How Our Lender-Matching Service Works

Your first step is a short online request form that asks how much you need, why you need it, and basic details about income, housing and contact information. Most people finish it in about five minutes.

You choose an amount between $500 and $5,000 and a loan purpose, such as a car repair, an appliance replacement or consolidating card balances. The form then asks for your name, date of birth, address, Social Security number, monthly income, pay schedule and checking account status. Lenders use those details to verify identity and judge whether they can make an offer.

Submitting the form is free. It is a request for offers, not a loan application with any single lender, and it does not commit you to borrowing. Before you start, the eligibility checklist shows what lenders usually look for.

Our service shares your request with lenders in our network whose criteria may fit your amount, state and profile. Matching usually takes seconds to a few minutes, though some lenders review requests during business hours.

Each lender decides independently whether to respond. Many start with a soft credit inquiry to prequalify you, which typically does not affect your credit score. A lender that wants to move forward may show you an offer on screen, send you to its own site, or contact you by email or phone. Some requests receive several responses, some receive one, and some receive none, depending on credit history, income, state rules and each lender's lending appetite at that moment.

Any offer comes from the lender, not from us, and shows the amount, APR, term, monthly payment, fees and total cost. Read every line before you accept, because the lender's agreement is the binding document.

Focus on APR and total repayment, not only the monthly payment. Under our representative example, a $2,000 loan for 12 months at 24.99% APR with no origination fee costs about $190.08 per month and about $2,280.94 in total. Stretch the same amount to 24 months and the payment drops to about $106.73, but total repayment rises to about $2,561.59, an estimate based on our payment tables.

Check for an origination fee, which some lenders take from the loan before funding, often about 0% to 10%. Ask whether there is a prepayment penalty and what happens if a payment is late. Our APR and rate guide explains how to compare two offers fairly. If no offer fits, you can walk away at no cost.

After you accept an offer and the lender completes final verification, the lender deposits the money directly into your checking account. Many lenders fund as soon as the next business day, though timing is an estimate and varies.

Final verification may include a hard credit inquiry, a review of recent bank statements or pay stubs, and identity confirmation. Funding speed depends on when you sign, the lender's cutoff time and how quickly your bank posts incoming transfers. Repayment then follows the lender's schedule, often by automatic withdrawal, and any questions about your account go to that lender.

A nova credit request often moves from form to funded loan in about one to three business days, but every stage depends on the lender, your bank and how fast you supply any documents.

People who search nova credits for an urgent repair should ask the lender about its funding cutoff before signing, since an offer accepted late on a Friday may not fund until the following Monday or Tuesday.

We never charge borrowers a fee, never make credit decisions, and never promise approval, a specific rate or a specific funding time. Lenders control all of those outcomes.

• We never ask you to pay upfront to receive an offer or "unlock" a loan.
• We never ask for gift cards, wire transfers or cryptocurrency.
• We never lend money, set rates, collect payments or service accounts.
• We never require you to accept an offer, and declining costs nothing.
• We never send you to a lender outside our network under our name.

If someone contacts you claiming to represent us and asks for a fee, stop and report it through our contact page.