In 2011 more people are going to use the web to find personal loans, especially personal loans for bad credit than in any previous year.
Today, people use the web to find everything.
The best places to eat, where to shop, what car to buy, even to meet a potential mate.
It makes sense that people would use the aggregated information of the combined user experiences on the internet to make better decisions.
How can this help me when searching for a personal loan online? Let people who have gone before you make the mistakes One of the most common mistakes among bad credit loan seekers is applying to every loan that they find.
When you do this, you are basically ensuring that the only loan that you will be able to qualify for will end up being a cash advance.
There is a time and a place for cash advances, but this article is assuming that you are interested in an unsecured personal loan.
The best strategy for applying for and getting a bad credit loan online is detailed below.
Step One - Know your "enemy" This cannot be said enough.
If there is no SSL cert on the web page you are looking at and they are asking you for personal information.
Run, don't walk as fast as your fingers can take you away from that site.
They might not be an evil data miner, but if they are too cheap or too incompetent to buy and ssl cert to protect your information, how are they handling your information in their database? It is not difficult for them to do, so if they don't have it, get away.
Secondly, if they are asking for a fee for your loan application, they are definitely scamming you.
It is illegal to ask for a fee for a loan application online, don't fall for it.
What should I look for? Assuming that you listen to my first piece of advice, next look at the quality of the site design.
Do they look professional? Is there information that answers my questions? Or, does this site look like all they want to do is get my information? Use common sense, you wouldn't walk into a seedy building and hand over all of your information to someone who you can't see behind a curtain, why would you do that online? Another thing to look for is what are they going to do with my information.
In my opinion, the best sites to use for bad credit loans are the type that analyze your information and help you decide who the best matched lenders are that can meet your needs.
This saves you time so that you don't apply to 10 different lenders, dragging your credit score down even further.
These places don't check your credit, so it doesn't count against you.
Most of the time, they will provide you with a way to order your credit score so that you can give them the most accurate and current score.
This is an important step that you should NEVER skip.
If you don't have accurate information, you won't get accurate recommendations.
If I didn't get a loan, did I get scammed? If you followed my advice, then probably not.
There are ways for people with bad credit to get loans, and these sites should be able to follow up with you and give you pointers on how to get a loan after you have been turned down.
Remember, you are asking someone for money.
Would you lend money to you? You might have to put some effort into cleaning up your credit history, but if you need the money, this effort is well worth it.
It is a good idea to do this before applying for your bad credit loan initially as your loan rate will be lower with a higher credit score.