OneMain Financial

• Debt Consolidation Loans
• Financial Tools and Resources
• Counseling and Services
• Availability
• Free Credit Score
• Experience

Debt Consolidation Loans

The company offers OneMain Financial personal loans for debt consolidation.

How does a debt consolidation loan from OneMain Financial work? You complete a loan application. Once approved, you receive one personal loan from the company to pay off multiple debts, like an auto loan, credit card debt, and even a student loan or two. This turns multiple monthly payments into one monthly payment that will repay the loan from OneMain Financial.

What are the advantages to debt consolidation through a OneMain Financial loan? You can actually negotiate a lower interest rate (APR or Annual Percentage Rate) on your long-term debt, which leads to a lower total debt payment.

Consolidating all of your monthly payments into one also helps you stay on top of your debts; instead of tracking multiple payment dates each month, you only have to repay the loan from OneMain Financial.

Most of all, a great debt consolidation loan will allow the customer to turn multiple debts with higher interest rates into one loan with a lower interest rate.

If customers are interested in OneMain Financial, we recommend they investigate the company's precomputed loans. What is a precomputed loan from OneMain Financial? It is a loan which includes the interest in the account balance.

This means that the customer will know the interest rate at the moment the loan is issued. According to the company's whitepaper on understanding how precomputed loans work, the origination fee at OneMain Financial could be around $100.

Financial Tools and Resources

Consumers working with OneMain Financial have access to different tools and resources on the company's website to help them improve their financial situation and financial education.

Some of the resources available to consumers include financial calculators, articles, and tests. These educational tools can help customers become more educated financially and lead to long-term success.

These tools and resources are free and available to anyone to use. This shows that OneMain Financial finds education to be extremely important to the success of their customers.

Counseling and Services

Although not a traditional debt counseling session, OneMain Financial allows potential clients to call in at no cost for help in applying for a personal loan or debt consolidation loan.

The OneMain Financial staff is primarily trained to assist in getting the personal loan application completed rather than advising customers on their best course of action or giving advice for managing debt and spending.

OneMain Financial Reviews reveal that customers can rely on the loan experts at the company. Because employees are certified, customers will be able to find great loans, especially if they have a decent credit history. 

For potential loan customers who need loan options, you can choose between a secured loan or an unsecured loan. 

A secured loan is a loan that has collateral tied to it. For example, a borrower can use their car as collateral. 

An unsecured loan is a loan that doesn't have any collateral tied to it. As the loan issuer, OneMain will work with you to identify which loan is best for you.

For interested investors, it is unclear if OneMain provides debt securities such as treasury bills, bonds, or commercial paper. Debt securities usually refer to an amount of money borrowed that has a fixed rate.

Availability

OneMain Financial has locations in 43 states making their services available for a broad spectrum of customers.

Having locations in most states makes it easier for customers to work with the company and makes OneMain Financial available to more potential clients.

Free Credit Score

OneMain Financial also offers a free credit score tool that allows members to monitor their TransUnion and VantageScore credit scores.

This helps customers keep track of their credit and help better themselves when making long-term financial decisions. Customers can monitor their credit scores, receive credit alerts and use the credit simulator to see how certain purchases or bills will impact their score. This tool is free to use and is available to anyone.

Experience

OneMain Financial has been in business since 1912 – that's over 104 years of experience helping people out of poor financial situations by providing loans. That experience certainly helps OneMain serve its customers better than some newer consolidation services.

• Interest Rate
• Lawsuits
• Customer Reviews
• Accreditations
• No Debt Management Plan

Interest Rate

Like many companies in the debt consolidation industry, OneMain does not disclose the average interest rates offered through its debt consolidation loans.

This makes it difficult to determine if this company's service is more or less expensive than the competition without going through the entire process of getting a quote.

In debt consolidation, interest rates are extremely important to potential customers. Customers will want to go to a company that offers the lowest fees and can get the best interest rates.

Part of the solution provided through debt consolidation is exchanging higher interest rates for lower ones.

Interest rates will have an impact on how much the customer will save and how fast they will be able to pay off their debt. OneMain should have published results and averages so that potential customers can have clear expectations with OneMain loan services.

If you refer to OneMain Financial reviews, you will also find instances of people being charged outrageous interest rates, which is concerning.

Lawsuits

We found several troubling issues with OneMain, starting with the way the business itself is run. There are two outstanding lawsuits filed against the company, both pertaining to illicit robocalling. This is more common with larger companies, though it doesn't excuse the crime.

While OneMain has been in business for a long time, this doesn't excuse the fact that the company has outstanding lawsuits that have not been resolved. When you take out a loan, you want it to be from a company that is trustworthy, responsive, and legally sound.

Customer Reviews

Customer reviews generally point to aggressive sales and collection calls, outrageous interest rates (often higher than credit cards), unhelpful (if not downright rude) customer service, bait and switch advertising, a lack of transparency regarding the terms of the loan and the necessary credit score needed for approval, preying on the elderly, unauthorized credit pulls, and allegations of fraud.

One OneMain Financial review stated that the customer thought they would be approved for a OneMain personal loan because the company had stated that it approved people with bad credit and the customer had fair credit, but the customer was still denied a loan. The customer then got a co-signer with good credit, and was still eventually told they were not approved.

A company can often use advertising and a clean website to appear trustworthy or legit to customers, but these customer reviews from those who have actually had experience with OneMain Financial are concerning. We recommend you seriously consider your options and what other customers are saying before agreeing to pay any money to OneMain Financial

Accreditations

Lenders can be accredited by several organizations to ensure quality standards and other business practices to help customers choose a company that's been tried and tested. Unfortunately, OneMain Financial is not accredited by any such organizations.

This is another red flag. We have reviewed plenty of reliable, accredited debt relief and debt consolidation companies, and we recommend you take a look at some other options besides OneMain Financial.

No Debt Management Plan

OneMain Financial only offers personal consolidation loans. It does not help its clients set up a debt management program to help them plan to pay off their debt. 

While consolidating debt into a single loan at an overall lower interest rate makes it easier to pay off debt, clients have to take the personal responsibility to make monthly payments themselves. If you want more support in sticking to your payment plan and improving your personal finances, you may want to consider another company.

Plus, a debt consolidation loan from OneMain Financial might not actually lower your interest rate all that much, depending on your current financial situation. We recommend talking to a certified financial counselor to talk about your debt management options, and even if you do choose to go the debt consolidation route, we recommend you ensure that you will actually be getting a better interest rate in the long term when you take out a loan.