I need to try and find a lender that looks at a person itself not just a credit score!! Anybody have any suggestions for me? Thanks in advance!!
Local credit unions tend to be better about this than bigger banks. However, a great deal is going to depend on what you are trying to borrow the money for, what kind of collateral you can offer, and why your credit score is poor. Do you have a good explanation to give them?
I don’t know of any institution that doesn’t look at credit scores; lenders need to quantify their risk and they’ve got tried and true formulas for doing it.
I don’t have experience with credit unions. I’ve heard that they tend to offer more personalized service, and I know that some will offer better interest rates for things like CDs and savings accounts. But they’re going to have less capital to work with than your traditional bank.
The looser the lender, the higher the interest rate. And my warning is this: if you’re already in debt, don’t make the problem worse with more borrowing
If we are talking about unsecured loans, any regulated lender is going to rely heavily on credit scores. This is pushed as much by the governmental regulators as it is the internal bank managers. The government wants consistent and unbiased decisions. While algorithms can be biased, there is a MUCH larger risk of bias in judgmental decisions.
If you are looking at an unregulated lender, you may have more luck at finding someone who “looks at a person” (though I am not sure what that means), but will likely pay two or three times the interest rate.
This. We’ve borrowed and saved our cash ONLY with credit unions for over 40 years. As members, we’re owners; the CU staff work for us.
Also this. CU’s aren’t charities. Loan sharks or your generous cousin might not care about credit scores; everyone else does.
Just on this specific point, for ‘retail’ loans (ie comparatively small loans primarily for individuals) the vast majority of banks and other lenders use some form of computerised credit assessment, so “Computer says No”. I presume the OP is after a lender with an ‘old fashioned’ approach where an actual person does a hands on credit assessment.
You need to give us more information. For anything that a bank would consider a regular loan (ie house, car, HELOC etc) I don’t know that any traditional lender is going to say “he seems like a nice guy, lets give him the 100k he’s asking for” or “they’ve never made a payment on time for anything and is in collections by two other banks, but they seem to have the best intentions”. No one is going to give you money if they don’t have proof you’re going to pay it back, more so if they have proof you probably won’t.
If your credit report is in the shitter, the best thing for you is to put all your energy towards making sure every.single.payment is made on time. That can easily bring your credit score up 100-200 points in just a year or so.
Now, if you’re looking for a small loan, say, under a few thousand dollars and you don’t have time to repair your credit, you can see about taking a cash advance from a credit card or getting adding a HELOC to a house if you have some equity in it. But you’re going to end up paying through the nose in interest and fees, especially on cash advance from a credit card.
This was my experience many years ago - I had made the mistake of co-signing a cell phone contract for my train wreck of a sister and didn’t realize she had defaulted until I needed a car loan because I had major leg surgery and couldn’t drive a stick with one leg. It was the only black mark on my credit and was relatively small, so the credit union actually listened to my story and gave me the car loan.
There’s a place that advertises on the radio here called “American Financing” that specifically advertises “Salary-Based Mortgage Consultants”. I’d always quietly understood the “Salary-Based” part as meaning, “if you’re making enough money to afford a home now, we won’t worry about bad credit”.
No lender looks at “just” a credit score, but any lender who ignores the score is due to lose their shirt.
To the OP: if you have significant information that makes your situation different, be prepared to amply document your claims.
Since the OP is asking for advice, let’s move this to IMHO.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
This is a fantastically bad idea for the bank or other lender. It sounds like they’re dealing with an entitled customer… someone is such a “good person” that the financial institution should take a chance on them.
They probably would take a chance… by offering you a loan with a high interest rate.
I have to say I’m astonished that stated income loans (NINJA loans) are still legal, and still a thing. They’re only for the self-employed, but a responsible lender (in Canada) would require the last two notices of assessment (I think the American equivalent is an IRS transcript) confirming both your income and that you don’t owe any tax money.
Im not entitled and work very hard for my money. I got into a bad situation and was taken advantage of which in turn ended up wrecking my credit score. Up until 6 months ago i had good credit, it doesn’t take much to put it in the red. I have a good job and have always worked hard for my money!! And have always paid my bills this is killing me!!
A well-attested account of how you got into financial trouble and what you’re doing to dig yourself out can be enough to convince the right lender. How bad is your credit score? (You don’t have to give specifics, but are we talking sub-500 or low 600s or what?) How much has it declined over the past year? Are you out of the bad situation now?
Over the past year it has gone down significantly it was in the mid 700’s and is now in the upper 500’s. My husband had been injured and I was trying to make all the payments on my own!! Than who I thought was someone who was going to help me with a loan - well I am not a stupid person, but I trusted a person and ended up being scammed out of thousands of dollars. I am trying to get back on track and am searching for a loan so that I can have the one payment which I can afford as long as I can out from behind these credit cards we were using to which in turn became another mess to get out of. I have a good job and my husband is now back to work so yes things can get better but I feel like I am drowning and there seems to be no hope to get out of this mess I have gotten us into!!!