How can you find installment loans online today?
In the past, the only way to get installment loans for businesses was to apply for a hard-to-get bank loan.
We’ve written about the top 20 online loan companies for loans in Nigeria where you can get unsecured loans without collateral.
In today’s world, due to the online revolution, there are significant changes that somehow reshape the financial industry.
Today, merchants could now obtain business financing through non-bank sources.
If you were to compare it to bank loans, online installment loans are faster and more convenient. However, these kinds of financing carry certain risks.
To avoid dealing with fraudsters and costly lenders, there are certain ways you could employ to find the best online installment loans and what you should know about their pros and cons.
online installment loans and what you should know
3 Ways to Find Installment Loans
Online installment loans offer fast and simple means of getting finances, especially for small business owners.
It serves a wide range of business uses like debt refinancing and working capital.
Compared to other types of financing, installment loans have easy to understand the structure. You receive a lump sum and repay it in fixed, periodic increments.
However, you should do due diligence and not just accept any offers online. You should only take the one with favorable terms and low-interest rates.
And make sure it is from a legit company. Keep reading to know some ways along with the advantage and disadvantages.
1. Visit Online Review Sites
According to the Bright Local’s Consumer Review Survey, 82% read online reviews for local businesses.
This data shows that consumers are more aware that reading customer reviews will help them get the best products and services offered in the market.
You can do the same too. Use your own judgment to determine whether a review site is reputable or not.
Then, read the reviews so you could weigh the strength and weaknesses of different online lenders. With this, you can surely find a lender that suits your needs and budget.
One example of review sites is the Better Business Bureau.
It is a nonprofit corporation that stores data about the companies including their rating and customer reviews.
It uses a dispute resolution procedure for consumers to file complaints against accredited and non-accredited businesses.
So if you want to find a credible loan provider, this is one of the places you could go to.
Making your own research, reading online reviews and using your own judgment to find a credible lender may sound tedious. But it will surely help you find a legit loan provider.
2. Hire an Online Loan Broker
If you want to take away the burden of doing research and reading online reviews, then hiring a loan broker will help you.
The benefit of hiring an online broker is that it saves time to hunt down the best loan offer.
An online loan broker’s job is to find an appropriate loan for you in exchange for a fee. You pay them once you accept the loan offer.
With their help, you can possibly secure a better loan with favorable terms and low-interest rates than you could get on your own.
However, there are also potential downsides when hiring an online loan broker.
For instance, their offer may not be equal to the loan provider themselves. Some loan brokers may charge fees as much as 20%.
In some cases, a broker might offer you an even higher rate than you could get without their help.
They may add a 15% markup on the lender’s going interest rate as their finder’s fee.
When hiring an online loan broker, make sure to do your due diligence so you could deal with a reliable broker with a good reputation.
Failure to do such a thing might cost you more money and end up with more debt.
3. Employing a Loan Aggregator
If you are applying for an online loan, you might be dealing with a direct lender or an aggregator.
What’s the difference? A direct lender is the one that lends you money. A loan aggregator, on the other hand, is a middleman.
A loan aggregator collects your business’s profile, personal and financial information on a loan application and shops it around lenders who might be interested in giving you an offer.
With this, you can select the best offers and secure the best deals.
Moreover, it can also save you more time. By just filling out a single form, you might get pre-qualified by multiple lenders.
However, the downside is when the loan aggregator becomes a loan aggravators. Sometimes, loan aggregators are also called lead generators.
They might sell your information like your name, address, phone numbers, birth date, social security number, annual income or even bank account or credit card number to fraudsters.
Before you know it, scammers will have access to your information and use it for personal gain.
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