Product Trends Magazine

About the company: “The Fastest Cash on the Net! No credit checks. No paper hassles. Nothing to fax. Apply online and we’ll contact you within the hour.”

The big pitch: Changing the way America gets a loan! Helping thousands of people everyday.

Are you in a financial pinch and need quick cash? Are bills piling up left and right and you’ve maxed out your credit cards? In this case, a cash advance may help you to get through this tough financial time. 123onlinecash.com offers cash advances and helped thousands every day.

What exactly is a cash advance and how does it work? A cash advance is basically cash that you can access quickly in an emergency. Many people live pay check to pay check and sometimes you can’t quite stretch your money until your next pay check. Therefore, you can visit 123onlinecash.com for help. You need to fill out an online application. One of their agents will contact you about your eligibility for a cash advance. If you qualify you may have cash in your bank account as soon as the next business day.

What are the requirements so you can qualify for a cash advance? First you need to have a steady job in which you earn income on a regular basis. You need to earn at least $1000 per month from your job. You need to be 18 years or older and a U.S. citizen. You need to have a checking account so that you can receive the cash advance as well. There are other qualifications necessary for certain applicants, but these are the general requirements.

What if you have been in bankruptcy before? Will 123onlinecash.com consider you ineligible for a cash advance? The answer is no, even bankruptcy and bounced checks won’t hinder you from receiving the cash advance you desperately need.

How much money can I receive in the cash advance? The amount you can receive depends on your current income and other factors. A 123onlinecash.com agent will speak with you regarding your specific situation. You can pay your cash advance back by simply have the minimum amount deducted automatically from your checking account.

The Product Trends rating: 123onlinecash.com can provide you with the financial relief you need in a desperate money situation. Three stars.

To try 123onlinecash.com for yourself, click the image below:

About the company: “With interest rates at historically low levels, you can refinance your existing home loan and save thousands of dollars a year. Current rates available from some of our partners are under 4.5%, and reducing your interest rate a few points can be worth tens of thousands of dollars over the life of your home loan. With GetLower.com approved lenders competing for an opportunity to service your loan needs, we put you at the head of the pack. Get started refinancing your home loan needs today or to find out what rates are currently available visit our resource center.”

 

The big pitch: Multiple Offers. Get Lower Rates. Get Started Today.

GetLower.com provides a wide range of financial services including home loans, personal credit, banking, real estate, insurance, utilities, and a ton of other resources. You can learn more about each financial category on the site itself, and should you decide that you need a little help in that area, they will find you the best deals in the marketplace.

Looking for a Real Estate agent in your area? GetLower.com will help match you up with the best agents available. Their search engine simply asks you the geographic location in which you want to search for a home, number of rooms in the home, price of the home, and the like, and they then do the busy work for you.

If you have questions about a loan, GetLower.com provides online loan calculators that can help you determine the amount of payment on a loan based on the amount of the loan, term of the financing, and the annual interest rate. Just type in the information and - bam! - GetLower crunches the numbers so you don’t have to.

Have you moved to new area and are in need of utility services, or do you want to see if there is a better utility plan available in your area? GetLower enables you to search for utility companies for long distance, broadband, local, and media services. You can even search based on the extent of options you desire, if you want to combine services, and the state in which you live.

Bottom line, we see a whole lot of these ‘lender search engines’ at Product Trends Magazine, and many of them are no more than a portal to other companies with not a lot of value added. With GetLower, we see enough content and information present to make this a definite first stop. It’s worth your time, and that’s more than many of its competitors will be able to say.

The Product Trends rating: GetLower.com provides a robust, extensive list of resources that ranges from loans and credit cards to real estate and utilities. The online calculators and service locators serve as comprehensive, useful resources to any visitor, and we like the way it all comes together. To top it all off, GetLower is approved by the Better Business Bureau. Five stars. –Reviewed by Jillian Dobbs

To try GetLower for yourself, click the image below:

About the company: “With PaycheckToday, even if you have bad credit, you can still get quick cash for emergencies. Payday advances, also called payday loans, cash advances, instant cash loans, payroll advances or paycheck loans, are short-term loans that can be taken against a future paycheck. If approved, your loan proceeds will be deposited directly into your personal bank account. When your loan payment is due, the finance charge will be automatically debited from your checking account unless other payment arrangements have been made. Cash Advance Network loans require no faxing. Just fill out the online application for instant pre-approval.”

The big pitch: Applications are pre-approved in just 30 seconds! Based on your application, you may qualify for a payday loan up to $1000 - Your credit rating just isn’t important!”

As a rule, we don’t really like the payday loan industry. It seems that there are just too many outfits out there preying on the desperation of people with poor credit, charging them an arm and a leg, and leaving them worse than when they started out. That said, some payday loan companies seem to be working hard at making sure that their service is one that their customers an rely on - and PaycheckToday is just one such company.

If you are between a rock and hard place for money, a cash advance can sometimes be a necessity if you are living paycheck to paycheck. Cash advances are often used for rent and other life expenses, but as the holidays near, many people need just a little bit of credit to help them over the hump.

www.paychecktoday.com provides lightning fast service - you can be approved within the hour and the money is deposited into your bank account the next business day. This process is dependent upon PaycheckToday receiving all the required information, which makes it essential to supply the proper information so the process won’t be delayed.

What type of information is required when you apply for a cash advance from PaycheckToday.com? They will require personal, employment and banking information. Personal information includes such things as the loan amount (up to $1,000), name, social security number, address, etc. Employment information includes such things as the name of your employer and whether you work part time or full time. Banking information is necessary so they can put money into your account - and take that money back when your loan is ready to be repaid.

Worried that your credit rating blows? Don’t worry. PaycheckToday doesn’t run a credit check on you before deciding whether you should qualify for a loan. All they need to know is you have an income, and you’re basically good to go.

So if you need a cash advance, and you’re fully aware what a payday loan entails, take a look at PaycheckToday and give them a try. As always, we recommend you read all the fine print and ONLY take on a payday loan if you feel confident about the company you’re dealing with, but we’ve seen plenty of lenders out there with a lot less to boast about than PaycheckToday - so make them your first step.

The Product Trends rating: If you need a cash advance of $1,000 or less, then this is a great website to check out. You can be approved within one hour and have the money deposited in your account within one business day. As far as payday loans go, that’s a great start. Four stars. –Reviewed by Jillian Dobbs

To try PaycheckToday for yourself, click the image below:

About the company: “Planet Loan is the 100% advertiser supported loan search engine. We are not a lender or broker. When you choose to inquire with a lender or broker who advertises on Planet Loan, your information remains between you and that lender(s). Advertisers are solely responsible for keeping their information current.”

The big pitch: Purchase, refinance, cash out your home’s equity, loans for those with damaged credit, get a personal loan…it’s your choice!

Planet Loan is an online loan search engine where you can search for financial information regarding home loans, mortgages, debt consolidation, personal loans, auto loans, commercial loans, credit card finder, and student loans.

Using this website, you can get a quote on all different types of loans from home equity loans to construction loans. Specify your location and you’ll receive a free quote in hours. You can also search for loans based on your credit standing, or find information on loans available to you whether you have good credit or damaged credit.

Have you been thinking of getting a credit card? Do you need a personal credit card of business credit card or both? Either way, you can find information regarding credit cards at www.planetloan.com using their “Credit Card Finder”, which allows you to search by credit card type, including: standard credit cards, specialty credit cards, secured credit cards, platinum credit cards, student and business credit cards.

PlanetLoan is 100% advertiser supported, which means that when you do a search on credit cards, for example, a listing of the advertisers that pay for this service will display advertisements for their credit cards. Now, that means your results may skew a little towards their partners, but it also gives you a lot to choose from in terms of applying for the credit card by simply clicking a direct link. You also have the option of seeing if you are eligible for instant approval, and if you are, who cares whether the company bought and ad or was simply listed there as an option – the point is, you’re gonna get your loan!

Speaking of credit cards, www.planetloan.com provides a listing of vendors that offer credit repair and credit report services. Check out your credit before you apply and you just might save yourself some time trying to figure out your financial situation.

Planet Loan, like most websites of its ilk, offers an online financial calculator to help you solve your financial questions, including calculators that aid you with home and personal financing, investment loans, and retirement calculators. The calculators are presented in a format such that they match frequently asked questions, and in our experience testing the website out, we found it pretty darn useful.

The Product Trends rating: This website provides a myriad of information that may take some time to sift through. However, it is a great way to have a bunch of different options presented to you in one simple table format, which allows you to comparison shop between different financial providers, all in the one website. Four stars. —Reviewed by Jillian Dobbs

To try Planet Loan for yourself, click the image below:

About the company: “LoanHounds brings new mortgage, refinance, debt consolidation, home equity and other mortgage loans to you through a network of the country’s largest lenders and top mortgage professionals who compete for your business. LoanHounds mortgage lenders have processed more than 2.1 million mortgage loan requests and have facilitated over $10 billion in closed mortgage loans. Fill out one simple form and request up to four mortgage lenders in our network to contact you. It’s that easy. No wonder LoanHounds is the fastest growing mortgage loan quote site on the internet.”

The big pitch: Four LoanHounds mortgage lenders will contact you within 24 hours with an offer of a loan. No commitment, no fee - just mortgage lenders fighting over your business!

LoanHounds makes the process of finding and acquiring a loan very easy. The LoanHounds.com website enables you to find a quote on several different types of loans, from a vareity of options.

Do you need a quote on mortgage options? Loanhounds.com saves you time and money by bringing the different lender quotes right to you, so you don’t have to scour each of the lender’s individual websites.

When you put your details into the LoanHounds website, a maximum of four LoanHounds lenders receive your contact information and get busy offering you a great deal. That’s the concept, but the question for us was, how do we know these lenders are any good? LoanHounds says, "The LoanHounds mortgage lender network is comprised of the top professionals in lending. Each company must respond within 24 hours, provide competitive rates through volume pricing, correspondent lending, or warehouse credit lines, and have a track record of closing loans on time with no hidden fees."

That’s good enough for us!

LoanHounds strives for 100% customer satisfaction and tells their customers to stay in touch and let them know how their lenders perform, so as to ensure they always keep a good crop of agents.

If you are looking for credit card information all in one place, LoanHounds provides links to several different credit card lenders. You can find the right credit card for your needs by clicking on direct links to credit card lenders where you can apply online and may be eligible for instant approval.

Lastly, LoanHounds.com features a home loan blog, where you can find current news regarding mortgage rates, loan advice, refinancing, and debt consolidation. In our testing of the company, we found the information on this blog to be great all by itself, even if you don’t use the loan finder service.

The Product Trends Rating: If you are looking for a way to access several financial lenders all at one website in the comfort of you own home then www.loanhounds.com is for you. Find mortgage, credit card, personal loan, auto loan, and payday loans all in one stop. Four stars.

To try LoanHounds for yourself, click the image below:

About the company: "Money search.com is a loan search Engine, and we’re committed to helping you find a wide assortment of lenders and brokers. Our purpose is simple… to provide you with a simple way to find a local lender and view updated rate comparison surveys from hundreds of lenders and brokers nationwide.”

The big pitch: “Get quotes from multiple lenders with the lowest rates.”

MoneySearch.com provides debt consolidation and personal, auto, commercial, and student loans, in addition to insurance services. This collection of financial resources is a great help when you are trying to choose between various lenders and brokers, as you can view information about each lender and broker quickly through the easy online navigation.

You can search for a Lender by several different loan types including home equity loans, commercial loans, construction loans, refinance loans, and the list goes on. Plus, you can search for Lenders in your specific geographic area. MoneySearch.com does all the hard work for you by providing the information you desire, quickly and efficiently.

MoneySearch says they will search high and low for loan and financial information, for free, and the way they make that happen is with a free loan search engine - how can you beat that? MoneySearch also provides free online financial tools that they claim will be your financial virtual assistant, as well as the added benefit of online calculators. They boast online calculators for mortgages, investments, and leases, allowing you to make informed, researched decisions.

For example, perhaps you are considering refinancing your home. Should you refinance your home or stick with your current loan? Use the mortgage calculator, which will ask you such things as the existing balance on the loan, the monthly payment on the loan, and rate of the new loan, etc. It will take this financial information and crunch the numbers for you, allowing you to make an informed choice.

Another example involves the lease calculator. You can figure out how much you can lease by filling in financial information including lease start date, number of payments, payment amount, and interest rate, and the website does all the thinking for you. Another option, to conduct a free credit report, is just icing on the cake.

MoneySearch can be your one stop shop for finding the best deals on insurance policies, credit card rates, and the loan that will best suit your needs, and in our opinion it’s well worth a look.

The Product Trends rating: Quite honestly, MoneySearch is a valuable financial resource for anyone interested in borrowing money. The online financial calculators take the confusion out of determining which loan is best for you, and we like that but plenty. Four Stars. —Reviewed by Jillian Dobbs

To try MoneySearch for yourself, click the image below:

About the company: "At MoneySearch.com, we are a Loan Search Engine, and we’re commited to helping you find a wide assortment of lenders and brokers. Our purpose is simple… to provide you with a simple way to find a local lender and view updated rate comparison surveys from hundreds of lenders and brokers nationwide."

The big pitch: Get quotes from multiple lenders with the lowest rates.

Yet another in a long line of money lending websites that don’t actually lend you any money, but rather send your details to companies that might, at least we have to give MoneySearch.com credit for not disguising their true situation like so many others of their ilk do.

MoneySearch says it right up front - they are not a financial lender, they are a Loan Search Engine. And to that end, they do an okay job. If you only want to use their system to ensure a handful of potential lenders contact you with their offers, by all means, go to MoneySearch.com and knock yourself out .

But, and here’s the rub… if we just wanted random lenders to call us, we could flip through a phonebook and call them directly, you know?

The best ‘loan search engines’ will take your information and give you back a stream of data on who has the best rates today, and who specializes in your area/credit situation/type of loan. They take your info and process it, giving you back a list of good stuff that you can then take the to the next level.

"Oh, it says here that Money Lenders Inc can give us a lower rate, with no money down… let’s give them a call," - that’s helpful. "Oh… they say four lenders will cal us sometime in the next five days…" - that’s not so helpful.

At least not to me. What is helpful is the literal overload of lending information that you can find on the MoneySearch.com website. They handle a lot more than home loans - they do home equity loans, debt consolidation loans, auto loans, commercial loans, student financing, insurance, first home buyers, less then perfect credit, prequalified, credit cards, construction loans, FHA, VA, no documentation, credit repair… basically anything you could ever really want in terms of borrowing money from a bank, lender, or other associated usurer.

They have mortgage calculators, info on how to decide whether you should buy or rent, refinancing assessment tools, investment calculators, lease calculators, instant credit reports… Or rather, they don’t actually have any of that… but they link to it really well.

So if you’re in the early stages of deciding whether or not you’re going to be a borrower, perhaps this is a good place to get all the information you’ll need. And then, when you’ve sucked them dry of info, maybe then you can find a website that takes you to the next level, because though MoneySearch is an honest, successful, straight-up, above board company, it just doesn’t do as much as, ultimately, we’d hoped it would.

The Product Trends rating: Plenty of information, but that’s about all. Three stars.

To try MoneySearch.com for yourself, click the image below:

About the company: At America’s Lending Partners you submit your home loan request just once. We then match you with up to four of our lending partners who range from national to local lenders. Our lending partners contact you directly so you can compare offers, compare options and decide which loan is best for you.

The big pitch: Complete one form and up to four lenders will contact you with offers. Over $51b in home loans matches since 1999.

Founded by executives of FirstPlus Financial and The Money Store, America’s Lending Partners is not an actual lending institution. They are, rather, a website that gathers your information if you’re looking for a home loan, refinancing, home improvement funds, second mortgage, home equity loan, or debt consolidation package, and passes it on to a series of other lenders. It’s then up to those lenders to actually contact you with an offer, if they deem you worthy.

For the sake of our testing purposes, we put ourselves forth as looking for a new home loan for a condominium in New Jersey, with fair but not great credit, for an amount of $200,000, with no money down. We went through the process, which took all of about 45 seconds, but at the end we received no offers at all, at least not on the thank you screen (they do say that lenders will contact us later, but still)…

All of which is a little annoying. I mean, if you’re looking for a good deal, you’re likely to be shopping around, and if other websites are giving you approximations of the rate you’re likely to get and America’s Lending Partners isn’t, then chances are a lot of people who might be have otherwise been helped by them, are going elsewhere in the meantime.

In our research, however, is does seem that America’s Lending Partners is very helpful in getting zero money down home loans at a reasonable interest rate, as well as finding financing for borrowers who don’t have a great credit rating, and who don’t want to pay fees to get their loan application looked at. While companies like E-Loan and ING seem to get a great rate for people who have great credit, America’s Lending Partners looks to be the one to go to if you’re getting the runaround elsewhere.

Expect interest rates around 5.2% per annum (give or take a half a percent), zero fees, and an easy process to start with, and as always, please, please, please look over your loan agreement before taking on any sort of debt whatsoever. Without taking on a ‘test mortgage’, the only qualities of a lender than we can assess at this site are the opinions of others, what their rates are, and how simple their process is.

America’s Lending Partners is often advertised on CNN, Court TV, Fox News, The History Channel, The Weather Channel, MSNBC, ESPN, USA Network, FX, Spike TV, TV Land, Food Network, TNT, HGTV, Lifetime, and in several national glossy magazines such as Food and Wine, Country Home, This Old House, House and Garden, and House Beautiful - but don’t take that as a sign of honesty and authority - if they’re advertising heavily, the money to do so has to come from somewhere… somewhere like you. Don’t be swayed by marketing - the best possible deal for you is just as likely to come from a small company in Dubuque as it is from a huge multinational. Do your research, haggle like crazy, and beware the fine print.

The Product Trends rating: From what we can see, there’s definitely a need for America’s Lending Partners out there, and they seem to be making waves in the business. We’d like to see a few things improved, but if you need low or no-deposit financing, this should be your first step. Three stars.

To try America’s Lending Partners for yourself, click the image below:

About the company: The NextStudent Scholarship Search Engine is one of the largest scholarship databases out there today, and it’s packed with over 800,000 scholarships worth over $2.8 billion. It’s updated daily, free of charge, advertisement-free and completely confidential. […] NextStudent gives you as many funding options as possible, with low-cost federal and private loans such as undergraduate and graduate student loans, parent loans, private (K-12) loans, federal and NextStudent Custom Consolidation Loan programs and college savings plans.

The big pitch: Lower your student loan payments by up to 60% - that is, between $100 to $500 per month.

One of the running jokes with the claim that the United States is the best place to live in the world (other than the lack of health care, the alarmingly high number of people living in poverty, and the limited number of political options) is the extreme cost of higher education in the country. Most people who go through college come out the other end with horrific student loan debts, some of which follow them around for decades, or even their entire lives.

But just as you can refinance home loans to get a better rate, or consolidate personal loans into one easy to manage debt, so too can you rearrange your student loans to make repayments lower, and get a better deal than what you’re used to.

NextStudent has a great set-up in which they offer you use of a free scholarship search engine with over 800,000 individual awards that you can apply for, free one-on-one counseling with a personally assigned Education Finance Advisor, a huge array of tips for getting the most out of your student financing, and a staggering line-up of low-cost student loans.

Take it with a grain of salt, but NextStudent advertises themselves as having the "lowest rate possible 100% free Federal Consolidation", and boasts that they can reduce your payments by as much as $500 per month. Maybe they can, maybe that’s bluster, but the important thing about the deal is that you can find out online, through their website, if you qualify and how much they WILL save you every month, without comittment.

Student loans, college loan consolidation, funding for graduate students, parents, high school students - NextStudent covers all the bases. They handle Federal Stafford loans, Federal PLUS loans, private loans, FAFSA, custom consolidation loans, and if you’re unsure what you need or how to go about getting it, you can just call one of their Education Finance advisors and talk it through with an expert.

In our opinion, NextStudent has everything you need to explore the world of college and high school financing from a position of advantage. If they’ll save you money, go with them. If they won’t - don’t. But either way, they make it easy to find out, and it won’t cost you anything to try.

So go take a look.

The Product Trends rating: We give NextStudent a solid 3.5 stars, with potential for more if we hear positive things from those who use the service.

To try NextStudent for yourself, click the image below:

About the company: Cash Advance Network offers the FASTEST service available to provide the loan you need. Whether you need the money to pay monthly bills, or take care of car repairs, our cash advance service is here to help you with all of your emergency cash needs! […] Through our instant approval service online, we offer a convenient solution for those who need cash immediately. In just one business day, you will have the money you need to pay your monthly bills on time, pay for unexpected bills, or get your family through any type of emergency situation.

The big pitch: Get up to $1000 deposited into your checking account within 24 hours!

The payday loan business was once called ‘usury’, and going back to biblical times it was considered the worst kind of sin. Twenty years ago, it was called loan sharking. Today, it’s called ‘immediate finance’, and though nobody breaks legs in the Payday Loan industry anymore, you can certainly fall into traps if you’re not paying attention.

That said, there can be no doubt that the reason this sector of the financial industry has grown so quickly is that there’s a real demand for fast loans by people who might not have the best credit rating. Think about it - if you have high credit card bills to pay, and the kids are sick, and suddenly the hot water heater blows up in your basement, you can’t always ‘just put it on Visa’, and you don’t always have time to get approved for a personal loan.

Sometimes, whether God would have liked you doing so or not, you simply need a payday loan.

But how do you tell the difference between a company out to rip you off and a company simply offering you a little temporary refinancing? Well, in our opinion, you could do a lot worse than a company that doesn’t hide the cold, hard truth from customers, and Cash Advance Network is one such company.

Look in their FAQ and they don’t hide from you the fact that you’ll be paying high interest on your short term loan - expect to pay $30 in interest for every $100 you borrow in payroll advances, and the length of your paycheck loan will be 14 days - after that they’ll start applying financing charges to your account. If you’re having trouble paying the entire amount back, you can always renew the loan (up to 4 times) against a future paycheck, and in fact they make it easy to do so through the automated web-based system on the Cash Advance Network website.

If you’re paid monthly, you can still borrow money from Cash Advance Network, and they’ll still permit you to apply for instant cash loans even if you receive social security payments as part of your income.

One big selling point of Cash Advance Network is that they claim the process is 100% faxless - though that’s not entirely true. New customers must fax a copy of their most recent paystub or a benefit award letter, and their may be times that you’re asked to send in a copy of a bank statement of a voided check, but once your account is set up, you can get cash loans of up to $1000 in just 30 seconds.

As per usual, self-employed individuals won’t get any benefit from Cash Advance Network, as the income of such people is too hard to predict, but if you earn a paycheck, need cash in a flash, and don’t want to mess around with pawnshops, we advise giving a long hard look at the Cash Advance Network system.

The Product Trends rating: Let’s be clear, we at Product Trends are constantly alarmed by the growth of this largely unregulated industry, and the number of people who lose large pieces of their income to ongoing and impossible to pay off loans. That said, just like credit cards, there’s a lot of good that can come from them as long as you DON’T GET IN OVER YOUR HEAD. If you genuinely need short term financing, and you’re the kind of person who will do the responsible thing and pay back the loan in quick time, then we’d recommend giving Cash Advance Network a look. Three stars.

To try Cash Advance Network for yourself, click the image below: