Methodology for personal loan ratings

Our scores and ratings can provide you with a quick overview of how a personal loan stacks up against the market. At Finder, we provide two ratings: one that reflects our experts’ assessment of the personal loan and another that captures customer satisfaction of a loan provider’s service.

These scores serve as a starting point when it comes to choosing a loan. They don’t show if a lender is the right choice for you and your needs.

Whilst you can certainly delve into our in-depth reviews for a greater understanding of each lender, ultimately, the provider which best suits your needs is your decision.

What is the Finder score?

Our expert team evaluates various products in our database, assigning each one a score out of 10. A higher score means the product is more competitive and may offer better value.

If you want peace of mind, this rating will give it to you. These products offer the best value and outcomes considering various product features, terms, conditions and price.

Well-balanced products that provide what you need, offering a healthy mix of competitive features at a good price. However, they’re not quite the best in class.

Bottom line: You can find better, but these products still offer reasonable value and have the basics sorted.

These products may not offer much value in the long run, and there are better options available.

So, how do we score personal loans?

We dive into the details of each loan, including:

• Amount range. How little or how much can you borrow?
• Term range. How short or long can you borrow for?
• Repayment holiday. Does the provider let you take a break whilst repaying back the loan?
• Early redemption penalty. Will you be penalised if you repay the loan before your contracted term agreement?
• Repayment changeable. Can you change how much you want to repay?
• Overpay without penalty. Can you overpay when repaying back the loan?
• Same day funds. Can you potentially receive funds the same day you apply?
• Lump sum payments. Can you repay in lump sums?
• Existing customers only. Is the loan only available to existing customers?
• Ethical or green lending. Does the provider reduce its impact on the environment or help the local community?
• Open-banking. Does the loan use open-banking to help decide whether or not to approve your loan application?
• Transparency. Is the provider transparent with their fees?

From here, we can see which provider’s offer the better loan flexibility, perks and transparency compared to its competitors. We then rate each aspect of the loan based on its performance in the market.

Your reviews and our customer survey

You can see review stars at the top of our review pages, if we’ve received more than 10. These are from consumers just like you who use our site and want to review the products and providers they use. We include responses we’ve received in our annual customer satisfaction surveys. We also show the results of each survey in a league table in guides and in our awards pages.

In December 2023, we ran a customer satisfaction survey on personal loans. 750 people answered and told us how happy they are with their personal loan provider. We’ve turned their answers into a star rating of between 1 and 5 and we show this in our annual league table of personal loan providers.

★★★★★ – Excellent

★★★★★ – Good

★★★★★ – Average

★★★★★ – Subpar

★★★★★ – Poor

Customer satisfaction score methodology

The survey asked respondents how satisfied they are with their personal loan on a scale from 1 to 5, and also whether they would recommend it to a friend or not.

We turned the answers into an overall star rating that takes into account:

• How many people would recommend the personal loan vs how many people wouldn’t. If you say you’d recommend your personal loan provider to a friend when sitting at the pub in front of a pint, it must mean it’s really good (the provider, not the pint). This forms 50% of our customer satisfaction rating.
• How many people rated a provider five out of five. Wow, five out of five? This counts for 25% of our customer satisfaction rating.
• The average score each personal loan provider got. This tells us if a provider offers quite a solid service even though it doesn’t have loads of top ratings… or if it’s just not that great. This parameter forms the last 25% of our overall customer satisfaction score.

Written by

Michelle Stevens

Deputy editor

Michelle Stevens is a deputy editor at Finder, specialising in banking, credit, loans and mortgages. She has a journalism degree from the University of Sheffield and has been a journalist for 15 years, writing on topics including fintech, payment systems and retail. In her spare time, Michelle likes to travel, explore new foodie experiences and attempt to improve her own culinary skills. See full bio

Michelle's expertise

Michelle has written 127 Finder guides across topics including:

• Banking
• Mortgages
• Credit
• Fintech
• Payments
• Loans