Are you tired of getting your loan application denied because you don’t have the best credit? The good news is that there are still plenty of options to get money even when it feels like no one will lend it to you. So, here are the best options to use and avoid when you need money fast.
Try a Personal Loan
Personal loans are one of the best options when you need money fast. Here’s how they work:
- A loan provider gives you money and then you make monthly payments until you’ve paid off your original loan amount plus interest.
- Depending on the loan provider, you can get anywhere from a couple hundred bucks to $50,000, and with some of the lowest interest rates out there.
The problem is it’s harder to qualify for personal loans, especially the ones that lend out a lot of cash when you don’t have the best credit score. Some of the bigger loans have minimum credit score requirements in the 700s. But worry not, there are loan providers that use different qualification requirements and can probably help you even if you have a lower credit score.
For example, Creditninja offers loans up to $5,000 for customers who don’t have the best credit score. The application process is all online and you can get cash as early as the same day.*
But what makes personal loans great is that they have longer repayment periods ranging from months to years and typically have better interest rates compared to other bad credit options.
Try Peer-to-Peer Lending
The next option to get money fast is peer-to-peer lending. And this is an option that most people haven’t heard about, but it’s one of the most reliable ways to get the money you need. Here’s how peer-to-peer loans work:
- There are online platforms that connect you, the borrower, with another individual, the investor, who is willing to lend you money.
- This individual is a person like you and me. You’re not getting money from a bank or a payday loan provider or anything like that.
- The investor will open an account on the site and deposit money to fund their loans.
- When you apply for a loan, you’ll post a financial profile and be assigned to a risk category, which affects the interest rate you will have to pay to borrow.
- And yes, these sites often require credit checks, so you should have a credit score around 580 and up.
- So, after you apply, you’ll receive loan offers from one or more investors and then you choose one to accept. The money transfers to your account, and the monthly loan payments to the lender are handled through the platform.
Loan amounts are similar to personal loans, ranging up to 40 to 50K depending on your credit, but remember that APRs or interest rates can be pretty high. If you’re interested in peer-to-peer lending platforms, some of the most popular ones are:
- LendingClub
- Pureform
- Prosper
Ask Your Employer For a Loan
Another form of peer-to-peer lending involves reaching out to friends, family, or your employer, and should probably be one of your top options to consider.
Now, if you’re down financially, I know you’ve either already tried this or it’s too sensitive of a topic to bring up with your friends and family. We get it. If something goes wrong, you could strain that relationship big time and Thanksgiving will be incredibly awkward. However, asking your employer for a cash advance is a valid option that could get you the money you need without the awkwardness that comes from asking a family member.
The money is usually interest free and you can get a portion or even your whole paycheck early depending on your employer, so it’s worth a shot.
Credit Cards
For those of us with credit cards, we’ve heard about credit card cash advances. This isn’t really a loan, but it’s an easy way to get cash using your credit card’s credit limit. You can usually get the money from an ATM or bank without any credit check, which is convenient in a pinch.
But be careful. Credit card cash advances start accruing interest immediately and usually at a higher rate than normal credit card purchases. There might also be upfront fees. This means if you only make minimum payments, that cash advance can snowball into a growing balance before you know it.
Auto Title Loans
Auto title loans are one of the riskiest options on this list, but they’re also one of the most popular. For these, you offer up your vehicle’s title as collateral to borrow money. You get the cash and you get to keep driving your vehicle. But if you stop making your payments on time, the loan provider will either turn your car off with a kill switch or they’ll hire a repo person to seize your car.
In fact, about one in five people who take out a single payment car title loan end up having their vehicle seized by the lender for failing to repay.1 That’s a 20% chance of saying goodbye to your ride and turning a short-term money problem into a long-term crisis. The money you get is usually between 25 and 50% of your car’s resale value.
So, if your car is worth $5,000, you can get around $1,000 to $2,500 loan. If you don’t need that much money, you can always borrow a smaller amount. Title loans usually have to be paid back in 30 days or less. So, be prepared to pay the lender back immediately.
But when you compare title loans to personal loans, you can get more money, have a longer repayment window, and you don’t have to put your car on the line when you get a personal loan.
Loans to Avoid
And speaking of risky loans, let’s take a second to cover emergency loan alternatives that you may want to avoid.
Payday Loans
Payday loans are famous for giving almost anyone cash in a hurry, even without a good credit score. A payday loan will almost always say yes when other lenders say no, which can feel like a lifesaver when you’re desperate. But this is part of their trap, or business model. Payday loans come with the highest interest rates for any form of debt with some interest rates as high as 700%. Plus, they make you repay this loan within two weeks.
The problem is 80% of payday loans don’t get paid back on the first loan.2 And payday lenders rake in a fortune off of people who need to take out another loan to pay off their current loan.
Cash Advance Apps
Cash advance apps are similar to payday loans in the sense that it’s easy to get trapped because of their fee structure. They advertise their loans as low or zero interest, but you often have to give a tip to get full access to their platform. Without tipping, your withdrawal amounts could be very limited, and it might take longer to get your cash.
Pawn Shop Loans
And then there’s pawn shop loans, another no credit check method. Here, you bring a valuable item to a pawn shop and they lend you money based on the item’s value. It’s pretty much guaranteed approval as long as your item is valuable enough. The pawn shop doesn’t care about your credit score, only the item.
But if you don’t repay on time, they keep your item and will sell it. So only pawn something you truly are prepared to lose.
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