How to Avoid Personal Loan Scams

FraudsWatch.com

&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fraudswatch&period;com&sol;financial-scams&sol;">Financial scams<&sol;a> are only increasing in the United States&period; All manners of financial scams exist and one of the more insidious scams out there are those dealing with personal loans&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Personal loans are <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;lendedu&period;com&sol;blog&sol;best-personal-loans&sol;">unsecured loans from a lender<&sol;a> which can be used for various types of consumer expenses&comma; but most known for debt consolidation&period; Because they don’t have any collateral&comma; they can sometimes come with higher interest rates than a secured loan&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>They’re often marketed to those who lack collateral&comma; or who have less than perfect credit—and borrowers who can’t get traditional loans based on creditworthiness or collateral are often easily victimized by personal loan scams&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>Types of Scams<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>There are several <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;lendedu&period;com&sol;blog&sol;how-to-avoid-personal-loan-scams">different types of personal loan scams<&sol;a>&comma; and it’s important to understand them so you can better recognize them to remain financially secure&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><em>Upfront Fee&sol;Loan Collateral Scam<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>If you’re trying to get a personal <a class&equals;"wpil&lowbar;keyword&lowbar;link" title&equals;"loan" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fraudswatch&period;com&sol;category&sol;loans&sol;" data-wpil-keyword-link&equals;"linked" data-wpil-monitor-id&equals;"288">loan<&sol;a> and you’ve been turned down by other banks&comma; sometimes it’s tempting to see an offer from a lender that says they’ll lend you the money you need—if you pay a fee or &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;collateral” in the form of a wire transfer from your bank account or transaction from your debit card&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>The scammer might tell you that they won’t use the money&semi; they just want to make sure you have money set aside and can make payments on the loan&period;&nbsp&semi; In reality&comma; they’re going to take that money from you and disappear&comma; never to be heard from again&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><em>No Credit Check Loan Scams<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>You’ll often see ads or signs for personal loans announcing that they don’t do <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fraudswatch&period;com&sol;what-is-credit-report-scam&sol;">credit checks<&sol;a>&period; If you have less than perfect credit&comma; this can sometimes sound like a chance at obtaining a loan&period; They may claim that there is a special&comma; proprietary software or technology allowing them to estimate how much money you’re able to be approved for just by having you answer other questions or even filling out a survey&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Not only do you not actually get approved for a loan—usually after you’ve paid fees—but chances are you’ve given them some of your personal information&comma; which they can use to scam you further or even steal your identity&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><em>Email Scams<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>We’ve all seen the &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;<a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fbi&period;gov&sol;scams-and-safety&sol;common-fraud-schemes&sol;nigerian-letter-or-419-fraud">Nigerian Prince<&sol;a>” scam in which someone emails you to tell you they’re a prince or a dying old woman and they want to leave you all of their money&comma; if you will only pay the wire transfer fees&period; The new email scams are a bit less preposterous&comma; but just as dangerous&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Now&comma; you may get emails that appear to be from a well-known lender&comma; such as LendingTree&comma; or even from a company like PayPal&period; They announce that you’ve qualified for a new loan product they’re about to start offering&comma; specifically for people like you&period; All you need to do is click the link to apply&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>There’s just one problem—they’re either about to steal all of your personal information&comma; or they’re about to install malicious software on your computer&period; If you use your device to log into your bank&comma; sometimes they can steal the password for your accounts&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>How to Tell a Scam from a Legitimate Offer<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>While there are far too many different scams to cover completely here&comma; there are a few ways you can tell the scammers from the legitimate offers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<ol class&equals;"wp-block-list">&NewLine;<li>Look for grammar and spelling errors&period; These are clues that someone outside the U&period;S&period; is trying to scam you&period;<&sol;li>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<li>Look up the bank’s information independently and see if there are complaints against them&period; Pay special attention to whether they’re even licensed to do business in your state&period;<&sol;li>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<li>Contact them without using information from the letter or email and see if they have a record of sending you an offer&period;<&sol;li>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<li>Find out if they have a physical address&period; Scammers usually don’t&period;<&sol;li>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<li>Don’t ever follow up on emails or mailings you receive about personal loans unless they’re from a bank you recognize&comma; and you can personally talk to one of their representatives&period;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<&sol;ol>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>You don’t have to be a victim&period; Learn the signs of a scam&comma; and protect yourself&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Andy Kearns is a Content Analyst for LendEDU and works to produce personal finance content to help educate consumers across the globe&period;&nbsp&semi; When he’s not writing&comma; you can find Andy cheering on the sub-par Lakers&comma; or somewhere on a beach&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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