How to Get Chase Bank Personal Loans
Chase Bank
You can use personal loans for a variety of reasons: meeting an unexpected financial need, repaying another loan, or home improvement, among other reasons.
Oddly, Chase does not offer personal loans to its customers -- even though it is one of the nation's largest banks.
Chase does offer a wide variety of other types of loans.
Find out which types of loans Chase does offer, as well as where you can look to find a personal loan.
Types of Loans Offered by Chase
As one of the biggest national bank chains, Chase handles many customer needs, including loans. Chase offers:
- Mortgages
- Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELOCs)
- Car loans
- Credit cards
- Commercial lines of credit
- Business equipment financing
Mortgages
Mortgages are loans that borrowers can use to purchase a home. Often, a mortgage is the largest loan that someone will ever take on.
Depending on the cost of the house, mortgage loans can be made for hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars.
Chase offers two main types of mortgage available, fixed-rate mortgages, or adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs).
With a fixed rate mortgage, you have a set interest rate that you will pay over the course of the loan.
Most fixed-rate mortgages have either 15- or 30-year payback periods. Once you take the mortgage, your rate is set and will never change, unless you choose to refinance the loan.
With an adjustable rate mortgage, your interest rate is set for a certain period, but then can be adjusted each year.
ARMs are usually quoted as being a 5/1 ARM or a 3/1 ARM. The first number is how many years the initial rate is locked in for. The second number is how many years must pass between each rate change.
Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELOCs)
Home equity lines of Credit let you turn some of the home equity you’ve built up into a source of cash.
A HELOC functions much like a credit card, but instead of swiping a card at the grocery store, you withdraw cash from your this credit line.
Each month, you’ll incur an interest charge on whatever your balance. The good news is that interest rates on HELOCs are much lower than credit card rates, because your house serves as collateral for the loan.
You can use a HELOC to fund home improvements, consolidate other debts, or cover unexpected expenses.
Auto Loans
You can take out a car loan for the purchase of either a new or used car. Chase offers four-, five-, and six-year loans. The interest you’ll pay varies depending on the type of car, the amount of the loan, your credit, and the cost. Generally, loans for new cars have lower rates than loans for used vehicles.
Credit Cards
Credit cards are one of the most common types of loan available. When you go to make a purchase at the store, you can swipe your card instead of paying with cash. Each month, you can pay the balance in full, or make a lesser payment.
If you don’t pay the balance of a credit card in full each month, you’ll start to accrue interest. Interest on credit cards can be exceptionally high, exceeding 20%, so paying them off quickly is the best choice.
Many credit cards offer cash back or travel rewards, so using them instead of cash can be a good way to save money.
Commercial Lines of Credit
For business owners, a commercial line of credit provides short-term access to cash. If you need some extra funds to purchase supplies or to cover expenses while waiting for your customers to pay you, a commercial line of credit can help.
Business Equipment Financing
Business equipment financing is designed to help business owners purchase expensive machinery and equipment. Whether you need to purchase vehicles, tools, or other expensive equipment, this loan can get you the money you need.
Where to Look for Personal Loans
If you need a personal loan because your needs aren’t covered by any of the loans that Chase offers, there are plenty of options:
Upstart
Upstart offers personal loans of $1,000 to $50,000.
You can borrow for three- or five-year terms and there is no pre-payment penalty, so you can pay the loan in full at any time.
Unlike other lenders, Upstart doesn’t just look at your credit score and history.
It uses a unique formula that also takes into account your education history, job history, and area of study.
By taking a more personalized look at applicants, Upstart can offer interest rates that better reflect your actual creditworthiness.
Santander Bank
Santander Bank offers personal loans of between $5,000 and $35,000 in a single lump sum.
You’ll have up to five years to pay the loan back. You can use a personal loan for big expenses, like a wedding, loan consolidation, or an unexpected bill. You can reduce the interest further by setting up autopay from a Santander checking account.
Lending Club
Lending Club is a peer-to-peer lending company that offers personal loans up to $40,000.
When you apply for a loan from Lending Club, you’ll have to wait for investors to fund the loan.
Because Lending Club is a peer-to-peer lending company, Lending Club doesn’t actually lend you the money.
Instead, regular people will fund a small portion of your loan. When you pay back the loan and interest, the people who funded the loan get their money back.
Lending Club offers personal loans for credit card refinancing, vacations, home improvement, and medical bills, among other things.
How to Apply for a Personal Loan
To apply for a personal loan you should visit the website of the company you’ll be getting the loan from. To allow the company can research your credit history, you’ll need to provide some identifying information, such as:
- Name
- Address
- Date of birth
- Proof of identity, such as a driver’s license
- Social Security number
- Annual income
- Proof of income, such as bank statements or pay stubs
- Verification of employment
The loan company will take all of the information you provide and decide whether to give you the loan. The information will also be used to determine the interest rate you’ll pay.
While it seems like a lot of information to gather, it’s often the case that the less information a lender requires, the more expensive the loan.
That’s because more information lets a lender accurately analyze your risk of defaulting on the loan. Lenders that can’t analyze the risk effectively charge more to compensate for that.
How to Increase Your Chances of Getting Approved
There are a number of ways to improve your chances of getting approved for a personal loan.
The most obvious is improving your credit score. In the short term, the best way to do this is to pay down your credit cards to improve your credit utilization.
If you have derogatory marks on your credit report, you can also try to organize a pay-for-delete agreement.
Another method is to make sure that you’re applying for the right reason. Lenders are more likely to offer a loan to someone looking to consolidate and pay off their debt than someone funding a vacation.
Reducing your debt-to-income ratio can also help with qualifying for a loan.
You can reduce this ratio by earning more, perhaps from a side job, or pay down some existing debt. Either way, the lower this ratio is, the more resources you have to pay off a loan.
Personal Loan Calculator
Conclusion
Personal loans can be useful in a wide variety of circumstances and many companies have begun to offer them. Whether you need a loan to cover the bills or refinance your debt, taking a personal loan can help you meet your goal.
