Unexpected events can and do occur, which often require immediate financial attention. Should you lack the funds to take care of these emergencies, taking out a loan for this purpose may become necessary and even your only immediate option. Sadly, your credit score can prevent you from obtaining a loan in a timely manner. What alternative options can you consider should you find yourself in such a situation?
A credit score is a numerical representation of your creditworthiness. This is determined by your financial and debt history. Having either a low credit score or no credit history can make it difficult for you to obtain a loan from most traditional lending institutions. This is because they mostly rely on credit checks to determine who they can lend to.
Thankfully, there are alternative options for borrowing money without being subjected to a credit check. In this article, we will look at a few reasons why you may need to take out a loan without a credit score. We’ll also look at various methods of borrowing money without a credit check, and important factors you’ll need to consider when selecting a lender. Very importantly, we will quickly look at the advantages and disadvantages of borrowing money without a credit check.
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Why Would You Need to Borrow without a Credit Check?
Here are a few possible reasons why you, or anyone, may need to borrow money with having a credit check:
- You’ve only recently attained legal age and haven’t yet built any credit history.
- You haven’t taken any credit facility or loans for some years, and this has had a negative impact on your credit score.
- You’ve only just relocated to a new country and haven’t had enough time to build a credit score since you’re practically starting from scratch.
Ways to Borrow Money without Credit Check
The following are a few ways through which you can borrow money without this check:
Family and Trusted Friends
This is likely one way that many have tried. Your family and trusted friends are not likely going to ask for your credit score before obliging you. While your friends and family may be willing to assist you, it’s important that you treat this assistance the same way you would a loan from a lending institution. In fact, have an agreement drawn up and ensure it includes details such as:
Amount borrowed
- Repayment term (repayment date(s), frequency and duration)
- Repayment amount (if different from the borrowed amount) and installment amounts (where applicable).
Banks
Some commercial banks may be willing to offer you a loan even without a proper credit check. This will however be largely dependent on your relationship with the institution. If you’ve proven to be a loyal customer over a given period, the bank may be willing to waive a credit check and offer you a loan.
Adding a Co-signer
Including a co-signer in your application can improve your chances of getting your loan approved. For this to make sense, your co-signer has to have a good credit score. It’s important to understand that your co-signer is like collateral for the loan as he or she has to repay the loan should you default. The higher your co-singers credit score, the more likely you are to get a loan with better interest and repayment terms.
Online Lenders
Borrowing money online is one of the easiest things you can do today. A simple online search will bring up a long list of these online lenders. In many cases, they will approve your loan without running a credit check or uten kredittsjekk as the Norwegians will call it. You may however be required to submit some documents like your proof of income, your ID card, your driver’s license, and other credentials.
It is important to know that the online lending industry, like any other business, is froth with scammers. It is therefore important that you do some digging to learn more about the available financial providers before choosing any. This will help ensure that go for the best option.
Salary Advance
Some organizations offer their employees the option of taking a salary advance. In many cases, this advance is meant to be paid back from the month’s paycheck. This is an option you may want to explore.
It’s however important that you ensure you understand the details of this advance before taking one. Discuss with your organization’s HR department so you can be sure that you can make the payments required of you before committing to it.
Secured Loans
This term simply defines a loan that is given based on something of value rather than your credit score. Once you have some of value like a car, house, jewelry etc., the lender will be better disposed to offering you a loan and with better rates too.
Personal Loan for Poor or Bad Credit
If for any reason you have a bad credit report, a loan such as this is designed for you. You’ll find some financial service providers who will be willing to disregard your poor credit score and offer you a loan. You should however not that loans like these attract very high interest rates.
Credit-Building Loans
For folks who do not have a good credit score, one important thing they should do is to begin to build one. This is something that a loan like this can offer. These types of loans offer small amounts which when repaid will count towards building your credit rating. As you make each repayment, the amount that can be approved for you as loan will increase. With consistency in repayment, you will both build your credit score and also increase your loanable amount.
Social Assistance
For folks who may not be able to get loans from any source for one reason or the other, an option to look at will be social assistance. This refers to organizations, NGOs and the likes that will provide financial aid to the less privileged and folks not reachable by traditional lenders. Some of the organizations to check are:
- State welfare programs
- Housing assistance
- Local soup kitchen
Factors to Consider When Choosing a Lender
Before deciding to get a loan from a, it’s important that take some time to take a close look at them, putting some factors into consideration. Some of the points to consider include the following:
What’s the Purpose of the Loan?
The first thing you need to examine is the reason for the loan. Knowing this will help you determine if indeed you should take the loan and the best place to get it from. For small amounts, you can simply go to family members or close friends. If however what you need is more than what you will want to ask of a friend or family members, then you may have to explore some of the other options we discussed above. Never get a loan without taking time to thoroughly consider whether or not it is actually necessary. Having access to a loan facility does not mean you must take it or take the full loanable amount. Take exactly what you need and what you can repay with ease.
How You Will Repay
Following from the point above, you should never take a loan without having a clear repayment plan in place. One of the first things to settle in your mind is your repayment plan. This should take place even before you apply for the loan. This becomes much easier when you’ve created a budget that you stick with. This will ensure that you cut excesses in your spending, resulting in better funds management.
The Documentation
Even if there won’t be a need for a credit report to get this loan approved, there’ll still be a need for some other important documents. The financial service provider will be sure to ask for these documents. This is in addition to other information such as your name, home address, contact information, and current salary. With these details duly provided, you’ll be better positioned to have your loan application approved.
Interest Rate
This is one factor you must give proper consideration. Because it will determine how much your repayment amount will be, it is important that you choose a lender that offers the most pocket friendly rate. This will ensure you do not end up paying more than you bargained for.
Loan Term
A loan term stipulates how long you’ll have to complete your repayment. While the repayment may be broken down into monthly installments, there will be a specific time within which all the installments must have been completed. Short-term loans may appear to have higher interest rate. However, in terms of overall repayment cost, you’ll be repaying more for long term loans than for short term loans. This may not appear to be the case because you will be making smaller repayments for each installment over time. Understand this when choosing a loan term.
The reputation of the Financial Provider
While it’s important to always remain watchful, this is one industry where this is even more important. Loan sharks now also provide loans online and can entrap you in a horrible loan. It’s therefore important that you are confident of the reputation of the lender you want to do business with. To be on the safer side, some of the following can be red flags and cause for caution:
- Dubious marketing strategies
- Offers and loan terms that are too true to be true
- Unclear charges
- Extremely fast application process
- Poor customer service.
Transparent Fees and Charges
Transparency in fees and charges is always something to look out for. Any lender that does not make all fees and charges completely clear should be avoided. It’s always a good idea to carefully read the terms and conditions. The surprise comes always in the details when it comes to these lenders. This is what we commonly refer to as the “fine prints.”
License and Certification
It’s in your best interest to only work with duly registered and certified establishments. Organizations like the SEC and FINRA regulate the operations of financial service providers so any reputable financial provider should be operating under these organizations.
Pros of Borrowing Money without Credit Check
- Borrowing without the need for a credit check has some obvious benefits. These include:
- Access to funds even with a bad credit score.
- Since most of these loans are unsecured, you wouldn’t have to provide a valuable asset to the financial provider and you will not be afraid of losing your asset if you default.
- With the exclusion of a credit check, the application process usually be faster.
Conclusion
We’ve taken some time to show that you can borrow money without a credit check. We highlighted different through which this can be achieved and we also provided tips that will help you choose the right lender. With the points shared in this article, you are now in a position to make the right choice.