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LendingTree’s Personal Loans Methodology: How We Evaluate and Score Lenders

We are committed to providing accurate content that helps you make informed money decisions. Our partners have not commissioned or endorsed this content. Read our editorial guidelines here.

At LendingTree, our goal is to help you compare financial products with clarity and confidence.

To do that, we’ve developed this comprehensive, consistent and objective methodology to compare personal loan lenders.

We consider factors like accessibility, affordability and transparency. We do independent research, contact lenders directly and even begin the application process ourselves if it helps better explain what you can expect.

This page explains the standards we use to determine our best personal loan picks and how we develop the LendingTree scores in our personal loan lender reviews.

Our methodology categories

We assess personal loan lenders across four categories covering the full borrowing journey.

Eligibility and access (30%)

We research how easy it is for you to qualify and apply.

Lenders score higher in our methodology if they’re available nationwide, offer prequalification, make it easy to become a customer, deliver loan funds quickly and are accessible to borrowers with poor credit.

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Cost to borrow (35%)

We evaluate the key factors that determine the affordability of a lender’s loans.

Lenders score higher in our methodology if they offer competitive APRs, APR discounts, loans without origination fees and if they’re transparent about fees.

Loan terms and options (20%)

We consider how many loan options are available. 

Lenders score higher in our methodology if they offer a wide range of repayment terms and loan amounts, and address various borrower needs with different loan options, formats or approval pathways.

Repayment support and tools (15%)

We research the borrowing experience after funding. 

Lenders score higher in our methodology if they offer repayment benefits or tools (such as mobile apps, free credit monitoring and hardship repayment options) and widely available customer service.

Our methodology process

We gather data directly from lenders through their websites, disclosures and direct communication with company representatives. Our editorial team verifies and updates information on an ongoing basis. 

We value transparency and award less favorable scores when lenders obscure or omit details.

When providing a score for individual lenders, our editors may apply a small adjustment (no more than 4% of the overall score) to account for factors not captured by the methodology. This could include J.D. Power customer satisfaction surveys, recent regulatory actions or features that stand out in ways our rubric doesn’t measure directly.

Our editorial team applies the same scoring model and standards to every lender. While LendingTree may receive compensation when users connect with lenders through our platform, compensation does not affect our editorial rankings or recommendations.

For more information, review our editorial standards.

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