4 Ways the Money Landscape is Changing
There might be no other industry changing at such a rapid rate than the financial industry. Types of loans in the United States, accessibility, approvals, consumer protections, and application processes are just a few of the lending procedures that don’t look the same as even a few years ago. We’ve compiled a list of recent updates to keep you in-the-know. Check out these four ways the lending landscape is changing and how it impacts you.
1. Loans are Becoming Faster and More Convenient
Not long ago, the only way to get a loan was to drive to the bank loaded down with piles of paperwork, wait in line, speak to a loan officer, and wait days for an approval letter. With advances in technology, though, that’s no longer the case. Here are a few ways loans have become faster and more convenient:
Quick Approvals
When you apply for personal loan, you can get an approval in less than a day and you don’t need to worry about printing out a ton of paperwork. That’s because banks aren’t the only financial institutions offering personal loans these days. With lenders like LendNation, funding is a lot faster. Upon approval, we can get the funds into your bank account in a day or so, cutting down your entire process from application to funding from weeks to just one to two days.
Convenient Application Options
Advances in technology have also brought about more options in how you apply. Lenders like LendNation offer multiple ways to borrow funds, whether you prefer to visit us in-store to apply, contact us through our website to begin the application process, or complete the application fully online. All these convenient ways to apply mean that you can choose whatever works best for your schedule, ensuring you get the money you need without life getting in the way.
More Transparent Process
The loan process has become much more transparent, such as providing clear interest rates before you even apply for a loan. That wasn’t always the case; in the past, you may not have known what you would be paying in interest – and whether or not you could afford the loan – before taking the time to apply. Knowing upfront what your costs will be helps you better manage borrowing and repayment.
2. More Loan Options
The lending landscape also looks different from a product standpoint. Technology has touched every area of our lives, including the financial industry. As such, lenders can offer a wider range of loan products such as payday loans, installment loans, title loans, lines of credit, national bank charters and peer loans.
Here’s an explanation of each of those types of loans:
Title Loans
If you own your vehicle out right, meaning you have paid off your car loan, then you can use the equity in your car to secure funding from certain lenders using your car’s title. The benefit to title loans is that you can borrow more money than you may otherwise, and sometimes secure better interest rates than just a typical installment loan.
Installment Loans
This type of personal loan allows you to borrow a larger sum of money and pay it back in set increments over a certain period of time. For example, at LendNation, depending on the state in which you live, you can borrow $4,000 and pay it back over the next six months – or extend it up to 24 months.
Payday Loans
A payday loan is a short-term loan. Funding amounts are in part determined by your income and the loan is paid back by your next paycheck – plus a fee for borrowing the money. Payday loan lenders like LendNation are changing the market with loan applications that take just a few minutes, speeding up approval and helping you get your funds faster.
Line of Credit
A Line of Credit allows you to borrow a larger amount, pay it off over time with monthly payments and you can borrow more money at any time up to your approved limit. Your credit history is only part of the deciding factor, so borrowers with less-than-perfect credit can still qualify.
National Bank Charters
The banking industry is seeing a push by non-bank fintech companies to create a national charter that lets lenders offer funds across the country without having to work within each state’s individual lending requirements. This is good for consumers because it allows more room in the lending space besides just banks – and more competition means more competitive rates for borrowers.
Peer Loans
Also called peer-to-peer lending, peer loans are crowdfunded loans for either personal loans or small business loans. Depending on your needs, you create a profile on the lending website and if someone finds it interesting, they’ll agree to fully or partially fund the loans. If you get enough people to agree to fund the loan, then your loan goes through. Much like a normal loan, you repay the funding amount plus interest and fees. The people who provided the funds receive repayment plus interest.
Those are just a few of the new products and loans that are popping up in the world of online lending.
3. Greater Accessibility to Loans
There’s another big bonus to this changing lending landscape: More loans are becoming accessible to more people. A big reason for that is because these alternative lenders are using an astonishing amount of criteria to determine if someone will pay back a loan – way beyond a credit score. This means that even if someone has a credit score that typically suggests they won’t pay back a loan, it no longer automatically means a loan rejection.
Consider a couple examples of how these products are changing the lending landscape. Let’s say you need a loan to cover an emergency cash situation like buying a plane ticket to a loved one’s funeral or paying a large electric bill. While some may turn to credit cards or lines of credit at a bank, those without a high credit score don’t have that option. While this used to mean the person was in trouble, these days, loan products from alternative lenders are changing that reality. While they may look at your credit score, they also look at other criteria to decide, resulting in approvals for a larger group of consumers.
For businesses, less than half of business loans at traditional institutions are granted. The smaller the business is, the more likely they are to get rejected. Once turned away, many business owners had no other options. Meanwhile, at non-traditional, fintech lending companies, loan approvals hover at almost 64 percent because they are considering more than just business plans and credit scores. The criteria for a business loan can include the number of payments processed, excitement about the company on social media, accounting records, seller rankings on eBay or Amazon, and a ton of other details. All this data allows these lenders to say “yes” more often, creating greater loan accessibility for business owners.
4. Getting a Loan is a Safer Process
While online loan applications are a big convenience, security is also a concern. Online loan lenders have taken several measures to improve their websites against illegal hacking. One way they’re doing this is by using security measures like “Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure” or https.
You’ll see it with LendNation and other online lenders in the browser of your webpage, when you see “https” instead of just “http” before the website URL. Even search engines like Google are now requiring that websites use this security measure, and will tell consumers directly that a website is not secure without it.
Increased transparency in the online lending industry is also doing much to help protect consumers – and this is particularly true in the payday loan industry. Not only do payday loan websites like LendNation tell borrowers how fees translate to interest rates, but they are also transparent about the fees associated with your state, as fees vary on a state-to-state level.
This changing lending landscape is largely positive for consumers, giving you more options, accessibility, convenience and safety. All of this comes together to make loans faster, safer, and maybe even more enjoyable! Stick with LendNation as we continually update you on the ever-changing vista of the financial industry.