Bad Credit

A thin or damaged credit file changes which doors open, not whether you can borrow at all. These guides explain approval factors, co-signers, decline reasons and lower-cost alternatives to short-term high-cost credit.

Guides in this section

5 guides

Bad Credit

Loans for Bad Credit

See how a weak credit file changes the rate, fees and amount you are offered, and why certain approval is advertising rather than a lending result.

Read the guide
Bad Credit

Borrowing With No Credit

Borrowing with a thin credit file: the documents lenders may accept, how builder instalment products work, and why starting with a small amount helps.

Read the guide
Bad Credit

How Co-Signers Help

What a second borrower changes about approval odds and pricing, the legal responsibility it creates, and the strain it can put on a relationship.

Read the guide
Bad Credit

Credit Builder Loans

With this product the money arrives last, after the payments are made. Here is what that unusual order does to a thin credit file, and what it cannot fix.

Read the guide
Bad Credit

Late Payments and Your File

A single late mark and a string of them age differently. Here is what time does to the record, what paying the balance does not do, and where to look for errors.

Read the guide