Written by: Eric Bank
Edited by: Lillian Guevara-Castro
When you need an answer now, guaranteed decision payday loans are tough to beat. It takes only a few minutes to apply for an online guaranteed payday loan (or for a guaranteed payday cash advance alternative, namely a short-term personal loan), and you will usually receive a loan decision within seconds after hitting the submit button.
You can speed up the process even further by using a lender-matching service like the ones featured in this review.
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Best Guaranteed Decision Payday Loan Provider
MoneyMutual perennially tops our list of recommended payday lender companies and short-term loan providers.
As with all the companies in this review, MoneyMutual isn’t a direct payday lender, but rather a service that prequalifies you for a loan and then links you to one of the lenders on its network. Each participating lender belonging to the lending network has extensive experience making payday and personal loans to consumers with bad credit.
1. MoneyMutual
- Short-term loans up to $5,000
- Online marketplace of lenders
- Funds available in as few as 24 hours
- Simple online form takes less than 5 minutes
- Trusted by more than 2 million customers
- See official site, terms, and details.
| Loan Amount | Interest Rate | Loan Term | Loan Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to $5,000 | Varies | Varies | See representative example |
MoneyMutual occupies a unique niche in this review as the only company that can arrange both payday loans and short-term online installment loans. This gives you the opportunity to select the loan type that suits you best.
A short-term installment loan can save you money in fees and interest, but a bad credit payday loan may be easier to get if your credit is very bad.
More Short-Term Loans to Consider
All but one of these lender-matching services arrange short-term installment loans rather than payday loans. These are small personal loans (also called signature loans, which is a general term for an unsecured loan) with terms as short as 90 days.
These companies prequalify applicants who fill out personal or payday loan request forms and find lenders who are best suited to satisfying the personal or payday loan request. Some services can arrange other types of loans, such as a title loan (that is, a title loan on your car).
2. CashUSA.com
- Loans from $500 to $10,000
- Receive a loan decision in minutes
- Get funds directly to your bank account
- Use the loan for any purpose
- See official site, terms, and details.
| Loan Amount | Interest Rate | Loan Term | Loan Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| $500 to $10,000 | 5.99% - 35.99% | 3 to 72 Months | See representative example |
CashUSA, located in Las Vegas, helps borrowers with bad credit arrange short-term personal loans that require no minimum credit score. In the prequalification step, CashUSA requires that you be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, age 18 or older, and have an income of at least $1,000 per month before taxes. You also must provide a valid phone number, email address, and checking account in your name.
- Quick loans up to $5,000 as soon as tomorrow
- Submit one form, get multiple options
- All credit ratings welcome — good or bad
- Requires a checking account and $800 minimum monthly income to apply
- No collateral or cosigner required
- See official site, terms, and details.
| Loan Amount | Interest Rate | Loan Term | Loan Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| $250 to $5,000 | Varies | Varies | See representative example |
InstallmentLoans.com can prequalify you for an installment loan that will give you more time to repay than a payday loan, and at a lower cost. The company can quickly find you a direct lender that can deposit approved loan proceeds into your bank account as soon as the next business day. This network prides itself on its use of encryption to help ensure your security and privacy.
- Loans from $250 to $5,000
- Cash deposited directly into your account
- Get money as soon as tomorrow
- Bad credit OK
- More than 750,000 customers since 1998
- See official site, terms, and details.
| Loan Amount | Interest Rate | Loan Term | Loan Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| $250 to $5,000 | Varies | Varies | See representative example |
CreditLoan of Tampa, Florida, offers quick decisions on small personal loans that provide terms superior to those you’d get on a payday loan. The website features many tools and resources, such as a loan calculator, that have served the needs of more than 33 million visitors. By displaying the TRUSTe® seal, CreditLoan demonstrates its commitment to your privacy and security.
- Loans from $500 to $10,000
- Get connected with a lender
- Simple form & quick funding
- Get your money as soon as next the business day, if approved
- See official site, terms, and details.
| Loan Amount | Interest Rate | Loan Term | Loan Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| $500 to $10,000 | 5.99% - 35.99% | 3 to 60 Months | See representative example |
Tacoma-based Bad Credit Loans can cut through your bad credit score to arrange small personal loans. You can prequalify immediately if you are 18 or older, a U.S. citizen or resident, with an email address, phone number, and regular income. Bad Credit Loans can also offer you a revolving line of credit that allows you to borrow and repay on your own schedule.
- Loans from $250 to $35,000
- Large lender network
- Fast loan decision
- Use the loan for any purpose
- Funding as soon as one business day, if approved
- See official site, terms, and details.
| Loan Amount | Interest Rate | Loan Term | Loan Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| $250 to $35,000 | 5.99% - 35.99% | 3 to 72 Months | See representative example |
Headquartered in Utah, PersonalLoans can help you get a short-term signature unsecured loan that will cost much less than a payday loan. You can prequalify if you are a U.S. resident, at least 18 years old, and have at least $500 of monthly income and a valid bank account. PersonalLoans can also help you obtain services such as credit monitoring, credit repair, and debt settlement.
- Short-term loan of $100 to $1,000
- Large network of lenders
- Loan decision as fast as a few minutes
- Funding as soon as the next business day, if approved
- See official site, terms, and details.
| Loan Amount | Interest Rate | Loan Term | Loan Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| $100 to $1,000 | 200% - 2,290% | Varies | See representative example |
CashAdvance of Roosevelt, Utah, has been providing loan services since 1997. It is an online payday loan facilitator that offers terms tied to your next paycheck. You can quickly prequalify if you are a citizen of the United States, at least 18 years old, earning $1,000 per month or more before taxes, and have a checking account, email address, and phone number.
How Does a Guaranteed Decision Payday Loan Work?
The payday and short-term loans arranged by the reviewed companies provide the first of two decisions you’ll need to borrow money. The first decision, which you are guaranteed to receive quickly, is whether you prequalify for the loan.
Prequalification does not ensure that you’ll receive the loan, but it is a necessary step in achieving that end.
The second decision is rendered by a direct lender lined up by the lender-matching service. The direct lender will collect additional information and then quickly render a final decision on your loan request, including interest, fees, and repayment date if the loan decision is positive.
Before agreeing to the loan offer, please take the time to read the fine print — the loan terms and conditions the lender must provide when asking for your e-signature. Once you accept the loan, expect the proceeds to arrive in your checking account in as few as one business day.
If you accept a payday loan, you’ll be expected to repay it in full on the due date tied to your next payday — usually one to two weeks away. If you can’t repay the loan on time, you can roll it over by paying additional fees and interest, perhaps at a higher interest rate. This is a risky maneuver, as your debt will snowball if you continue to roll your bad credit payday loan over, leading to a debt spiral and possible bankruptcy.
A short-term, bad credit personal loan is a smarter alternative for several reasons. The most important is that you repay the loan in manageable monthly payment installments. While these loans offer a minimum loan term of three months, you can stretch them out longer to reduce the size of the monthly payments.
In addition, providers of short-term loans (but not payday loans) report your payment activity to a credit bureau. By paying on time, you demonstrate creditworthy behavior that can improve your credit score.
The short-term loans we’re discussing offer APRs that usually top out at 36%. The interest rate on payday loans can be astronomically high, sometimes topping 2,000%. The chief reason borrowers take a payday advance is because they can’t qualify for a short-term personal loan.
How Do I Apply For a Payday Loan Online?
The two-step application processes for the lending networks we review here are all basically the same, whether you apply for a short-term online personal loan or an online payday loan. The job of these lender-matching companies is to find you a direct lender that is willing to work with you even if your credit is bad.
The first step is to prequalify for a bad credit loan online by providing basic information about your citizenship/residency, your income, your rent or mortgage, as well as your Social Security number, checking account number, email address, and phone number. This step does not include a hard credit inquiry that would hurt your credit score.
The second step involves the networks of direct participating lender organizations, including banks, private lenders, tribal lenders, and other sources with deep experience serving consumers that have low credit scores. You can now finish applying for the bad credit loan by providing any additional requested information, but you are under no obligation to proceed.
If you do want to go forward, the direct personal or payday loan lender will usually do a hard pull of your credit history from a credit bureau — either Experian, Equifax, or TransUnion. Expect the hard pull to drive down your credit score by five to 10 points for up to a year. You should receive an immediate final decision on your online loan application.
Can I Get a Payday Loan Without a Credit Check?
The reviewed lending services never perform a credit check since their job is only to prequalify you for the loan. Any credit check will only be performed by the direct providers of short-term loans. On the other hand, payday loans don’t require credit checks because they depend on your income, not your credit.
We suggest you first try for a short-term loan before asking for a payday loan. If you pass the credit check, you can get a more affordable online loan with superior terms.
If you undergo a credit check and are denied, the damage to your score is minimal, and you’re free to apply for a no-credit-check payday loan.
Where Can I Get a Guaranteed Loan With Bad Credit?
You are guaranteed to receive a prequalification decision from any of the lending services covered in this review. Simply click on the START NOW link to be transferred to a lending service where you can review the information and apply for a loan.
While lending decisions can be guaranteed, no personal or payday loan lender can guarantee instant loan approval. Your bad credit may hurt your chances for a short-term personal cash loan but should have no impact on your application for a payday loan.
If you can demonstrate that you’re currently employed and have sufficient income, it’s more than likely your payday cash advance request will be approved, although guaranteed approval loans don’t exist.
How Will My Credit Score Affect My Loan Terms?
The terms of a short-term personal loan are determined by your credit score. If you can gain access to a personal loan, your credit score could affect the loan’s APR, the number of repayment periods in the loan term, and the monthly payment.
Payday loans don’t depend on your credit score, which is why they are favored by workers with very bad credit. Payday lenders use alternative means, such as Teletrack, to evaluate loan requests. Teletrack is a data collector and provider favored by payday lenders.
Conversely, your payday cash advance won’t impact your credit score for better or worse, since payday lenders don’t report your payments to the credit bureaus. However, your credit score will suffer if an instant payday loan goes into collection or default, information that will be added to your credit report.
Why Do I Keep Getting Denied For Payday Loans?
If you repeatedly fail to prequalify for a payday loan, it probably means you don’t meet the requirements for citizenship, age, or income, and/or can’t provide a valid email address, phone number, or bank account number. Income is generally the biggest approval factor when it comes to short-term lenders.
Assuming you do prequalify, the reasons for loan denial depend on the loan type you request:
- Payday loan: You cannot prove you’re currently employed or that you receive the wages required for loan instant approval.
- Short-term personal loan: A very poor credit score could cause a lender to reject your loan application. In addition, derogatory items on your credit report, including late payments, collections, write-offs, debt settlements, foreclosures, and bankruptcies, could sour your loan prospects.
Don’t assume that there is nothing you can do when you receive multiple loan rejections. Instead, learn how to improve your credit score and take the necessary steps to help win instant loan approval on your next attempt to borrow money.
Get a Guaranteed Decision For a Payday Loan Online
The reviewed lending services above can help consumers get guaranteed decision payday loans and short-term online installment loan options. Whether your loan is ultimately approved or not (there’s no such thing as a guaranteed approval loan or instant payday loan), these services can quickly prequalify you for a loan, usually in just a few seconds after submitting your loan request.
These lending services all operate online, allowing you to apply for your online personal loans from the comfort of home without having to travel to a payday loan store or bad credit personal cash loan office. When you apply to them, you at least know that your application will be quickly evaluated, and you won’t be left to twist slowly in the wind.
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