How to spot a loan scam in under a minute

People with damaged credit get targeted, and it is not an accident. Fraudsters look for someone who has already been declined a few times, because the next offer looks like relief instead of a red flag.

The good news is that these operations reuse the same handful of moves.

The one that settles it: money up front

No legitimate lender asks you to pay before you receive your loan.

Not a processing fee. Not insurance. Not a good faith deposit. Not a gift card, not a wire transfer, not crypto, not a prepaid debit card.

Lenders make money from interest on money they have given you. A business model that requires you to pay first is not lending. Everything else on this page is a judgement call. This one is not, and it ends the conversation on its own.

Guaranteed approval before anyone looked

Approval requires underwriting. Someone has to check your income, your obligations and your state before they can commit to anything.

“Guaranteed approval, no credit check, everyone accepted” describes something that has skipped that step. Either it is a scam, or it is a product priced so brutally that approval is irrelevant to whether taking it is a good idea.

The clock that does not exist

Pressure to decide immediately is a tell. A real offer sits in your inbox and is still there tomorrow, because the lender wants a borrower who repays, not one who panicked.

“This rate expires in the next hour” exists to stop you checking. That is its only function.

Nobody you can find

Look for a physical address, a company name you can search, a state licence, and a way to reach a human. Their absence is not proof of fraud on its own. Combined with anything else here, it should end it.

Search the company name alongside the word “complaints” and read the second page of results.

Paying someone who is not the lender

If the payment instructions name a different person or company from the one on your agreement, stop. This is how the money leaves and becomes unrecoverable.

Same for any request to send funds through a payment app, to an individual, or to an account in another country.

Documents that do not survive a second read

Real loan paperwork is boring and specific. It names the APR, every fee, the number of payments, the payment amount, the total repayable, and what happens if you pay late.

Scam paperwork tends to be short, oddly formatted, missing the total repayment, and vague about fees. If a document avoids telling you what the loan costs, that is deliberate.

If it has already happened

Stop all contact and stop paying. Then:

• Report it to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at consumerfinance.gov/complaint
• Report it to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov
• Tell your state attorney general
• Call your bank immediately. Some transfers can be reversed if you move fast enough
• If you sent identity documents, place a fraud alert with one of the three credit bureaus

Being targeted is not embarrassing and it does not mean you were careless. These operations are practised, and they are aimed at people already under pressure.

Where we stand

We are a connection service, not a lender. We never charge you anything, we do not guarantee approval, and we publish our lending policy and disclosures in full.

If anyone claiming to work with us asks you for a payment, they do not, and we want to hear about it.