The American Express personal loan offer is the best to settle on among multiple low-rate personal loan offers. It can be your smartest choice for consolidating debt without any prepayment fees. However, you must own an AmEx credit card to request a personal loan. American Express offers personal loans in the range of $3500- $25000 which can be repaid in 12, 24, or 36 months.
This blog post covers some insights into the American Express Personal loans. Read on to know more about the payment flexibility and other special features of American Express loans.
Eligibility Criteria of American Express Loans
American Express loans are the best for borrowers who
- Want quick access to funds.
- Are existing American Express credit cardholders.
- Want consolidation for credit card debt.
Positives of American Express Loan
American Express personal loans offer the best advantage to the pre-approved AmEx cardholders. In addition, AmEx will deposit the loan in your account within two days of signing the loan agreement.
No Origination or Prepayment Fee
The best feature is you get the loan without paying any origination or prepayment fees. Although a prepayment fee is rare when it comes to personal loans, lenders do demand origination fees.
Soft Credit Check
American Express doesn’t go for a hard credit check at any point during the pre-approval session. On the other hand, other competitor lenders conduct hard credit checks during the application process, which can be bad for your credit score.
Tools for Credit Monitoring
AmEx gives free access to free access to the company’s credit guide to tracking their credits. This guide will keep you updated with your TransUnion credit report and provides suggestions about improving your credit score.
Easy Debt Consolidation
Like other well-known lenders, the AmEx lender will send cash to up to four credit cards, allowing you to consolidate debt effortlessly. But you can’t include your AmEx cards in the loan consolidation.
Fast Decision and Funding
The pre-approval procedure is quite speedy, with American Express claiming that a decision is made in a matter of seconds. After the application process, you’ll have almost 3-4 days to review and sign for agreement. Then within 3-5 business days, the loan amount will be directly deposited to your bank account or your creditors.
Negatives of American Express
American Express offers personal loans with competitive rates at significantly fewer fees for existing credit cardholders. However, the following are some points at American Express fall short.
Fine on late fee
If you fail to make a payment on time, AmEx imposes a $39 penalty. However, contrary to AmEx, many lenders also offer the grace period facility to borrowers, which is beneficial on the borrowers’ end.
Only Pre-Approved Cardholders Are Eligible
While reviewing your application, lenders look for at least nine months of account history, credit card history, and current financial profile. Accordingly, your creditworthiness determines the approval of your application. Another great alternative is Cerulean Credit Card.
No APR discount for autopay
AmEx does not offer APR for setting up autopay. Unlike AmEx, its competitors usually provide 0.25 to 0.5 percentage points as discounts that help borrowers make on-time payments.
Plenty of Restrictions
Remember, you may only have one personal loan for a business at a time. You can’t apply for another AmEx loan if you have not repaid the previous one. Also, they imposed many restrictions on the utility of the loan. For example, suppose you applied for a loan for a wedding or to consolidate credit card debt. In that case, you can’t use this loan to fund any post-secondary education expenses, real estate purchase, business cost, or vehicle purchase.
No flexibility to change your payment date
According to lenders, there is no way back if your payment date comes; you have to pay it on that exact date. Consequently, there is no way around it if you did not manage to pay your installment on your payday.
How To Apply and Qualify for American Express Personal Loan
For an eligible existing American Express cardholder, it’s like a walk in the garden to apply for pre-approval directly through your online account. First, you have to log in to your AmEx account to answer a few questions as a formality. After that practice, you would receive a decision right away.
The AmEx personal loan application will ask for the following details.
- Loan amount
- Desired payment duration
- The purpose of a personal loan
- Your Income
There is a brief time limit to sign the personal loan agreement after approval. And if due to some reason, you miss this deadline, AmEx will withdraw your application, and you can’t reapply for the next 60 days.
For eligibility, they mention that you must be a pre-approved cardholder. In other words, the fulfillment of your loan application depends on your creditworthiness and other factors. Keep it clear that you’ll have to fill a complete application to confirm if you’ll receive a loan offer after pre-approval.
American Express Loan: Key Points
- No hard credit checks
- No prepayment fees
- Fine on late deposits
- Lacks refinancing options
- Provides financial education
- No flexibility for payments dates
- No rate discount for autopay
- Direct payment for easy debt consolidation loans.
- Low APRs
- Offers multiple customer contact channel
- Provides financial education.
Final Words
If you’re an existing AmEx credit card holder and looking for a personal loan between $3500-$2500, then you must check for an AmEx personal loan offer before knocking at other doors. You may receive pre-approval without affecting your credit score, and your loan might be approved in seconds.
Nevertheless, this personal loan offered by American Express isn’t customer-friendly and flexible at all. There are many restrictions, such as you can’t apply with someone else, changing the payment due date, or refinancing later. Consider these restrictions before applying for AmEx personal loan. In addition, they are not offering customer-friendly features such as no minimum score listed on the website. However, not everyone is eligible for the lowest APR and significant loan amount.