Does Happy Money do joint personal loans?

To refinance a personal loan, borrow money equal to the amount you have left to pay on the loan, but at a lower interest rate, then use that money to pay off the personal loan. You will then owe the refinanced debt to the new lender and will have to make monthly payments on it until it is paid off.… read full answer

More specifically, there are a few different ways you could refinance a personal loan. You could pay it off with another personal loan, with a 0% APR credit card or with a home equity loan. But no matter where you get the funds from, the process is pretty much the same.

How to Refinance a Personal Loan

1. Get pre-qualified. Pre-qualification shows you your likelihood of approval and potential rates with certain personal loans or credit cards. Getting pre-qualified for several options will help you find the one with the highest approval odds and the lowest costs.
2. Submit an application. Loan and credit card applications will require similar personal and financial information, and you can typically expect to wait up to a week for approval.
3. Wait for your funds. If you get a loan, you will receive the funds in your bank account or through a check, usually 1 to 2 business days after approval. If you get a credit card, it will typically take 7-10 business days to arrive by mail.
4. Pay off the old loan. Use the funds from your new loan or do a balance transfer to a credit card.
5. Make payments to the new lender. You should have a lower APR, allowing for a quicker payoff timeline.

While finding a lender with a low APR is important when refinancing, make sure to keep each lender's fees in mind, too. If there's an expensive personal loan origination fee, for example, it could wipe out the savings you get from the lower APR.

You can have 1-3 personal loans from the same lender at the same time, in most cases, depending on the lender. But there is no limit to how many personal loans you can have at once in total across multiple lenders. The number of loans you can have is really only limited by your income relative to your expenses, including existing debt obligations.… read full answer

Every loan application you submit will also temporarily lower your credit score, due to a hard inquiry on your credit report, potentially making it harder to get approved for the next loan you decide apply for. So the more loans you have open, the more difficult it will become to open any more.

Assuming you have good enough credit and income to get more than one personal loan, it’s helpful to know just how many of them different lenders will allow you to have at once. WalletHub reached out to some of the most popular personal loan providers to find out their policies.

How Many Personal Loans You Can Have at Once From One Lender:

All lenders also said there’s no maximum number of loans from other issuers that would prevent you from being considered for one of their loans. But naturally, the amount of debt you owe to those creditors will factor heavily into the decision. The more loans you have, the larger your existing debts will be and the more your income will be strained. At some point, you will clearly not have the capability to take on another loan and will be denied. For some people, this could be after a single loan. For others, it could be multiple loans.

Every time you apply for a loan, the lender will look at your credit history with a hard inquiry. That will cause a temporary dip in your credit score that can affect your credit standing for up to 12 months. So it’s really best to only apply for one personal loan each year maximum. If you want to apply for more, you may. But an applicant’s credit score is one of the factors most important to approval, so your odds will decrease.

Lastly, even if you can take out multiple loans, make sure you’re willing and able to manage them all responsibly. Missing payments can hurt your credit standing.

Personal loans affect your credit score in the short-term and in the long-term. In the short-term, a personal loan may damage your score because it causes a hard credit inquiry and increases your debt load. But in the long-term, a personal loan can either help or hurt your credit, depending largely on whether or not you pay the bills on time. Ultimately, it’s up to you how much impact the personal loan will have.… read full answer

How a Personal Loan Affects Your Credit Score:

• Does temporary damage with an initial hard inquiry. When you first apply for a personal loan, your credit score will immediately take a small hit. That’s because applying for a personal loan triggers a hard inquiry into your credit history. But this shouldn’t drop your score by more than 5 points or so, and you should be able to bounce back quickly.
• Adds to your overall debt. If you’re approved for a personal loan, you will immediately have a higher debt load, which may cause your credit score to drop in the short-term. That’s because the more debt you have, the riskier it is for banks and credit unions to lend to you.
• Reports to the major credit bureaus monthly. The banks, credit unions and online lenders that issue personal loans report payment information to the major credit bureaus on a monthly basis. If you make on-time payments, you can expect your score to increase. But if you are late or don’t pay altogether, your score will drop.
• Improves your credit mix. Proving yourself capable of managing multiple types of loans and lines of credit responsibly is good for your credit score. It shows you can be trusted to repay what you borrow in a variety of situations. So if you only have one or two other types of accounts on your credit report, such as credit cards or student loans, your score may benefit in the long run from getting the personal loan.
• Could help reduce credit utilization. Personal loans give you a lump sum up front, which you pay back in monthly installments. This is different from a credit card, where you can borrow up to a certain amount any time you want. Credit cards are known as “revolving credit,” and a big part of your credit score is how much of your revolving credit you use up each month, or your “credit utilization ratio.” Personal loans don’t count toward this ratio, so if you use them to pay off revolving debt, you can lower your ratio and improve your score.

In conclusion, as long as you’re sure to pay on time each month, a personal loan should eventually increase your score by a lot more than the initial inquiry caused it to fall. You can also avoid wasting hard inquiries by getting pre-qualified for a loan first. Pre-qualification only uses a harmless soft inquiry. And while it doesn’t guarantee approval, it will let you know if your odds are good.