. Every payment I make goes right back into the savings account as well. It was a win-win for me.
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Thank you again for your help. I appreciate it. 
