The Best Personal Loans For 2023

Finding the best personal loan or personal finance solution for your particular situation and circumstances will require you to think strategically. To do that, you must answer several important questions before you ever complete your first personal loan application:

1. What is your credit score?
2. Do you have any special circumstances?
3. How much money do you need?
4. How quickly can you pay it back?

1. Your Credit Score

Before lenders will approve anyone for a personal loan, they will pull that person’s credit score as part of their risk assessment. Most lenders use either a FICO or Vantage score. In both, higher scores generally indicate lower risk while lower scores tend to suggest higher risk. Lenders will normally use a credit reporting bureau such as Equifax or Transunion, and less frequently, Experian to obtain your credit score.

Know It Before You Blow It

Applying to lenders haphazardly, without knowing your current credit score is a huge mistake. If your credit score falls below a lender’s minimum criteria, they will automatically deny your application without a second thought. And multiple denials in rapid succession can be a red flag for many lenders. This is why it is so important to know your credit score BEFORE you apply anywhere. When you do, you will only apply to the lender(s) with the highest likelihood of approving you.

Each lender you apply to is going to pull your credit score. This will show as an inquiry for two years on your credit report and can reduce your credit score slightly, especially at first. Knowing your credit scores upfront is the smart, easy way to avoid all that.

First Things First: Get Your Credit Score Now

You can get your Equifax and Transunion credit reports and credit scores totally free of charge from CreditKarma. If you’re not already a member, you should sign up immediately. It’s free, it only takes a minute, it will not impact your credit scores in any way, and there is no better or faster way to get your current credit scores. CreditKarma also updates your credit scores each day, which makes it an invaluable tool for monitoring and improving your credit over time. And it’s always free.

2. Special Circumstances

Special circumstances might include being unemployed or unable to work, unsuitable collateral, unverifiable income, and special income from sources such as alimony, disability, workers comp, and child support payments, for example.

3. How Much Money Do You Need?

It is important to do a little research so that you know exactly how much you need to borrow and how much you can afford to pay back each month. It’s a good idea to have a set figure in mind of how much you need. Why? There are two reasons.

First, certain lenders will only lend up to a certain amount. If you need more than their upper limit, it would be pointless to apply with those lenders.

And second, often when you apply for personal loans, especially if you have decent credit, you might get an answer like “You’re approved up to $XX,XXX”, even if you applied for significantly less. It can be tempting to accept the higher dollar amount, but having a set figure will help you keep your goal and your budget in mind.

4. How Quickly Do You Intend To Pay It Back?

This is an important consideration and can help you determine which lenders to apply with or avoid altogether. Our lender network has all sorts of lenders from very short term to intermediate and long term and includes all sorts of repayment rates and terms. By knowing how quickly you can repay the loan, you can choose lenders who specialize in the type of funding you actually need without having to worry about being charged excessive interest or prepayment penalties.

Here are a couple of examples:

• ^{Maybe you have a lawsuit that is ready to settle and expect to receive about $185,000 within the next six months. You’re in dire financial straits right now and need $40,000 to get caught up on everything and live comfortably until your settlement comes through. And you happen to live in one of the states where legal funding is prohibited, so that’s not an option. A personal loan with a five-year repayment term would create very manageable monthly payments. And selecting a lender with no pre-payment penalty means you could pay off the loan early, as soon as you receive your settlement money.}
  
  
• ^{Perhaps your car broke down and you need $600 to get it out of the shop today so you can drive it to work tomorrow. You have a good job and can easily repay the money out of your next paycheck that you’ll receive in the next 7 to 10 days. A payday loan or cash advance would be the right personal loan in this situation.}
  
  
• ^{Or maybe you were injured and had to be off work for a while. You fell behind on everything and your credit took some serious hits. Now you have bad credit and your bank won’t loan you a dime. You expect to fully recover, and when you do, you’ll return to work and will be able to start making small monthly loan payments and might be able to increase them by working some overtime. In the meantime, however, you need $5,000 to keep your head above water and not get evicted. A bad credit loan is probably your only option, so choose one with a relatively long repayment term and no prepayment penalty in case you can pay it off early.}

A personal loan can provide the money you need immediately. It may also include some cool benefits.

The lenders in our network typically feature affordable monthly payments and no pre-payment penalties. That means you can get the money you need now, and then once your case has settled, you can use some of your settlement money to pay off the loan.

TriMark, however, works with a network of alternative lenders that overlook a lot of the blemishes that traditional lenders get hung up on. And because their criteria are far less restrictive, they tend to say “yes” when everyone else is busy saying “no”.

You can apply regardless of your credit score, funds are usually available within 24 hours of approval, and you can request however much as you need, up to $100,000.

One of the benefits of a personal loan is that your on-time payments can help improve your credit scores.

The best part is that most of the lenders in our network don’t have pre-payment penalties. That means you can get the money you need now and simply pay off the loan whenever your workers comp settlement is finalized.