Online Personal Loans Review

Online personal loans (also known as payday loans or fast cash loans) are short-term loans that are available to people with bad credit and no collateral. In contrast to a title loan where you offer your car title as collateral, payday loans require no collateral and usually do not involve a credit check. There are many websites where you can apply for an online payday loan, and the whole process is handled electronically. Sorting through these sites can be tricky. TopTenREVIEWS offers an in-depth comparison of several payday loan websites that offer fast cash loans to help you pick a reputable lender with competitive rates. Our top three choices for services that provide personal loans online, 100 Day Loans, NetLoanUSA and FaxFreeCash are all third-party lenders. For more information, see our articles on online personal loans.

Online Personal Loans: What to Look For

Features
This section provides details about where each lender is located, which states are included in its service area and the minimum and maximum loan amounts. The average short-term loan provider offers online personal loans ranging from $100 to $1,500. We also explored the subject of payday loans interest rates, which are usually calculated as a flat rate per $100 borrowed. Loan fees may also vary based on the length of your loan. The average payday loan or personal cash advance lasts for one pay period, which is usually between five and 18 days. Finally, we note whether each site has an online account creation and management option, and whether it uses data encryption to protect your personal information.

Repayment Terms
In this section, we discuss the subject of repaying your cash loan. Depending on the lender, you can take out online payday loans for extended periods of time. Some sites offer a lower rate if you pay your loan back within seven days, while others apply a flat fee regardless of the length of your loan. Federal laws require all lenders to translate their interest rates into an APR (Annual Percentage Rate) to provide you with a comparison base for other lending sources such as credit cards. While these fees may seem high, if you compare them to the fees you’ll get for being late in paying your bills, these loans end up costing much less.

Loan Application Information
Online payday loans require you to provide your personal information to help them verify your identity. While credit history factors into the approval process, most lenders will approve you for a loan regardless of your credit score so long as you have reliable income and a positive history of paying off other payday loans. Personal information that is imperative for these applications includes things such as: your Social Security Number and driver’s license number, a valid email address, the date of next payday and more.

Help & Support
Finally, we explored each site’s methods for providing customer support. We gave higher ratings to companies that offer multiple ways of contacting customer service, including email, phone and live chat. We also gave preference to services that provide a lot of useful information that is easy to access on their website, such as FAQs.

One of the main things to consider when you apply for a payday loan online is whether the company is a direct lender, a third party or an affiliate. The difference between direct lenders and third-party lenders is that third-party lenders refer you to direct lenders. In some cases, this may seem dubious because you don’t know where your personal information is being sent.

Any time you transmit personal information online (particularly your social security number), it’s a good idea to verify the validity and security of the website first. The other drawback to dealing with a third-party referral site instead of a direct lender is that you can’t obtain accurate rate and policy information until you’ve submitted your application. Please note, however, that simply choosing a direct lender does not necessarily mean you’ll get better rates or service. For this review, we made every effort to sort out the best direct and third-party lenders to help you understand the differences between online personal loan websites so you can choose the best one for your situation.

At TopTenREVIEWS We Do the Research So You Don’t Have To.™