5 tips to avoid pitfalls when choosing a payday loan

The search for a short term loan can be a complex task. And in some cases in can even become a nightmare.

One of the reasons that keep coming back is consumers being misled by brokers that look exactly like direct lenders and are not clearly showing they are brokers. By applying there, you personal information is shared with dozens or even hundreds of 3rd parties.

Is that really what you want?
So here are 5 tips to help you navigate your way through this jungle:




1- Direct lender or broker? How to easily detect brokers?

Most of the time it takes a few second to get this right by looking at the small prints on the homepage. Most of the time it will be located in the footer (bottom) of the page but it can also be on any side or around the Representative example.

Next to the Rep. Example:

Here you are tiny little prints saying ''we are not a lender''....

2- Look for the word ''broker''

The simplest way to identify whether you are on a broker site is to do Ctrl+F (or Cmd+F on Mac) on the homepage of the site you are visiting and look for the word ''broker''. Press Enter and you will find all the corresponding words such as:

The bottom or footer of the page is usually a good place to look for broker evidence

A more advanced solution is to look for the entire website with a single Google query. Go to any Google search page - say google.co.uk - and enter: site:www.thesiteyouwanttocheck.com broker

This will return all the page of the site including the word you entered. You can of course replace ''broker'' by ''fee'' to know more about the fee policy of the lender/broker.

3- Refer to the Terms and Conditions

You will surely find a lot of information in the Terms&Conditions. Once again you could easily identify a broker as their business will be registered as ''credit brokerage''.

Terms and Conditions are boring to read but you should find the answer easily there

4- Avoid being spammed by sharing unwanted data

By referring to the Privacy Policy of the website you are visiting you should get a pretty clear view of what your data will become.

For example:

Take a look at the Privacy Policy to make sure your data does not leak

As soon as you read that ''your details will be passed on to 3rd parties'', there is a high risk of receiving some unsolicited emails.

5- Check the Financial Services Register and Blacklist

Here is the link to the Register: https://register.fca.org.uk/
You can search for any name, reference number...

For example, if you look for our reference number - 729430 - you will find allpaydaylenders.com under Trading/brand names. So you can be sure you are on a licensed website.

Check the FCA register to make sure the lender is licensed

Also make sure the service you are about to use is not blacklisted:

https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/unauthorised-firms-individuals