EDITOR’S NOTE: The SoFi, Earnest and Prosper offers mentioned in this article are expired and are no longer available
Opportunity Loans, LLC, which operates as OppLoans, is a company devoted to bad credit personal loan solutions that are often presented as a more affordable alternative to payday loans. Ranking favorably among experts and users alike, OppLoans is fast becoming known as one a provider of personal loans for bad credit available online because of the company’s speedy turnaround time and lower interest rates compared to other personal loan options for applicants with poor credit.
As of February 2019, OppLoans only operates in a limited number of states, but its portfolio of personal loan options is a breath of fresh air compared to what many other payday lenders offer. Here are the basics:
Borrower Qualifications
>Must be 18
>No minimum credit score
>Minimum 30 days with current employer
>Minimum monthly gross income: $1,500
>Direct deposit bank account available
Loan Details
>Interest rate: 160% APR
>Principal amounts: $500-$4,000
>Time to approve: within minutes
>Time to receive funds: next business day
>Loan terms: up to 18 months
In addition to these basics, OppLoans personal loans carry no hidden fees or teaser interest rates, and there are no penalties for early repayment. OppLoans only offers unsecured personal loans, which means that there is no collateral required to receive these funds, unlike many other bad credit secured personal loans that require borrowers to offer up a vehicle, home or other real property against the value of their loan to insure against their poor credit score.
OppLoans Loan Comparison: Is OppLoans Right For You?
OppLoans seeks to attract a certain niche borrower, namely one with bad, or what the company calls “less-than-perfect,” credit but whose creditworthiness is more complex than the three numbers of his or her credit score. OppLoans specifically offers personal loans at a higher rate of interest than other personal loans but allows for potential rates below many other quick loan options, namely payday loans. This positions OppLoans as a viable alternative to payday loans, which charge interest rates up to 700%. While OppLoans personal loans offer a good solution for specific borrowers, others may be better off with other personal loan solutions.
SoFi
While SoFi, short for Social Finance, does not have a minimum credit or income requirement for borrowers, it is known among the industry as a quasi-elite club because qualifying for a SoFi personal loan, on average, takes a higher credit score and income level than most other online lenders require. The company positions itself as an alternative to high or even low interest credit cards for highly qualified borrowers and allows them to consolidate debt while enjoying perks like Unemployment Protection.
While the company does use other factors to determine loan eligibility, its main focus is on earnings potential. As a result, SoFi personal loans are some of the largest offered online. Details include:
>Minimum credit score: none, but borrowers must be “well-qualified”
>Interest rate: starting at 5.99-16.49% fixed with autopay, 5.74–15.20% variable with auto-pay
>Principal amounts: $5,000–$100,000
>Time to receive funds: within 30 days
>Loan terms: 2-7 years
Earnest
The target customer for an Earnest personal loan, like SoFi, is the exact opposite of OppLoans. Earnest aims to offer credit-building products and personal loans for debt consolidation for responsible borrowers with thin portfolios. The requirements for an Earnest personal loan are much more stringent than those for OppLoans, pairing a minimum credit score of 720 with high income qualifications.
In exchange, Earnest personal loans come with much lower interest rates and higher amounts than OppLoans. Here are the basics:
>Minimum credit score: 720
>Interest rate: 6.99–18.24% APR
>Principal amounts: $5,000–$75,000
>Time to approve: up to 2 business days
>Time to receive funds: up to 1 week
>Loan terms: 3-5 years
Prosper
A pioneer in the field of peer-to-peer lending, also known as marketplace or social lending, a Prosper personal loan is unlike many other online personal loan options. That’s because Prosper itself doesn’t provide the funds but instead serves as a middleman, evaluating borrowers and then providing them with funds from private lenders. These lenders “bid” on funding an applicant’s loan and the more lenders who place a bid, the lower the loan’s interest rates may go. Because of this, Prosper’s customers tend to be on the higher end of the credit scale, thus making them more appealing to lenders. The company reports 705 as the average user’s credit score and requires a minimum score of 640 to use the platform.
Because of the lower credit scores the company accepts, a Prosper personal loan is a middle ground option between OppLoans and higher-end loan companies like Earnest and SoFi. These loans do not offer as much principal as the elite lenders, and funding can take time for less-qualified candidates. For qualified borrowers, Prosper provides quick service and competitive rates. Here is what users can expect:
>Minimum credit score: 640
>Interest rate: 6.95–35.99% APR
>Principal amounts: $2,000–$40,000
>Time to approve: instant, but funding takes up to 2 weeks
>Time to receive funds: 3–5 business days after the loan is funded
>Loan terms: 3 or 5 years
Summary
OppLoans are not for your average online personal loan borrower; they come attached to a much higher-than-average interest rate. For those with bad credit and low scores, and specifically borrowers who would otherwise use a payday loan, the personal loan options from OppLoans are a much better choice. With the ability to borrow up to $10,000 along with next business day access to those funds, OppLoans personal loans present a solution for fast cash that services even those with low credit scores, making personal loans for debt consolidation and other purposes more accessible.
