Sadly, there are a number of people and businesses out there that are looking to try to take advantage of you. Your desperation will draw out the worst kind of people. You may have had a death in the family, your car may have broken down, or you are in need of paying large medical bills, and so a personal loan may be your only option.
This is the kind of desperation that will draw out scammers looking to sucker you into making a deal where they can steal from you. You have to be on guard and watch for the signs that the person you are dealing with is not a scammer.
They Don’t Care About Your Financial History
The first and most important sign to look for is when they don’t care about your credit or other financial history. When they assure you that it doesn’t matter whether you have had bad credit, haven’t made payments in the past, or you haven’t had a job. In fact, they don’t even look into these things. When that happens, walk away.
Not Registered in Your State or Country
Any legal online money lender will have to register with the governmental agency that oversees financial institutions. It does not matter whether it is at the local state or national level, there will be some governmental body that will be responsible. If they are not registered there, run away.
They Call or Write to You
Financial institutions that lend money wait for you to come to them. Whether it is the business down the street or websites such as https://www.credit21.com.sg, these places do not reach out to you. A money lender who is coming to you to tell you about their offer is most likely a scammer. If you get calls like this, hangup. If you get letters in the mail, throw them away.
They Don’t Offer a Secure Website
One important factor is the security of your information. Any kind of website that is offering financial transactions should do so with a secure website. Otherwise, your information can be taken. If they don’t offer that, close your browser.
No Physical Address
Any legitimate business should have a physical location where they operate from. Even if they do the vast majority of their business over the Internet, there is still a physical location. If they cannot provide that to you, time to start running.
You need to make sure that you are not taken in by one of the scammers. The last thing you want are payments you can afford to pay or for your financial information to be stolen.