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Planning on getting a personal loan from Borrowell? You made a smart move reading Borrowell reviews first. There are a few things that you probably want to know about this lending company before getting in touch with them. After all, when you take out personal loans in Canada, especially from Borrowell, you’re pretty much tying yourself to the company for a considerable amount of time.
Well, you’ve come to the right place! This review will help you determine whether a Borrowell loan is going to be right for your personal situation.
About Borrowell
Borrowell is a purely-online financial company. They do not have any branches so every interaction you’ll have with them will be done online. This includes applying for your loan, paying your loan back, and contacting them if you run into any issues. The whole borrowing process can be completed without speaking to a single person at Borrowell. While their lending process is somewhat on the convoluted side, it’s still a whole lot easier than heading to a bank because there aren’t as many hoops you need to jump through.
While Borrowell’s personal loans are our main focus here, we do want to point out that they offer other services and products, too. Despite being ‘online only,’ Borrowell has positioned itself as a provider of a wide range of financial services. This means mortgages, credit cards, and even a spot of investment products.
Borrowell is NOT a payday lender. They do not cater to that end of the market. Borrowell exists purely to provide personal loans to people who have fairly decent credit scores (they do not have to be perfect, though). It caters mainly to those who are employed full-time. There have been some exceptions to the rule but, for the most part, Borrowell is only for those who are in decent financial health.
An Overview of Borrowell Loans
Borrowell offers both personal and business loans. We are going to be focusing on personal loans here. Of course, if you’re borrowing cash to start a business, then look into their business loans. They are going to be a much better option for you.
Maximum Borrowing, Terms, and Interest Rates
Borrowell is not for you if you’re looking to borrow a couple of hundred dollars over a short period of time. When you work with Borrowell, you are committing to working with them for the long term. They do not recommend that you take out a loan that will last less than three years. On the flip side, they will also not lend you anything for a period longer than five years.
That being said, you can opt for loans at the lower end of things with Borrowell. It’s probably not recommended, but if you do want to borrow $1,000 over a period of three years, Borrowell is going to allow you to do that. They do claim that they can lend up to $35,000 in one go, but your credit score is likely going to have to be excellent for that to happen.
Interest rates are about average for this type of loan. Expect around the 12% mark, although it can be a bit lower if you have a great credit history. It can also be a lot higher if you’re earning enough to pay back your loan. There will be a loan origination fee (this will be included in the APR) which can be as high as 5%, though a lot of this will depend on how much you’re borrowing.
All in all, Borrowell offers some quality terms on their loans. Perhaps not the best in the industry, but they do have a higher approval rate than some of the other big players.
The Application Process
If you apply for a loan with Borrowell, bear in mind that the process is a little longer than with most other online lenders. This allows you to get a better interest rate, though. It demonstrates that Borrowell will be carrying out more checks. At the minimum, you will need:
- A decent paying job. If you are earning under $20k a year, it’s going to be tough to get approved.
- A credit score of at least 600 but even this may be ‘pushing’ it. Most people with a credit score this low will probably be rejected if the rest of their history isn’t perfect and their income isn’t high. The better your credit score, the better your chances of being approved.
- You should have payslips from the last two paydays.
- A verified bank account. This is actually one of the longest parts of the process. Borrowell requests that you get your bank account verified through VersaPay. This can take up to three days.
If you have had any bankruptcy or delinquency, you will automatically be rejected for the loan. There is nothing you can do about this.
Once everything is done, you will be offered a loan assuming you’ve been approved. There will be two options: a three-year or a five-year option. Now, these are the only repayment terms, and you don’t have to accept it there and then. You have 14 days to accept their offer before you have to reapply for a loan.
How long it takes to receive your cash
Borrowell will give you an instant answer on whether you have a loan offer or not. However, this is not going to be a firm offer. There will be up to four days lag beyond this while your account goes through final checks. After this, it can take up to 48 hours for the money to be placed into your bank account.
Of course, the more information you provide Borrowell with, the quicker the process will be. However, do not expect your money to be received in under five days. It’ll probably take a week in most cases. The slow process does benefit you, though. It shows that Borrowell is carrying out more checks, and this reduces their risk. This, in turn, will reduce their interest rates.
Features of Borrowell
One of the great things about taking out a Borrowell loan is that there isn’t really a penalty to repay your loan early. This is part of the reason why they encourage you to take out a larger repayment period. If you repay early, you only pay the interest due up to that day. You don’t pay interest for the rest of your loan. They also do not charge you to repay early. It will even be noted on your credit score.
In addition, you will receive free credit score checking with Borrowell. It is probably worth checking in every so often to make sure that nothing is amiss. However, some people have reported that Borrowell can be a bit slow to update on this front.
Repayment of your Borrowell Loan
Repayment of your loan is automatic. Just make sure that you have cash in your account on your due date (the same date each month). Otherwise, you’re going to be dealing with a few ‘non-payment’ charges from Borrowell. Note that these can be almost as much as your monthly repayments if you have opted for a smaller loan from the company!
The only main issue with the repayment of your loan is that it can be exceedingly difficult to see how much you have to pay back. If you want to know that, you need to email Borrowell. There is no option to see it online. This is (probably) to discourage people from paying their loans back early. Which, of course, is something that you can do. It is just an extra thing you have to go through. Borrowell is fairly quick at responding to how much you have left to pay, at the very least.
The Pros & Cons of Borrowell
Pros
Borrowell is a quality company. Because they are so selective with who they work with, they are able to keep interest rates fairly low. Yes, there are upfront fees, but unlike other personal loan companies, Borrowell is pretty direct about the fees that they charge. Obviously, the interest rate is going to be variable, but as long as you have a solid income coming in, and an OK credit score (at the minimum), then it shouldn’t be too difficult to get a good interest rate on your Borrowell loan.
The fact that they report your payments to credit reporting companies is also great. Sure, you’re probably not going to be applying for one of their loans if you have awful credit, but even if you have good credit, seeing a bump in your credit score is always a good thing.
We also love the fact that Borrowell doesn’t promote irresponsible lending. Some lenders in Canada do, and it can be somewhat annoying. This means that you will only ever be able to take out one loan with Borrowell at a time. Paid it back? Take out another one. They are happy with that. The great thing is that you do not get saddled with a mountain of debt.
Cons
Certain people have reported that Borrowell is a little bit tough to get in touch with. Obviously, this is going to be one of the negatives of dealing with an online lender. Apart from that, there are not that many problems that we anticipate to deal with. The entire loan process is done online. Repayments are automatic. The only issue you will likely have with your Borrowell loan is that something may go wrong with the repayments on occasion. This is so incredibly rare that it’s probably not a reason to ignore going with this company for personal loans in Canada. You will get in touch with them eventually, it just seems that they do not have a large number of staff available.
We would also state that the minimum loan terms can be somewhat annoying. However, this is countered by the fact that you can repay sooner if you want. Still, it would be great if you can get some shorter-term loans initially. It means fewer hoops that you need to jump through.
Borrowell is Perfect For You If…
We’re not going to lie and say that Borrowell is the perfect provider of personal loans in Canada. They aren’t. They are fantastic at what they do and offer some great products, but as we have stated several times, they are not going to be for everybody.
Borrowell is purely for those who are financially sound. If you have a steady income, but just need a larger cash boost for a short period of time, then Borrowell is the right lender for you. If you have a poor credit history, and you need a small amount of cash incredibly fast, then look elsewhere. As brilliant as Borrowell is, it doesn’t cater to that end of the market (at least for now). That said, there are many other ‘fast lenders’ out there for this group, but just bear in mind that the interest rates can be huge.
Conclusion
At this point, you should know whether getting loan from Borrowell is the right lender for you or not. If they are, then working with the company is going to be a good experience. They offer competitive interest rates and great repayment terms. There are a couple of negatives, but that is the same for any other company. At least if you work with Borrowell, those negatives are far outweighed by the positives. Just be prepared for a slightly longer loan application process.
