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NetCredit Personal Loans Review
NetCredit is like duct tape — it’s a great, but temporary, fix that basically anyone can use.
- Lower rates than payday lenders
- User-friendly website
- Fast funding
- High interest rates
- Several negative customer reviews
If you ever find yourself needing extra cash, a personal loan can get it to you quickly. But someone with not-so-great credit may have a hard time finding a lender who will approve their application. Fortunately, you can find lenders who specialize in personal loans for people with bad credit — like NetCredit.
In this NetCredit review, we’ll walk through everything you need to know about the lender then score it based on our SimpleScore methodology, which reviews rates, loan amounts, customer satisfaction, customer support and fees.
We follow a rigorous editorial policy designed to keep our writers and editors independent. Articles may reference products from our partners, so here’s more information on
How we make money
NetCredit at a glance
| In business since | 2012 |
| Best for | People with poor credit scores in a tight financial situation |
| Not for | Borrowers with good or average credit looking for the lowest rates |
| Standout features | NetCredit offers a variety of programs meant to educate and help its customers make better financial decisions |
What we like about NetCredit
An alternative to payday lending
NetCredit is a viable alternative to payday loans, which often come with exorbitant interest rates and fees. NetCredit doesn’t require an application fee or prepayment fee and has much lower interest rates than payday loan providers, making it a good option for borrowers in a tight financial situation.
User-friendly application
NetCredit’s online application process is quick and simple, providing a straightforward path to get your funding. Borrowers can also take advantage of several programs meant to benefit their financial decision-making process, including EverFi, a free financial education platform that offers courses in budgeting, savings, credit scores, debt consolidation and more.
Fast funding
NetCredit understands its customers often need cash quickly and makes fast funding a priority. After approving your application, the lender will usually deposit funds into your account on the next business day — and sometimes even sooner.
[ Read: Best Personal Loans for Bad Credit in 2020 ]
Things to consider
High interest rates
Because NetCredit takes on more risk by catering to people with poor credit, its personal loan interest rates are much higher than many other lenders. However, with APRs ranging from 34%–155%, it’s still a decent alternative to payday loans.
Poor reviews from customers
NetCredit personal loan reviews on the Better Business Bureau website give the lender one star out of five. Most customers cite poor communication from customer service and extremely high interest rates as the source of their frustrations.
[ More: How to Get a Loan With Bad Credit ]
The lender is not accredited by the BBB and received an A- rating, which does not account for customer reviews. On top of the NetCredit loan reviews, customers have filed 102 complaints with the BBB in the last three years, citing many of the same grievances as in the reviews.
NetCredit vs. the competition
LightStream
SimpleScore: 4.8/5
LightStream is a lending service for customers with strong credit making purchases where few lending options are available, like adoption, dental or jewelry financing. It offers loans starting at $5,000 up to $100,000, with rates ranging from 3.49% to 9.49% with an autopay discount depending on the type of loan, duration of repayment and the customer’s credit score. Funds are delivered directly to the customer’s bank account with no additional charges or fees. Read our full LightStream personal loans review.
Avant
SimpleScore: 3.2/5
Avant offers personal loans to borrowers with fair credit — the lender states on its website that the average credit score of its borrowers is 600 to 700. So if your credit needs some work, you’re in luck. Interest rates on Avant loans are 9.99% to 35.99% on amounts up to $35,000. However, while some lenders don’t charge origination fees, Avant is like NetCredit in that it charges an administration fee of 4.75%. If you’re hoping to score a lower APR on your loan, Avant offers secured personal loans in which you put up an asset for collateral. Read more about Avant in our Avant personal loans review.
Discover
SimpleScore: 4.4/5
Personal loans from Discover are a great option for people with a credit score of 660 or higher. The bank offers loans from $2,500 to $35,000 at interest rates of 6.99% to 24.99%. Payment terms range from three to seven years. Discover won’t charge any fees as long as you make payments on time, and it even offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. Funds will land in your account as early as one business day after you accept the loan terms. Read our full Discover personal loans review to learn more about its lending products.
How much does a NetCredit personal loan cost?
NetCredit does not charge an application fee or prepayment penalty, meaning you can pay off your loan earlier and avoid accruing some interest. It also offers a program called MyScoreSaver, which allows you to determine your eligibility for a loan without harming your credit score.
However, NetCredit charges up to a 5% origination fee in some locations to cover administrative costs. Higher interest rates could also put a strain on people living paycheck to paycheck, so NetCredit loans should be considered as a last resort for a quick personal loan.
[ Read: Can Personal Loans Improve Your Credit Score? ]
How to apply for a NetCredit personal loan
To apply for a NetCredit loan, you must be 18 or older and have a valid personal checking account, email address and verifiable source of income.
- Fill out the online application to check your rates. This will not affect your credit score, as NetCredit will simply do a soft credit check to determine your eligibility for a loan. You will need income documents, your Social Security number, drivers license and possibly bank statements.
- After reviewing your application, you’ll know whether or not you’re approved for a NetCredit loan. If the initial rates and terms are favorable to you, continue with the full application. NetCredit will do a hard credit check to determine your final rate, amount and term offer.
- If you approve of the offer, continue with the loan agreement. This includes reading over loan disclosures and signing final documents.
[ Related: How to Break Out of the Overdraft Cycle ]
Cheaper alternatives to NetCredit
Finding an affordable personal loan when you have bad credit can be difficult, but you do have options. Avant offers loans with APRs between 9.95% and 35.99% and has no minimum credit score requirement, but it does charge a 4.95% origination fee on all of its loans. Still, even with the fee, Avant is significantly more affordable than NetCredit, so check there first. Read our full review of Avant personal loans to learn more about this cheaper alternative.
NetCredit in the news
- In July 2020, NetCredit’s parent company, Enova, acquired OnDeck for $90 million. OnDeck is an online lender for small businesses. The acquisition expands Enova’s reach from consumer loans into the business lending space.
- Yahoo! Finance reported in July 2020 that the credit rating company Moody’s Investor Services (Moody) is reviewing Enova — NetCredit’s parent company — for a potential rating downgrade. The announcement follows the news of Enova’s acquiring business lending platform OnDeck for $90 million.
In May 2018, the Daily Press reported that the state of Virginia is suing NetCredit for allegedly violating its consumer protection laws. These regulations prevent lenders who are not licensed in Virginia from charging interest rates more than 12% to Virginia residents. The suit claims that NetCredit issued more than $47 million in illegal loans to Virginia residents.
Too long, didn’t read?
NetCredit specializes in personal loans for people who can’t qualify for loans from traditional lenders. Because its interest rates are so high, you should look at other options before coming to NetCredit.
Last updated October, 2020 — Updated SimpleScore data.
We welcome your feedback on this article and would love to hear about your experience with the personal loans we recommend. Contact us at inquiries@thesimpledollar.com with comments or questions.
Keep Reading
Methodology
The SimpleScore is a proprietary scoring metric we use to objectively compare products and services at The Simple Dollar.
For every review, our editorial team:
- Identifies five measurable aspects to compare across each brand
- Determines the rating criteria for each aspect score
- Averages the five aspect scores to produce a single SimpleScore
Here’s a breakdown of the five aspect scores and their rating criteria for our review of the best personal loans of 2020.
Why do some brands have different SimpleScores on different pages?
To ensure the SimpleScore is as helpful and accurate as possible, we developed unique criteria for every category we compare at The Simple Dollar. Since most brands offer a variety of financial solutions, their products and services will score differently depending on what we’re scoring on a given page.
However, it’s also possible for the same product from the same brand to have multiple SimpleScores. For instance, if we compare NetCredit’s personal loans according to our criteria for the best personal loans, it scores a 2.3 out of 5. But when we compare NetCredit according to the criteria for the best bad credit personal loans, it scores considerably higher, since the criteria for the latter review are more lenient (lenders who serve borrowers with bad credit will always offer higher rates, so we needed to adjust our category methodology to account for different industry standards).
Questions about our methodology?
Email Hayley Armstrong at hayley@thesimpledollar.com.
Rates
We looked at the maximum APR for each lender — the lower their maximum rate, the higher their score.
Loan Size
We awarded higher scores to lenders with more generous loan sizes.
Customer Satisfaction
We leveraged the J.D. Power 2019 Personal Loan Satisfaction Study℠ to see how customers rated their experience with each lender. (If a lender wasn’t included in J.D. Power’s study, we skipped this aspect and averaged the four remaining aspect scores.)
Support
We awarded higher scores to lenders with the most channels for customer support.
Fees
We looked at the three most common fees — origination, late payment, and pre-payment — and penalized lenders for each fee charged.
Reviewed by
Courtney Mihocik
Loans EditorCourtney Mihocik is an editor at The Simple Dollar who specializes in personal loans, student loans, auto loans, and debt consolidation loans. She is a former writer and contributing editor to Interest.com, PersonalLoans.org, and elsewhere.
