How to Get a Loan With Bad Credit & No Cosigner

Figuring out how to get a loan with bad credit and no consigner might seem to be an impossible task. No one usually asks for bad credit, but a tough economy and a difficult job market have left many people stranded when anything goes wrong. All it takes is an illness or a layoff and the house of cards that is your credit rating falls to the floor. Now, you need a loan to pay off a debt or take care of something you or your family desperately need, but finding someone to trust you is difficult. Dragging a friend or family member into your financial dilemma isn't a good idea either, so a consigner might be out of the question. There are ways however, to get the loan you need to consolidate your debts or take care of your family without a cosigner.

Instructions

1. Know what your credit really looks and be sure of your rating. This can be done by contacting one of the three major credit reporting agencies (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion) online or by mail. You can also obtain one free credit report by visiting Annual Credit Report. See Resources for link.

2. Find out what your total debt truly is in its entirety. Review your credit report and contact each creditor to find out what you owe. Write down all of your debts or input them into a computer software or online debt-management program so that you can easily keep track of your obligations. Debtwise is an online program by Equifax that allows you to create a personalized debt-management tool based on information found in your credit report.

3. Estimate how much you spend monthly on necessities like utilities, fuel for the family car, food, rent, mortgage and clothing. A good way to figure out how much you spend a month is going over old bank statements. When you have this figure you will have a baseline for how much of your check each month goes to cover the basics. What's left of your monthly check is what you can draw from to pay back the loan.

4. Search for an unsecured loan with a bank, peer-to-peer lender, credit union or personal banker. One great resource is Bank Rate as they provide users with a list of banks and credit unions and interest rates each bank charges. In most instances, whether you'll be granted a loan (and how much you will pay in interest and on a monthly basis) will depend on your credit history/credit score, income, monthly loan obligations and the amount of payments you can afford.

5. Consider applying for a payday loan. With a payday loan, you may be eligible to receive a loan of up to five thousand are available in this way. You typically will need to be 18 years or older, have a full-time job, provide a copy of a recent pay stub, bank statements and loan application. Keep in mind however, that the interest rates for these types of loans tend to be higher than banks and credit unions. Payday loans can be found online on sites like citifinancial.com and paydayone.com.

Tips & Warnings

• You should be very sure of the following before you sign for the loan:

• The exact amount of the payments, and whether this will make your monthly budget impossible to stick to, since this will come directly from your account and in most cases this could leave you overdrawn or unable to pay for groceries, gas or even paying the rent or mortgage.

• How much is the penalty fee if you are late? If your paycheck is a day late then will the penalties clean out your account?

• Find out how long you will be making the payments so that you will remember not to accrue any expenses during this time that could make you late in payments or cause your bank account to be overdrawn.

• Getting an unsecured loan is not easy, and there will be a higher interest rate to pay back as well. Trying to find out how to get a loan with bad credit and no cosigner can be hard, and paying it back will also be difficult, but the good news is paying it off will leave a new more positive mark on your credit ranking.

References

• Tips for Getting Bad Credit Loans
• Can You Get a Loan with Bad Credit?

Resources

• Annual Credit Report
• CitiFinancial
• Debtwise