When searching for personal loans online, the number of choices available can be overwhelming. Lenders across Canada, and possibly even other countries, will appear in your searches, each vying for your business. So how do you decide who to apply with? And how do you protect your credit score in the process? A financial service marketplace (also referred to as a loan search engine) like LoanConnect is a great solution. At LoanConnect, we are not the lender, but we help to connect you to the best loans available to you.
How LoanConnect Connects You to Loans
When you apply with LoanConnect you are completing a single application and agreeing to a singular soft credit pull. A soft pull does not impact your credit, but improves our ability to connect you with the right loans. You complete the application and our system uses your TransUnion report to connect you with pre-approved loan offers. This connection happens through our system analyzing approval criteria of each lender we work with and connecting you where you’ll have the best chance of funding. However, it is important to keep in mind that the results from our platform are pre-approvals, and not final decisions. Learn more about what parts of the process LoanConnect can help with in our blog here.
Why Use a Platform to Connect to Loans?
Choosing to work with a loan search platform instead of doing the work yourself can save you time, and ultimately money. When you connect to loans through a platform, you will be suggested lenders that match your individual financial situation. This can save unnecessary hard credit checks and help protect your credit score as every hard credit check can negatively impact your score. A lower credit score will also impact what interest rates you are eligible for, and likely end up costing you more. Additionally, frequent credit checks can serve as a negative indicator to a potential lender evaluating you as a borrower.
Benefits of a Loan Search Engine
There are many benefits to choosing a loan search engine over applying to individual lenders:
- Connect to multiple lenders in as little as 60 seconds
- Reduce the number of hard credit checks
- Review all your loan offers in one location
- Pre-approval offers outline estimated APR, loan terms & repayment costs for loan comparison
- Offers outline additional fine print & details about each lender in one location
- Full control over which lender(s) you choose to move forward with
- Unbiased customer support
How to Know Which Loan to Choose
At LoanConnect, because we are not the lender, we are unbiased in helping you get the best loan available for you. Each of our lenders is reputable, and vetted, to ensure the best experience for our customers. Therefore, we are confident that any of our lender partners is a good choice, it just depends what choice makes sense for you. We can connect you to the loans, you have to be sure you can afford to take the loan.
Next Steps to Connect to a Loan
We always recommend completing an application first to see what is currently available to you. As mentioned, the application does not impact your credit score, simply shows you what loans we can connect you to. It is also free to apply, and there is no obligation to move forward with any offer, unless you feel it is the right fit.
If you need additional resources on the topic, we suggest reading the following blogs:
- Understanding Personal Loans in Canada
- Advantages and Disadvantages of Taking Out a Personal Loan in Canada
- Personal Loans vs. Payday Loans vs. Credit Cards – Which is the Best for You?
Lastly, our team is always here for support at team@loanconnect.ca, should you have questions or need additional support after completing your application.
