Creditpugs’s star rating methodologies meet strict editorial guidelines and take into 5 different data points that affect consumers in our scoring of the lenders.
Ratings are determined by experienced writers and editors. In addition to NerdWallet, their work has appeared in The New York Times, Yahoo Finance, MSN, and other media outlets.
Our lending methodology is listed below. For more information please reach out to a team member.
How we rate personal loan lenders
We score each lender with a 1-5 rating per category. Once we have given a score for each lender, we tally the scores to get a total score out of 25. The score is then converted to a 0-5 rating scale by dividing by 5 and rounding to the nearest integer.
Loans offered
- 1: Lender offers only one type of loan.
- 2: Lender offers only a very limited range of loans, with no specialized options.
- 3: Lender offers a limited range of loans, with no or few specialized options.
- 4: Lender offers most common types of loans, but may not have as much variety or specialized options.
- 5: Lender offers a wide range of loans that cater to different needs (e.g. personal loans, student loans, home loans, business loans, etc.).
Interest rates charged (APY)
- 1: Lender offers interest rates that are significantly higher than competitors.
- 2: Lender offers interest rates that are generally higher than competitors.
- 3: Lender offers interest rates that are in line with competitors.
- 4: Lender offers interest rates that are generally lower than competitors.
- 5: Lender offers highly competitive interest rates that are lower than most competitors.
Loan repayment terms
- 1: Lender offers very inflexible repayment terms, such as requiring payment in full within a short period of time.
- 2: Lender offers less flexible repayment terms, such as shorter repayment periods or higher minimum payments.
- 3: Lender offers fairly standard repayment terms that are in line with competitors.
- 4: Lender offers somewhat flexible repayment terms, but may have some limitations or higher minimum payments.
- 5: Lender offers highly flexible repayment terms, such as longer repayment periods, lower minimum payments, and the ability to change payment dates or frequency.
Customer service
- 1: Lender has very poor customer service that is frequently unresponsive or unable to resolve issues.
- 2: Lender has poor customer service that is often difficult to reach or unhelpful in resolving issues.
- 3: Lender has average customer service that is not particularly noteworthy in either positive or negative ways.
- 4: Lender has generally good customer service, but may have occasional issues with wait times or resolving more complex problems.
- 5: Lender has excellent customer service, with friendly, knowledgeable representatives who are easy to reach and quickly resolve issues.
Difficulty of approval
- 1: Lender has very strict standards for approval and is likely to deny a large portion of borrowers, especially those with lower credit or income.
- 2: Lender has somewhat strict standards for approval and is likely to deny some borrowers with lower credit or income.
- 3: Lender has fairly typical standards for approval that are in line with competitors.
- 4: Lender has somewhat relaxed standards for approval and is likely to approve a decent number of borrowers with less-than-perfect credit or income.
- 5: Lender has very low standards for approval and is likely to approve a wide range of borrowers, even those with poor credit or limited income.
