About Our Personal Loan Matching Service

Our service started from a common frustration: when a car breaks down or a bill comes due early, shopping for a small personal loan means filling out the same form again and again on many lender websites.

We built one request form that does that legwork for you. Instead of retyping your income, address and loan purpose for every lender, you share it once and lenders in our network decide whether they can make you an offer. People searching for 4 pillar funding options are usually trying to solve a specific, near-term problem, and we wanted the first step to take minutes instead of an afternoon.

Our mission is to help borrowers compare real loan offers quickly, understand the full cost before signing, and walk away at no cost when an offer doesn't fit their budget.

We focus on smaller personal loans of $500 to $5,000 because those are the amounts people tend to need for a roof leak, a past-due utility bill, a transmission repair or a modest funeral. We also publish plain-language guides, a personal loan calculator and a glossary of loan terms so you can judge an offer on its APR, monthly payment and total cost rather than on speed alone.

We are a connector, not a lender: you submit one request, we share it with lenders and lending partners in our network, and any lender interested in your request may present an offer.

1. You choose an amount and loan purpose and complete the request form, which typically takes about five minutes.
2. Your request is passed to lenders that may work with borrowers in your state and situation.
3. A lender that can make an offer shows you its rate, term and fees, often after a soft credit check.
4. You decide whether to accept. If you do, you finish the application directly with that lender.

The full process, including timing estimates, is explained step by step on our how it works page.

Lenders and marketing partners compensate us when we refer a request or when a borrower takes a step with them, so using our service is free for you.

Compensation may influence which lenders appear and in what order, but it never changes the rate or terms a lender offers you, and we never ask you to pay us for a match. You can read the full details in our advertiser disclosure. We think you deserve to know how a free service makes money before you share any personal information with it.

Our guides are written by staff writers, checked by an editor for accuracy and plain language, and updated when lending rules or typical costs change.

Dana Whitlock, our Senior Personal Finance Writer, covers budgeting and how small loans fit into a monthly plan. Marcus Ellery, our Credit and Debt Editor, reviews every debt and credit guide and draws on his background at a community lender. Priya Raman, our Household Budget Contributor, writes about bills, repair costs and household cash flow. Every guide is reviewed by our editorial team before publishing.

A few rules apply to everything we publish:

• Estimates are labeled as estimates. Payment examples use a stated APR and term, and we show the total repaid, not just the monthly payment.
• No promises. Approval, rates and funding speed depend on the lender, so we say "may" and "typically" instead of guaranteeing outcomes.
• Compensation doesn't buy coverage. Partners cannot pay to change what a guide says about costs or risks.
• Alternatives are included. Where a payment plan, a hardship program or a credit union loan may cost less, we say so.

Our team answers questions about the request form, our guides and your data, and you can reach us by email, phone or mail through our contact page.

If you have a question about a loan you already accepted, contact your lender first, since only the lender can see your account. For anything else, including privacy requests, visit our contact page and we will point you in the right direction.