Personal loans are a great lending alternative to help you fill in the gaps if you when you need money for expenses such as your child’s wedding, home improvements or medical expenses. However, many traditional lenders are leaving the personal loan market. Most of the lenders that offer personal loans today are credit unions, local community banks and alternative lenders. There is a growing demand for unsecured personal loans as interest rates continue to remain low. The key is finding lenders that offer unsecured personal loans at low rates.
Alternative lenders now dominate the personal loan marketplace. Companies like SoFi, Upstart and Earnest offer personal loans with rates as low as 4.9 percent if you have a good credit history. However, these companies are not actual banks and use different sets of criteria to qualify potential borrowers. Many of the traditional underwriting factors that well-known banks use to qualify you for a loan do not apply with alternative lenders. These lenders lean toward your job history, your character and some of the lenders look at your professionalism in their qualification process. If you are a student looking for a personal loan, some of the lenders look at your GPA and the scores on your standardized tests as part of their qualification process.
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