About Personal Loan Compare

Who we are

Personal Loan Compare is published by 1st Advantage Mortgage Broker LLC (d/b/a 1st Advantage Mortgage), a mortgage company in Charlotte, North Carolina. Our team has helped borrowers compare options for years in the mortgage business. This site applies the same habits, such as comparing offers in writing and saying plainly how we are paid, to personal loans.

What we do

• Publish plain-language guides, calculators and checklists for borrowers
• Run a short fit check so borrowers and lenders do not waste time
• Match qualifying requests with lending partners, once agreements are in place

What we will never do

• Ask for money before a loan
• Ask for your Social Security number on our forms
• Promise approval, a rate or a payment
• Hide how we are paid

Where we are

128 S Tryon St Suite 1933, Charlotte, NC 28202. Phone 704-343-8681. Email sales@firstadvantagemortgage.com. See our disclosures and editorial policy.

A note on mortgages

1st Advantage Mortgage also offers mortgage loans. That is a different product from the personal loan matching on this site. If your goal is a home loan, visit firstadvantagemortgage.com.

How we work

We build each guide the way a loan officer would prepare for a client meeting. We start with the question a borrower is actually asking, check the answer against public sources, then write it plainly and add a worksheet or example so that you can apply it. Local pages begin with Census data and add context we have checked. We review pages when sources change, and we show an update date on every page.

How we make money, in one paragraph

Lending partners may pay us when a borrower is matched or takes a loan. Borrowers never pay us. That arrangement creates a conflict of interest: we may be more likely to show partners that pay more. We say so on every page footer, in our disclosures and on the form itself. Our guides are written to be useful whether or not you ever use the form, and they point to free alternatives like credit counseling and credit unions.

What we believe about borrowing

• Compare total cost, not the monthly payment.
• A loan is a tool, not a solution to a spending gap.
• You should be able to say what you will repay in dollars before you sign.
• Anyone who asks you to pay first is not a lender.
• You deserve a clear no as much as a yes, and a plan for what to do next.

Corrections and feedback

If you find an error, tell us at the address on our contact page. We review corrections and update the page and its date. For how pages are written and checked, read the editorial policy.

Our service in practice

Here is what a visit looks like from our side. You arrive from a search for a guide or a city page. You read the answer at the top and the supporting sections. If you choose to use the fit check, it asks for what a lender would ask first and tells you honestly whether your numbers fit. If they do, your request is saved; if not, we show you what to change and send you to free resources. We do not charge you at any step. If partner agreements are in place when you apply, a lending partner may contact you; until then, your request waits and we say so.

The people and the standards

The site is produced by a small team at a Charlotte company that works with borrowers every day. We hold ourselves to the standards in our editorial policy: answer first, sources shown, no rate promises, no hidden compensation. We review each page against public sources and compare drafts against other pages so that the site says something of its own.

Why we publish local pages

Borrowing is local in practice: rents, commutes and local employers shape budgets. City pages show Census figures and add context for each place so that you can see how your own numbers compare. They are a research tool, not a ranking of who deserves credit.

How to reach us

Use the details on the contact page. We read every message.

What we learned from mortgage work that applies here

In the mortgage business the best outcomes come from borrowers who compare more than one quote, understand fees and have documents ready. The same holds for personal loans, so our guides emphasize comparison worksheets, fee conversions to dollars and document checklists. We also learned that most people do not need a lecture; they need a clear next step.

Where our information comes from

• Loan rules and consumer protections: the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission.
• Household finance trends: the Federal Reserve and the New York Fed.
• Local data: the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
• State rules: state financial regulators and attorneys general.

Our commitments in plain terms

We will tell you plainly when a loan is probably not the right tool. We will name the cost of a choice in dollars. We will show our sources. We will say how we make money and what that could change. We will keep your information to what we need and delete it when you ask, within the limits of the law. And we will fix errors when we find them.