Personify Personal Loans 2024 Review

Borrowing money if you have poor or no credit can be difficult.

Banks and traditional lenders might deny your applications and most non-traditional lenders, like payday lenders, charge exorbitant, almost predatory rates.

To the rescue:

Personify is a middle ground between payday lenders and traditional personal lenders.

Its loans are expensive, but don’t cost nearly as much as a payday loan. The loans can also help you build credit so you can qualify for cheaper loans in the future.

Personify Personal Loan Details

Borrowing amounts

When you’re applying for a loan, the first thing you need to think about is how much you have to borrow.

Personify offers a good amount of flexibility when it comes to the amount that you can borrow, with loans ranging from $500 to $10,000.

Typically, you have a specific need that’s making you apply for the loan.

Borrowing too much leads to extra fees and interest costs. If a lender won’t give you enough money to cover your expense, then there’s not much point in getting the loan.

Repayment terms

If you choose a long repayment term, you’ll have a lower monthly payment, but you’ll leave more time for interest to accrue, causing the loan to cost more in total.

Short loan terms result in larger bills each month but will be cheaper in the long run.

Now:

Depending on the amount you borrow and where you live, Personify lets you choose from terms between 9 and 36 months. That provides you with some opportunity to customize your monthly payment.

Interest rates

Of course, borrowing money isn’t free.

Lenders charge interest which has a massive impact on both your monthly payment and the total cost of your loan.

To no surprise:

Personify’s interest rates are far higher than typical lenders charge, often between two and ten times the cost. That makes the loans incredibly expensive.

Still, they’re noticeably cheaper than predatory lenders, like payday lenders, making them a passable alternative if you absolutely need to borrow money.

Application requirements

To apply for a Personify loan, you must meet the following requirements:

• Have a checking account
• Have a verifiable source of income

Personify offers loans to customers in thirty states.

Fees

Many lenders and the majority of alternative lenders charge fees when they offer personal loans. Personify charges typical fees, like late payment fees.

In some states, it also charges an origination fee of 5%, which increases the cost of your loan. You receive the full amount that you applied for, but your starting balance will include the 5% charge.

Fund disbursement speed

Another thing to keep in mind when getting a personal loan is how long it takes for your lender to process your application and get the money to your checking account.

If you have an immediate need, you’ll want to work with a lender that specializes in quick funding of loans.

Personify says that it typically approves and funds loans on the next business day, but that it can take as long as two business days to get the money to you in some cases.

Build Credit with Your Loan

Your credit score is an incredibly important financial metric that determines the loans you qualify for and the interest rates you wind up paying on those loans.

If you’re working with Personify, odds are good that your credit score is too low to qualify for a loan from a traditional lender.

One perk of working with Personify compared to other non-traditional lenders is that Personify reports your loan activity to the credit bureaus.

That means:

If you manage your loan well, making your payments before their due dates, it can help you build credit.

If you build enough credit, you might be able to qualify for traditional loans which are much cheaper than Personify’s offerings.

The drawback is that Personify also reports negative information to the credit bureaus.

If you miss payments or make your payments after the due date, it can hurt your credit even more, making it harder to qualify for traditional loans.

How to Get Approved for a Personal Loan

Personify considers things other than your credit score when making a decision about your loan. Two ways to improve your odds are making sure you have a steady source of income and that you limit the amount that you want to borrow.

The more money that you make and the more consistent your income is, the easier it will be for you to repay the loan. Similarly, borrowing smaller amounts makes it easier to make your payments and reduces Personify’s lending risk.

Increase Chances of Approval

If you’re applying for a personal loan from a traditional lender, there are a few things that you can do to give your chances a boost.

Raise your credit score

Your credit score is one of the primary factors that influence your ability to qualify for traditional loans. It also affects the interest rate of your loans, which directly impacts the cost of borrowing money.

The most important aspect of your credit score is your payment history. Every time you make a payment on your loans, it helps your score. If you miss a payment or make a payment after the due date, it hurts your score. Missed and late payments hurt your score more than timely payments help it, so do your best to always pay your bills on time.

Another way to help your score is to limit the amount that you borrow. The lower your total debt, the better it is for your score. Similarly, maxing out your credit cards hurts your score, so try to keep your card balance’s far away from their limits.

Reduce your debt-to-income ratio

Your debt-to-income (DTI) ratio isn’t a factor in your credit score, but it is a factor in your ability to qualify for loans. The lower your DTI ratio, the better.

To reduce the ratio, you have two options. One is reducing your debt. Pay down your existing balances and you can reduce your DTI ratio. As a bonus, this also improves your credit score, giving you an even better chance of qualifying for a loan.

You can also work to increase your income to reduce your DTI ratio. If you do choose to increase your income, make sure that your payments have a paper trail.

Working under the table won’t help because lenders may not consider that income when making a decision.

How Does It Compare?

Personify offers loans that are incredibly expensive when compared to traditional lenders, but much cheaper than a payday loan. That makes the company a middle ground between the two. If you’re looking for a loan in that middle ground, Personify has some competitors that are worth considering.

Opploans

Opploans, like Personify, offers loans at very high APRs targeted at people with poor or no credit history.

Also, like RISE, Opploans reports your loan activity to the credit bureaus, helping you build credit.

Oportun

Oportun is another lender that offers high-rate loans, but the thing that sets it apart is its borrowing limit.

With Opportun, you can borrow as much as $8,000, which is one of the highest limits among non-traditional lenders.

Possible Finance

Possible Finance is a slightly different take on high-cost personal loans. You have to link your bank account to the Possible Finance app as part of the application process.

The upside is that Possible Finance can process and approve applications in as little as one minute in some cases.

However, Possible’s loans are very limited. You can only borrow up to $500 at a time.

The Final Verdict

Personify’s loans are very expensive when compared to a traditional loan.

Look:

If you can qualify for a personal loan from a bank or more conventional personal lender, it’s probably a better choice to work with that lender.

However, Personify shines when compared to a payday lender. While its loans aren’t cheap, they’re much cheaper than a payday loan and offer you the chance to build your credit.

If you can’t qualify for a traditional loan but absolutely must borrow money to meet a financial need, Personify might fit the bill.