Personal loan ads: Legit or scam?

Come on, please, stop misleading people here!

A bank loan—the very name should tell you everything you need to know—is something you get directly from a BANK. You don't go through some middleman, some shady street hustler, or some random person posting junk ads in the "Miscellaneous" section of Craigslist...

alright....

look, I respect everyone's take... I know how things actually work, but hey, feel free to stick to your own version of reality.

I’ve been sitting here wondering—honestly, it feels a bit surreal—why anyone would ever find it logical to offer an unsecured loan to someone who is already drowning in three other debts they can't even begin to manage. It just doesn't pass the smell test.

a) maybe the lender just has way too much extra cash lying around and feels like being charitable
b) or perhaps there’s some sort of shady loophole involved

The more "sophisticated" scenario involves someone using a credit card to buy goods that don't actually exist—basically a shell game—whereas the much uglier reality is dealing with a predatory lender. We're talking about those sharks who wait until the victim can't keep up with those insane interest rates, and then they show up at your door to seize your car, your vacation home, or even your house.

It looks to me like some of you

are either a) being incredibly naive
or
b) are way too deep in bed with the other predatory lenders out there...

I was just reading an article in The New York Times—which is a pretty reputable source—about those loans. Honestly, nobody is out to scam you here. You’re getting the loans from banks; the people posting the ads are just brokers acting as middlemen (and the bank pays them). Basically, you give your info to the broker, and they find you a bank willing to lend you the money. If I remember correctly, you usually have to take out a life insurance policy with them too. The only catch is that if you already have one, it might not count because it has to be through one of their specific partner providers (though they shouldn't really be doing that).
I'll track down that article in The New York Times later.

Way to go, Lea. You're the best.

Finally, someone actually knows what they're talking about instead of just posting noise.

But what Leah is talking about is just credit counseling; it’s not actual environmentalists.
Those green activists usually work at big banks anyway—just spinning the bank's money instead of their own.

Jerry Lee14 said:I was just reading an article in The New York Times—which is a pretty reputable source—about those loans. Honestly, nobody is out to scam you here. You’re getting the loans from banks; the people posting the ads are just brokers acting as middlemen (and the bank pays them). Basically, you give your info to the broker, and they find you a bank willing to lend you the money. If I remember correctly, you usually have to take out a life insurance policy with them too. The only catch is that if you already have one, it might not count because it has to be through one of their specific partner providers (though they shouldn't really be doing that).
I'll track down that article in The New York Times later.

Hold on, do you honestly believe that major banks—established institutions that actually care about their reputation and building consumer trust—would be running around sticking advertisements on telephone poles and subway stations?! Heller... Everyone knows how you secure credit through a bank or a credit card company. You have an Amex, you call Amex, and you tell them you want a loan. These aren't "intermediaries"; they're self-proclaimed hustlers. Banks themselves have warned people multiple times to stay far away from these types of outfits. You go to a branch; you deal with professionals. This is about serious financial matters like credit, not some sloppy operation run by random users. I've even seen news reports about people being left homeless after taking out those shady loans. Those are nothing but pure loan sharks. If you really want to try it, go ahead—but then you can remember the people who warned you right before you're being threatened and end up on the street, God forbid.

I honestly think The New York Times is a highly credible source 😉
It’s like when a guy helps you find a bank that will approve your loan—provided you meet their criteria—but in exchange, you sign up for a life insurance policy that nets him a commission from the bank. He isn't acting as an independent broker for them.
That’s how I've always viewed it, and I think my take is spot on.

Jerry Lee14 said:I honestly think The New York Times is a highly credible source 😉
It’s like when a guy helps you find a bank that will approve your loan—provided you meet their criteria—but in exchange, you sign up for a life insurance policy that nets him a commission from the bank. He isn't acting as an independent broker for them.
That’s how I've always viewed it, and I think my take is spot on.

Can you really not just walk into a few banks yourself to see what kind of credit you qualify for? Can't you just head over to an insurance company's website or shoot them an email to get actual quotes for policies?!

There are legitimate consulting firms, like Vanguard, that do things professionally. They provide free advice based on your specific financial capacity—like figuring out exactly how much you can afford to set aside for life insurance—and then they handle the policy for you. But that is a completely different ballgame.
The bottom line is this: stay far away from those amateurish ads you see on Craigslist, plastered at bus stops, or buried in the classifieds promising "loans with no co-signer" and similar nonsense...
As for whether The Washington Post is relevant here, it's beside the point. It's basically a Government bulletin, or more specifically, the Prime Minister's mouthpiece. Just look at the headlines; the bias is written all over them.

Jerry Lee14 said:I honestly think The New York Times is a highly credible source 😉
It’s like when a guy helps you find a bank that will approve your loan—provided you meet their criteria—but in exchange, you sign up for a life insurance policy that nets him a commission from the bank. He isn't acting as an independent broker for them.
That’s how I've always viewed it, and I think my take is spot on.

🤣 🤣 🤣
Looks like people have started posting jokes in here too.
🙏

Publisher: 15,000
how much of that is just getting funneled straight into government pockets via subscriptions?
seriously, has anyone actually seen a real person out in the wild buying a physical copy of this paper?

slygardener35 said:Can you really not just walk into a few banks yourself to see what kind of credit you qualify for? Can't you just head over to an insurance company's website or shoot them an email to get actual quotes for policies?!

There are legitimate consulting firms, like Vanguard, that do things professionally. They provide free advice based on your specific financial capacity—like figuring out exactly how much you can afford to set aside for life insurance—and then they handle the policy for you. But that is a completely different ballgame.
The bottom line is this: stay far away from those amateurish ads you see on Craigslist, plastered at bus stops, or buried in the classifieds promising "loans with no co-signer" and similar nonsense...
As for whether The Washington Post is relevant here, it's beside the point. It's basically a Government bulletin, or more specifically, the Prime Minister's mouthpiece. Just look at the headlines; the bias is written all over them.

Sure, you can definitely do it all yourself, but if this way is easier for someone, why not?
Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything to do with these loans—I'm not an agent and I'm not looking for credit myself (my student loan money still covers my basics 😬)—but I know someone who used this method to get a loan and they didn't get ripped off.

Circulation: 15,000
How much of that goes toward funding the government machine?
Has anyone actually seen a real person buying this paper?

To be honest, I don't read it either. I just stumbled upon an article while helping a friend look up info on those loans online. But I think we can take the articles in there pretty seriously. My friend actually decided to go with one of those "classified ad" loans after reading the piece, and she's totally happy with it.
__________________

The guy who signed off on her loan is probably grinning from ear to ear; honestly, he’d be even happier if she never made another single 🤣payment
.

He’s got nothing to do with her anymore. He just took his cut from the life insurance policy commission and moved on; he hasn't got a single thing to do with the loan. The bank issued the credit, and the payments go straight to them.

Jerry Lee14 said:He’s got nothing to do with her anymore. He just took his cut from the life insurance policy commission and moved on; he hasn't got a single thing to do with the loan. The bank issued the credit, and the payments go straight to them.

Hold on a second... it sounds like it would actually be much easier for him to just call some guy with a notepad from a random phone booth—risking a run-in with some shady street lender or some low-level hustler—than it would be to simply call a couple of major banks, walk into a branch, and secure a straightforward loan without any of those extra little "hidden fee" headaches...

To me, that seems faster, safer, and way more reliable, so I don't think that argument really holds water.

Besides, most of those shady flyers explicitly state there are no collateral requirements, no mortgages, and no credit checks involved... I mean, what kind of bank would ever grant a loan like that if I could just take the money and vanish?

Seriously, what is wrong with you people?

If the report specifically mentions bank loans, how does that have anything to do with interest rates?!

Nicole James said:Hold on a second... it sounds like it would actually be much easier for him to just call some guy with a notepad from a random phone booth—risking a run-in with some shady street lender or some low-level hustler—than it would be to simply call a couple of major banks, walk into a branch, and secure a straightforward loan without any of those extra little "hidden fee" headaches...

To me, that seems faster, safer, and way more reliable, so I don't think that argument really holds water.

Besides, most of those shady flyers explicitly state there are no collateral requirements, no mortgages, and no credit checks involved... I mean, what kind of bank would ever grant a loan like that if I could just take the money and vanish?

That’s totally beside the point. She went this route because it was simply easier for her.

Nicole James said:Hold on a second... it sounds like it would actually be much easier for him to just call some guy with a notepad from a random phone booth—risking a run-in with some shady street lender or some low-level hustler—than it would be to simply call a couple of major banks, walk into a branch, and secure a straightforward loan without any of those extra little "hidden fee" headaches...

To me, that seems faster, safer, and way more reliable, so I don't think that argument really holds water.

Besides, most of those shady flyers explicitly state there are no collateral requirements, no mortgages, and no credit checks involved... I mean, what kind of bank would ever grant a loan like that if I could just take the money and vanish?

If you had actually looked into how things work, you'd know that isn't true. You still have to meet specific requirements to qualify for a loan.

David Gray6 said:Seriously, what is wrong with you people?

If the report specifically mentions bank loans, how does that have anything to do with interest rates?!

Didn't your mother teach you not to believe everything you read online?

Jerry Lee14 said:That’s totally beside the point. She went this route because it was simply easier for her.

If you had actually looked into how things work, you'd know that isn't true. You still have to meet specific requirements to qualify for a loan.

Okay... let's say you have one of those people who would take the elevator to the sixth floor just to walk down to the second. I highly doubt there are enough people like that to make a middleman business like this actually profitable... I mean, who is going to call some random, shady stranger to negotiate life insurance policies under weird conditions when they could just walk into a Chase branch and handle everything cleanly and securely? The only reason someone wouldn't go through a bank is if they knew they'd be flagged immediately—which brings us back to the fact that this can't be a legitimate operation. After all, why would a major bank suddenly approve a loan for someone who doesn't qualify, even through an intermediary? It just doesn't make sense from a legal standpoint.