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Licensing and disclosures

Lendarbor is an information site, not a lender or loan broker. Here is how to check the license of any company that contacts you about a loan, and where to complain.

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Our role

Lendarbor publishes information and calculators about the size and length of personal loans. When you choose to send a loan request, we pass it to lenders and loan brokers, who pay us for it. Lendarbor is not a lender, a loan broker, a credit counselor or a government agency. We do not make loans, make credit decisions or make offers, and we do not claim any lending or brokering license.

Who must be licensed

The lenders and loan brokers who contact you after a request are responsible for holding the licenses their business needs in your state. In general:

  • Banks and credit unions are chartered and supervised by federal or state agencies.
  • Other consumer lenders, such as online lenders and finance companies, usually need a license from each state where they lend.
  • Loan brokers, who arrange loans with other lenders, need a license or registration in many states.

Rules differ from state to state, and they change. A company that is properly licensed in one state may not be licensed in yours.

How to check a license

Before you share more information or sign anything, check the company that contacted you:

  1. Get its full legal name and its NMLS ID, if it has one. Licensed companies usually show their NMLS ID on their website and in their loan documents.
  2. Search NMLS Consumer Access at nmlsconsumeraccess.org. It lists companies and individuals licensed through the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System, with the states and license types they hold.
  3. Check with your state’s financial regulator, the agency that licenses consumer lenders (often called the department of banking, financial institutions or consumer credit). Not every state uses NMLS for every license type, and the regulator can tell you whether a company may lend or broker loans in your state.
  4. For a bank or credit union, check its status with the FDIC or the NCUA.

Warning signs: a company that asks for a fee before you get the loan, wants payment by gift card, wire transfer or cryptocurrency, promises approval before seeing your information, or will not give its legal name and address.

Where to complain

If you have a problem with a lender or loan broker, you can complain to:

  • the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: consumerfinance.gov/complaint;
  • your state financial regulator, the agency that licenses the company;
  • the Federal Trade Commission, for scams and fraud: reportfraud.ftc.gov;
  • your state attorney general.

Please also tell us through the contact page, especially if someone used Lendarbor’s name. If you want calls and texts about your request to stop, the privacy policy explains how, and we pass opt-outs on to the companies that received your request.

Our address

Lendarbor, 2400 North Henderson Ave, Ste B, Suite 833, Dallas, TX 75206, United States. Email [email protected]. See also how we make money and our terms of use.

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