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OppLoans offers personal loans for up to $4,000, repayable in up to 18 fixed, monthly payments. OppLoans specializes in helping borrowers with credit history problems and has higher approval rates than many other lenders. However, looser credit criteria come at a high price – OppLoans charges many customers rates above 100% APR!
Here’s the good news – there are much more affordable loans like OppLoans out there, which you may still qualify for, even if you have a bumpy credit history. And if a loan from OppLoans is your only option, there’s a totally legitimate loophole that can help you save THOUSANDS of dollars in interest payments.
- How much can I borrow from OppLoans?
- Does OppLoans perform a credit check?
- What are OppLoans rates and fees?
- Big savings hack! Can you prepay a loan from OppLoans?
- Is OppLoans legit?
- Much cheaper alternatives: Loans like OppLoans
How much can I borrow from OppLoans?
OppLoans offers personal loans between $500 – $4,000 for 6, 12 or 18-month terms. Loan amounts, terms and rates vary by state. OppLoans reports that its average loan amount is around $1,500, repayable over a term of about 11 months. Many borrowers turn to OppLoans for help covering unexpected expenses like car repairs, housing costs, medical bills, tuition, or family emergencies.
You can apply online with OppLoans, see what you qualify for in just a few a minutes, and receive the funds for your loan as quickly as the next business day. Applying for a loan with OppLoans won’t impact your credit score.
OppLoans are instalment loans. This means you’ll receive your full loan proceeds up front, and then make a single monthly payment to repay your loan. Your interest rate and monthly payments are fixed for the life of your loan – you’ll pay the same amount each month, with a portion of your payment going towards interest and a portion going towards repaying your loan balance.
You can also have OppLoans shop your application to other lenders, who may offer you significantly better terms on your loan. If you opt-in to the TurnUp program when applying for a loan, OppLoans will also present your application to up to 15 other lenders who offer rates of 36% APR or less, however fewer than 10% of applicants qualify for an offer from another lender. Participating in TurnUp is free and won’t impact your ability to qualify for a loan offer from OppLoans.
Want to see how much you could borrow? >>> Check your rate with OppLoans
Does OppLoans perform a credit check?
You can apply for a loan from OppLoans online and see what you qualify for within minutes. OppLoans will check your credit score when you apply. However, it performs a soft inquiry which will not impact your credit score. OppLoans reviews a number of factors besides your credit score when evaluating your application. You may still be approved for a loan if you have a low credit score.
OppLoans only accepts loan applications via its website. You cannot apply by phone or mail; there are no OppLoans branches. Cosigners and co-applicants are not accepted. You’ll need a bank account (checking or savings) and receive your paycheck, government benefits payments or retirement income via direct deposit to qualify for a loan.
When you make on-time repayments of your loan, OppLoans will report these to the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion). This may help boost your credit score, which could enable you to qualify for loans and credit cards from other lenders or banks at better rates and terms in the future.
See how much you qualify for >>> Check your rate with OppLoans
What are OppLoans rates and fees?
OppLoans specializes in helping borrowers with problem credit. If you’ve previously missed payments, had collections issues, or had credit card accounts involuntarily closed, you may have trouble obtaining a loan from a bank or traditional lender. OppLoans approves many borrowers who can’t qualify for a loan elsewhere. However, since these borrowers have fewer options and loans to them are considered to be risky, they are charged extremely high interest rates.
Rates on loans from OppLoans vary by state and range from 59% to 160% APR. (APR stands for Annual Percentage Rate. It is the cost of a loan, including interest and mandatory fees, on an a yearly basis. APR is a good tool for doing an apples-to-apples comparison of the cost of different loans.) Take a look at the example loan offers that OppLoans provides to California residents:
| Loan amount | APR | Duration | Payments |
| $2,000 | 160% | 9 Months | 9 Payments of $394.58 |
| $3,000 | 160% | 12 Months | 12 Payments of $514.60 |
| $4,000 | 160% | 18 Months | 18 Payments of $595.14 |
The total cost of these loans can be more than double the amount that you borrowed!
The $2,000 loan will cost you $1,551 in interest over nine months, while the $3,000 loan will have $3,175 in interest costs over 12 months. The $4,000 loan will rack up $6,713 in interest over 18 months. You will repay a total of $10,713 on that $4,000 that you borrowed!
One piece of good news is that OppLoans charges very few fees. There is no origination fee, which is uncommon in the personal loan space, where many lenders charge riskier borrowers 5% – 8% upfront (an origination fee of up to $320 on a $4,000 loan). If you are late with a repayment, you won’t face any late fees or be subject to a returned item fee if your payment bounces; your rate won’t increase, either.
Borrowers can’t pay back more than half the money they borrow from OppLoans
With rates so high, you may wonder if a lot a of people can’t afford to pay back their loan from OppLoans. And the answer is that many can’t!
OppLoans reported in the first quarter of 2022 that a whopping 56% of the money lent out is unlikely to be paid back! Yet, at the same time, the company also made $19 million in quarterly profit. How is this possible? Well, most borrowers who default still manage to make a number of monthly payments. This pays down a bit of their loan principal, while a LOT of those early payments goes towards interest. With rates above 100% APR on many loans, OppLoans is still able to make a profit despite a large swath of its borrowers being unable to shoulder the high monthly payments.
Can you prepay a loan from OppLoans?
You can prepay your loan from OppLoans at any time, in part or whole, with no prepayment penalty or fee. This can save you significant interest costs, since interest is only due during the period that your loan is outstanding – you do not owe the full interest amount on a loan that is repaid before its term is completed.
Since OppLoans does not charge origination fees or prepayment fees – which can add high costs at the start and/or end of a loan – a loan from OppLoans can be a good tool for covering unexpected expenses, provided that you can repay it or refinance it within a few months. You’ll face high interest costs while the loan is outstanding, but the total may be a reasonable amount if your loan is only outstanding for a fairly brief period of time.
For example, say you take out that $4,000 loan in the above example. This loan carries a 160% APR and requires $595.14 a month in payments. If you make four monthly payments (totalling $2,380.56), you’ll have paid $2,074.68 in interest and reduced your loan balance to $3,694.12. If you prepaid the $3,694.12 balance at that time, you would owe no further interest or payments. While this is still a very expensive loan, it may be a worthwhile cost to cover emergency expenses when you have few alternatives.
If you don’t have the funds available to fully pay off the loan, paying more than your required monthly payment will pay down the loan faster, reducing your total interest costs and potentially shortening the time it takes to repay the loan.
In addition, you can periodically explore if you qualify for a lower rate personal loan from other lenders, which you could use to pay off your high-interest loan from OppsLoans. Since your monthly payments are reported to major credit bureaus, several months of on-time payments may improve your credit score enough to help you qualify for a cheaper loan elsewhere. Chose this path carefully. You could be stuck paying thousands of dollars in interest if you don’t find another lender to help you repay your loan from OppLoans.
Want to explore the OppLoans prepayment hack? >>> Check your rate with OppLoans
Is OppLoans legit?
OppLoans are offered by OppFi, a Chicago-based company that was founded in 2009. OppFi is a publicly traded company, with shares listed on the New York Stock Exchange. It is a legitimate company and OppLoans are not a scam.
OppFi has facilitated more than $3.3 billion in gross loan issuance covering over 2 million loans, since inception. In most cases, OppLoans is a not a direct lender. Many loans issued by OppLoans are funded and owned by banks or investors, though OppLoans will handle the application, funding, repayment, collections, and provide customer service to the borrower.
Loans like OppLoans
If you need more cash than a loan app provides but don’t have good credit, OppLoans is one of the few lenders who may approve you for a loan (especially now that its close competitor, LendUp, has gone out of business). OppLoans may get you the cash that you need. But it will come with a very high interest rate and the amount you pay back could be more than double what you borrowed.
If you’re looking for alternatives to OppLoans, be sure to review SeedFi as well.
SeedFi offers two unique credit builder plans – one that helps you get access to the cash you need now and another that helps improve your credit score (assuming you make payments on time!)
SeedFi Borrow & Grow
You get some cash right away with the SeedFi Borrow & Grow Plan1, while also building up some savings for later. Borrow & Grow Plan loans for first-time borrowers range from $1,500 to $9,000. $300 to $5,000 is accessible immediately. The rest of the loan is locked in a savings account until you repay in full. Repayment periods range from 10 months to 48 months, and APRs range from 11.59% to 29.99%2. This is literally a fraction of the 160% APR that you could be charged by OppLoans!
Once you’ve paid off your loan, the money in your savings account is all yours, and you can spend it, save it, or move it wherever you like. Plus, your payments are reported to the major credit bureaus, which could help improve your credit score, giving you access to larger loans or credit card limits and lower rates.
Access up to $5,000 for less >>> Check out SeedFi Borrow & Grow
SeedFi offers immediate access to $4,000. NOW $5,000!
SeedFi Credit Builder Prime
Looking for a low cost way to build up some savings and potentially improve your credit score? SeedFi’s Credit Builder Prime can help you generate meaningful savings that you didn’t have before. And it does it with no interest, no fees, and no hidden costs – no credit check or security deposit, either! Unlike other credit builders, you don’t have to switch your checking account or your direct deposit.
When you sign up for Credit Builder Prime, SeedFi opens a $1,000 line of credit in your name. You decide how much you want to draw, anywhere from $10-$40, from the line of credit each pay period. SeedFi deposits this amount into a locked savings account in your name. Each draw is a small, interest-free loan. When you get your paycheck, you simply pay SeedFi back – no fees, no interest. SeedFi reports your Credit Builder Prime payments to the three major credit bureaus too, so with each payment, you are boosting your savings and your ability to build better credit.
Once you save $500, SeedFi gives you access to it. It’s your money, so you can move it to another bank, use it to pay bills, or hang on to it and grow your savings.
Build your credit with a no-interest credit line >>> Check out SeedFi Credit Builder Prime
1 Sample Borrow & Grow Plan: Amount Financed: $7,000 ($3,500 accessed up front and $3,500 locked in savings), APR: 24.99%, Finance Charge: $3,318, Total of Payments: $10,318, Payment Schedule: 85 biweekly payments of $120 and one final payment of $118. The payment schedule spans 40 months.
2 Advertised rates and terms will be subject to change without notice. Your actual APR and other loan terms will be shown to you as part of the online application process.
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Mitchel holds a Bachelors of Business Administration in Finance from The Goizeta School of Business at Emory University and a Masters of Business Administration from The Haas School of Business at The University of California.
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