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I wanted to add this video to one of our most popular posts on the blog, a super list of the peer to peer lending sites on the web. The list highlights all the fees, special features and discounts on each site so you can get the best peer loan for your needs.
I just wanted to highlight some of the peer lending websites I’ve used as a borrower and as an investor. I also wanted to talk about a few of the things you can do to get lower rates on your loan.
All of the peer loan sites are going to look at your credit report and assign an interest rate just like any other lender would. The trick to getting a better rate is to boost your credit score by as much as possible before applying for the loan.
If you can pay off any credit card debt before applying for a loan, that’s really the best. The credit score people hate credit card debt because there’s no fixed payment or payoff date. Now paying off your cards isn’t usually an option for a lot of people, especially if you are looking for a peer loan to pay off your cards so we’ll cover a couple of other options here.
The easiest thing you can do is call the credit card companies and ask to increase your limit. This doesn’t mean applying for new cards or going out shopping on your new higher spending limit. It’s just to make it look like you have more credit available. That’s important because part of your credit score is based on whether you have credit available, something called your credit utilization ratio.
Another credit trick you can try is to get negative remarks removed from your credit report. You do this by writing the credit score bureaus and contesting a missed payment or late payment or whatever it is on your report you want removed.
Now any of these things are going to take a couple of months to really boost your credit score, it just doesn’t happen overnight. But if you can increase your score by even 20 or 30 points, you could save hundreds or even thousands on your loan interest.
So I’ve highlighted some of the peer lenders I’ve used. Not all are the same, some are better for good credit borrowers while others will work for bad credit borrowers. Some are better for debt consolidation and loans to pay off credit cards while others are better for student loans.
There’s a table with some notes on each peer lending site as well so let’s look at the peer to peer loan sites listed.
Lending Club is the largest peer to peer lending site in the world. They make small business loans also but almost all loans are personal loans for debt consolidation, home improvement, medical expenses and loans like that. Lending Club usually requires a higher credit score, around 640 or higher, but rates are lower also. Rates start at just over 5% and up to 31% depending on your credit.
SoFi loans is also a good choice for good credit borrowers. They won’t say the minimum credit score for a loan but it may be higher than Lending Club. Rates are about the same, starting under 6% but don’t go as high. Two big advantages of SoFi is that they don’t charge an origination fee and you can refinance your student loans for even lower rates.
Low or no origination fees are important because that’s money you pay off the top after getting your loan. An origination fee of 5% which is pretty standard across the peer to peer lending sites will cost you $500 for a $10,000 loan.
Next is Personal Loans .com, a site I’ve used for peer loans and one of the best p2p websites for bad credit borrowers. The site says it requires a credit score of around 580 or higher but I know people that have gotten a loan with a lower score. The best part about personal loans .com is that they work with different lenders to provide a loan depending on your situation. They offer peer loans, personal loans and cash advances so it’s a way to get different offers on a loan from one website. Rates are higher, starting at just under 10% but it’s still much better than a payday loan and usually less than your credit card rates.
If you’re applying for a peer loan online, it pays to start with the sites that might offer a lower rate. The website will do what’s called a soft pull of your credit first to estimate your interest rate. This first credit check doesn’t go on your credit report so it won’t hurt your score. They only do a hard check on your credit after you accept the interest rate and the loan.
There are a lot of other peer lending websites in the list so check them out on PeerFinance101. The list is also broken down into best loan sites for different types of borrowers including bad credit loans, personal loans, business loans and more. So read through the list and get the right loan for you.
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