{"id":124299,"date":"2021-12-22T21:28:41","date_gmt":"2021-12-22T21:28:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?p=124299"},"modified":"2021-12-22T21:28:41","modified_gmt":"2021-12-22T21:28:41","slug":"tips-for-spotting-and-avoiding-personal-loan-scams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/economy\/tips-for-spotting-and-avoiding-personal-loan-scams\/","title":{"rendered":"Tips for spotting and avoiding personal loan scams"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><source media=\"(max-width: 767px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/a57.foxnews.com\/static.foxbusiness.com\/foxbusiness.com\/content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/735\/414\/Credible-personal-loan-scams-iStock-1301225502.jpg?ve=1&amp;tl=1, https:\/\/a57.foxnews.com\/static.foxbusiness.com\/foxbusiness.com\/content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/1470\/828\/Credible-personal-loan-scams-iStock-1301225502.jpg?ve=1&amp;tl=1 2x\"><source media=\"(min-width: 768px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/a57.foxnews.com\/static.foxbusiness.com\/foxbusiness.com\/content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/931\/506\/Credible-personal-loan-scams-iStock-1301225502.jpg?ve=1&amp;tl=1, https:\/\/a57.foxnews.com\/static.foxbusiness.com\/foxbusiness.com\/content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/1862\/1012\/Credible-personal-loan-scams-iStock-1301225502.jpg?ve=1&amp;tl=1 2x\"><\/picture>\n<p><span>Personal loan scams have been on the rise. Here are six red flags that can help you identify scammers and find reputable personal loan lenders.<\/span><span> (<\/span><span>iStock<\/span><span>)<\/span><\/p>\n<p>When you&#x2019;re in desperate need of cash and unsure how to identify legitimate lenders, it can be easy to fall for a personal loan scam.&#xA0;<\/p>\n<p>Consumers reported 99,667 cases of identity theft in 2020 for business and personal loans, <u>according to the Federal Trade Commission<\/u>. This represents a 127% increase from the previous year. If you don&#x2019;t see the warning sign of a personal loan scam and you fall into a scammer&#x2019;s trap, your identity can be stolen. You could end up with fraudulent information on your credit report, and a scammer could steal some of your hard-earned money.&#xA0;<\/p>\n<p>To avoid being ripped off by fraudsters, learn how to identify some <u>common warning signs<\/u> of a personal loan scam.&#xA0;<\/p>\n<p>If you&#x2019;re looking for a reputable lender, visit an <u>online marketplace like Credible to explore personal loan options<\/u>.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>What are personal loan scams?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>6 red flags of a personal loan scam<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>How to tell if a personal loan company is legitimate<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What should you do if you get scammed?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>How to find a legitimate personal loan company<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>What are personal loan scams?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>A personal loan scam happens when someone pretends to be a legitimate personal loan lender. Although their deceptive tactics vary, they may promise to issue you a personal loan in exchange for an upfront fee, send you a fake check in the mail, or even con you into filling out a fake personal loan application.<\/p>\n<p>The scammer&#x2019;s main objective is to trick you into giving them money, sensitive personal information, or both. Once they have your important data, they can steal your identity and apply for credit in your name. If they succeed, they can cause major damage to your credit, which could temporarily prevent you from qualifying for much-needed financing or an apartment or house.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>6 red flags of a personal loan scam<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>It can be tough to distinguish a reputable lender from a fake one if you don&#x2019;t know what to look for. While scammers are constantly evolving their tactics, here are six common warning signs to help you identify potential scams.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>1. The lender guarantees approval<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Before <u>approving you for a loan<\/u>, a lender usually reviews key factors like your debt-to-income ratio, credit score, and income. By doing so, it can assess the likelihood of you repaying the loan or charge higher loan rates for those with bad credit &#x2014; those with better credit scores typically qualify for a <u>better interest rate<\/u>.<\/p>\n<p>If a loan company tells you it guarantees loan approval without going through this process, this is a sign the loan company may be fraudulent. Legitimate personal loan financial institutions, even those that offer <u>bad credit loans<\/u>, usually have a review process with credit checks to confirm your income and credit history.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>2. Upfront fees<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Although some financial institutions may charge you application or origination fees for underwriting the loan, these fees are usually taken from the loan amount. Legitimate personal loan lenders don&#x2019;t ask borrowers to wire money or use gift cards or prepaid credit cards. In addition, lenders won&#x2019;t charge an origination fee to check your rates. If a lender asks for an upfront fee, you might be dealing with a personal loan scam.&#xA0;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>3. The lender offers you a loan by phone<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>It&#x2019;s illegal for a lender or telemarketer to guarantee you&#x2019;ll qualify for a loan by phone in exchange for a fee because it violates the Telemarketing Sales Rule, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). If a lender does this, it&#x2019;s definitely a sign you should run.<\/p>\n<p>While you can be approved for a personal loan over the phone, this involves you contacting a lender. A lender shouldn&#x2019;t contact you unsolicited. Once you contact the lender, it will ask you to provide some financial and personal information to complete your loan application.<\/p>\n<p>Afterward, you&#x2019;ll have to review and sign a loan agreement before your funds are issued.<\/p>\n<p>If you&#x2019;re considering a personal loan or want to take out a <u>second personal loan<\/u>, you can <u>visit Credible<\/u> to compare loan rates and lenders.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>4. The lender isn\u2019t registered in your state<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Lenders are required to be registered in each state they do business in. If a company isn&#x2019;t registered in your state, then offering you a personal loan is against the law. If a company is not registered in any state, it may be a sign of a scam.<\/p>\n<p>To make sure you&#x2019;re avoiding a personal loan scam, double-check with your state&#x2019;s <u>attorney general&#x2019;s office<\/u> to see if the company is properly registered.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>5. The lender contacts you directly to offer the loan<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>While a legitimate lender may send you prescreened offers in the mail as a form of advertisement, it won&#x2019;t contact you directly to solicit your business. If you do receive a pre-approved or prescreened offer &#x2014; sometimes in the form of a check that you can cash &#x2014; be sure to carefully review the loan terms and comparison shop before you cash the check.<\/p>\n<p>Remember, a real company will require you to submit a formal application that includes personal and financial information and perform a credit check.&#xA0;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>6. The lender says no credit check is needed<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>If a lender says <u>no credit check is required<\/u>, proceed with caution. This could be a warning signal. Some high-cost lenders, like payday loan companies, waive credit checks but, in exchange, they charge a very high effective interest rate.&#xA0;&#xA0;<\/p>\n<p>A legitimate loan company will perform a hard credit inquiry to determine whether it should approve your loan.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>How to tell if a personal loan company is legitimate<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>In addition to a lender being registered in your state, you should focus on these five factors to help you determine if a loan company is legit:<\/p>\n<p>To learn more, visit Credible to <u>compare rates<\/u> from multiple personal loan lenders.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What should you do if you get scammed?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Taking the steps above can help you avoid scammers, but it doesn&#x2019;t eliminate the risk of fraud. If you believe you&#x2019;ve been scammed, here&#x2019;s what you can do:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Gather evidence. <\/strong>Collect all the evidence you can think of. This includes any loan agreements you signed, phone calls, emails, or letters you received in the mail.<\/li>\n<li><strong>File a police report. <\/strong>Contact your local police department to file a report. Keep a copy of this report because you may need it to complete additional steps.<\/li>\n<li><strong>File a report with the proper agencies. <\/strong>In addition to filing a police report, you should file a report with other agencies by visiting <u>IdentityTheft.gov<\/u>, the <u>Consumer Financial Protection Bureau<\/u>, and your <u>state&#8217;s attorney general&#8217;s office<\/u>. Some of these agencies may be able to help you get some of your funds back or recover from identity theft.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Review your credit reports.<\/strong> If you gave the scammer important personal information (like your Social Security number), it\u2019s important to <u>check your credit reports for signs of identity theft.<\/u> You can check your credit reports from the three major credit bureaus \u2014 Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion \u2014 for free weekly at <u>AnnualCreditReport.com<\/u> through April 20, 2022. To protect yourself against credit fraud, consider freezing your credit.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>How to find a legitimate personal loan company<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Here are four steps you can take to find a legitimate personal loan lender:<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/money\/ways-to-identify-personal-loan-scams\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Personal loan scams have been on the rise. Here are six red flags that can help you identify scammers and find reputable personal loan lenders. [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Tips for spotting and avoiding personal loan scams - Fin2me<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/economy\/tips-for-spotting-and-avoiding-personal-loan-scams\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tips for spotting and avoiding personal loan scams - Fin2me\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Personal loan scams have been on the rise. Here are six red flags that can help you identify scammers and find reputable personal loan lenders. [...]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/economy\/tips-for-spotting-and-avoiding-personal-loan-scams\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fin2me\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-12-22T21:28:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/xiaomi_shutterstock_551609191.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"680\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/economy\/tips-for-spotting-and-avoiding-personal-loan-scams\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/economy\/tips-for-spotting-and-avoiding-personal-loan-scams\/\",\"name\":\"Tips for spotting and avoiding personal loan scams - Fin2me\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-22T21:28:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-12-22T21:28:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ad0e9920e03d3b41c7ad02a18375d76a\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/economy\/tips-for-spotting-and-avoiding-personal-loan-scams\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/economy\/tips-for-spotting-and-avoiding-personal-loan-scams\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/economy\/tips-for-spotting-and-avoiding-personal-loan-scams\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Economy\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/category\/economy\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Tips for spotting and avoiding personal loan scams\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/\",\"name\":\"Fin2me\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ad0e9920e03d3b41c7ad02a18375d76a\",\"name\":\"Mark\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/39b72719fb75a2d3c7d7695026648602?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/39b72719fb75a2d3c7d7695026648602?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mark\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Tips for spotting and avoiding personal loan scams - Fin2me","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/economy\/tips-for-spotting-and-avoiding-personal-loan-scams\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Tips for spotting and avoiding personal loan scams - Fin2me","og_description":"Personal loan scams have been on the rise. Here are six red flags that can help you identify scammers and find reputable personal loan lenders. [...]","og_url":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/economy\/tips-for-spotting-and-avoiding-personal-loan-scams\/","og_site_name":"Fin2me","article_published_time":"2021-12-22T21:28:41+00:00","og_image":[{"width":680,"height":440,"url":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/xiaomi_shutterstock_551609191.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Mark","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mark","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/economy\/tips-for-spotting-and-avoiding-personal-loan-scams\/","url":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/economy\/tips-for-spotting-and-avoiding-personal-loan-scams\/","name":"Tips for spotting and avoiding personal loan scams - Fin2me","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-12-22T21:28:41+00:00","dateModified":"2021-12-22T21:28:41+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ad0e9920e03d3b41c7ad02a18375d76a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/economy\/tips-for-spotting-and-avoiding-personal-loan-scams\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/fin2me.com\/economy\/tips-for-spotting-and-avoiding-personal-loan-scams\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/economy\/tips-for-spotting-and-avoiding-personal-loan-scams\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Economy","item":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/category\/economy\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Tips for spotting and avoiding personal loan scams"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/","name":"Fin2me","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ad0e9920e03d3b41c7ad02a18375d76a","name":"Mark","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/39b72719fb75a2d3c7d7695026648602?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/39b72719fb75a2d3c7d7695026648602?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Mark"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124299"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124299\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}