Spot a fair personal loan offer, line by line.
LendCedar takes a personal loan apart the way a field guide takes apart a bird: the fee, the rate, the term and the fine print, then what your state lets a licensed lender charge.
Personal loan offerExample only
- Mark 1: Loan amount
- $10,000
- Mark 2: Origination fee, taken from the loan
- −$500
- Deposited to your bank
- $9,500
- Mark 3: Interest rate, fixed
- 14.00%
- Term
- 36 months
- Mark 4: Monthly payment
- $341.78
- Mark 5: Annual percentage rate (APR)
- 17.65%
- Total of payments
- $12,304.08
Five lines worth checking
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Mark 1: The amount you sign for
Interest runs on the full amount, including any fee taken out of it.
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Mark 2: A fee taken before you see the money
Here 5% of the loan never reaches your account, but you repay it with interest.
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Mark 3: The rate is not the price
The interest rate leaves the fee out. Compare loans on APR instead.
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Mark 4: The payment depends on the term
A longer term lowers it and raises the total interest.
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Mark 5: The number to compare
APR folds the fee into a yearly rate: 17.65%, not 14%.
The same $2,000 loan is legal at 17% APR in one state and uncapped in another.
States set the most a licensed lender may charge, fees included. We checked the caps for all 50 states and Washington, D.C. against each statute, with the lender license and the regulator to call.
- 36% APR or less
- Above 36% APR
- No numeric cap
Cap on a $2,000 loan
Texas:
Above 36%
$2,000 two-year loan
About 37% APR, fees included
$10,000 five-year loan
About 27% APR, fees included
Lender license
Regulated lender license, Finance Code chapter 342
Inside the guide
Reading an offer
Every line of a loan offer: rate, APR, fees, term, add-ons and the clauses in the contract.
- Total cost of a loanThe price
- Loan term lengthThe price
- Fixed and variable ratesThe price
- Autopay and rate discountsThe price
- Net loan proceedsFees and add-ons
- Late fees and returned paymentsFees and add-ons
- Credit insurance and add-onsFees and add-ons
- Prepayment penaltiesContract terms
- Arbitration clausesContract terms
- Truth in Lending disclosuresContract terms
Who qualifies
How lenders judge applicants whose income or history does not fit the usual form.
Step by step
From checking your credit to the first payment, in the order you will meet each step.
Loan uses
When a personal loan makes sense for a cost, and what to compare it with first.
Run the numbers
All calculators- Offer comparison calculator Two offers side by side: monthly payment, total repaid and the APR once the origination fee is counted.
- Net proceeds calculator How much to borrow so that the deposit still covers the bill after a fee is taken out of the loan.
- Loan term calculator One loan over 24 to 84 months: what a lower payment costs in extra interest.
- Extra payment calculator Months and interest saved by adding a fixed amount to every payment.
Recent rule changes
Every change we track-
, rates
Federal Reserve: 24-month personal loans at banks averaged 11.90% in August 2026Use the bank average as a reference point when you read an offer, and compare offers by APR and total of payments rather than by the monthly payment.
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, rates
Texas: new rate brackets for installment loans made on or after July 1, 2026On a Texas loan from a licensed lender, each part of the cash advance carries its own maximum rate, so check which bracket your loan amount falls into.
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, court ruling
Tenth Circuit vacates its Colorado opt-out ruling and agrees to rehear the case en bancFor now, a loan to a Colorado resident from an out-of-state, state-chartered bank may still carry the bank's home-state rate, so ask who the lender of record is.
Ask lenders for real offers
Describe the loan you have in mind. LendCedar passes your request to lenders and loan brokers who may contact you with offers; you compare them and decide.
- The loan you have in mind: amount, purpose, credit and income.
- Your contact details and your consent to be contacted.
- A lender or loan broker may contact you with an offer. Nothing is decided until you sign with a lender.
LendCedar is not a lender or a loan broker and does not make credit decisions.
You pay LendCedar nothing. Lenders and loan brokers pay us for requests, and they set their own rates and terms. How we make money.