Who SoLo Funds Borrow Is Best For
SoLo Funds is best if you:
- Don’t qualify for traditional loans. SoLo Funds caters to people who aren’t eligible for traditional lending, such as personal loans. Instead of relying on expensive alternatives like payday loans, prospective borrowers can borrow money through SoLo Funds with no interest.
- Want to build credit. If you have limited credit and want to boost your creditworthiness, SoLo Funds reports your payments to the main credit bureaus.
Who SoLo Funds Borrow Isn’t Right For
SoLo Funds may not be best if you:
- Need large amounts of money. If you need more than $575, then SoLo Funds isn’t right for you.
- Want extended repayment terms. The maximum loan term length is 35 days. If you need longer repayment terms, consider a traditional personal loan.
SoLo Funds Borrow Details
Eligibility
In order to be eligible for a SoLo Funds account, you’ll need to meet these criteria:
- Be at least 18 years old
- Be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident with a 10-year non-conditional card
- Have a bank account with a debit card that SoLo Funds supports
When you apply for an account, SoLo Funds also runs a soft credit check, which doesn’t damage your credit. While your credit score doesn’t impact your eligibility, it feeds into your SoLo Score. This is a proprietary in-app credit score that SoLo Funds creates to help other lender users decide whether they’re comfortable lending money to you or not.
Borrowing Amounts
The minimum borrowing amount is $20. When you first create an account, the maximum you’re able to borrow is $100. If you repay that loan on time and your SoLo Score is high enough, your borrowing limit may increase up to a maximum of $575.
Interest and Fees
SoLo doesn’t charge any interest on its loans. Instead, you’re in control of how much you pay for the loan. You’ll have two options that’ll dictate your loan costs:
- Tip. You set an optional amount between 0% and 15% that will go fully to your lender.
- Donation. You set an optional amount that goes toward the SoLo Funds platform to support its operational costs. SoLo Funds donates a portion of this income to a nonprofit.
These two costs are completely optional. If you don’t set a tip and donation amount, you’ll get an interest-free loan. However, lenders can see your tip amount in your funding request, and if you set a higher tip, you might be more likely to attract a lender willing to fund your loan.
Fees for Late Payments or Defaulted Loans
You have 35 days after the loan is disbursed to repay it. After that, you’ll owe a 10% late fee to your lender. You’ll also have to pay a transaction fee to cover the cost of collections, calculated with the following formula: 2 x (0.9% of loan amount + $0.70). For example, if you’re late on a $100 loan, you’d owe a total of $29.40 in late fees and transaction fees.
How SoLo Funds Borrow Works
SoLo Funds is a peer-to-peer lending platform that relies on a user base of individual people classified as borrowers and lenders.
You’ll need to apply to use the platform, which you can access online or via an app. Once you apply, borrowers can create borrowing requests. A borrowing request includes this information:
- Profile picture (optional)
- Borrower’s first name and last initial
- Reason for the request
- How much they’re requesting ($25 to $100 initially but can increase up to $575)
- When they’ll pay it back (up to 35 days)
- Any lender tip they’re offering
- SoLo Score, based on their credit score, bank account usage, past SoLo Funds repayment history and information in their social media accounts
Lenders review these borrowing requests and choose which ones to fund. SoLo Funds will debit the lender’s account and send funds to the borrower’s account. This process takes about 20 minutes after a lender agrees to fund a borrower’s loan.
If a borrower’s request isn’t funded within three days, it’ll automatically cancel and the borrower will have to create a new request.
SoLo Funds reports payments that borrowers make to the credit bureaus. With good repayment history, borrowers can build a better credit score, a better SoLo Score and get access to higher borrowing limits.
Customer Reviews
Customer reviews for SoLo Funds are mixed.
As of October 31, 2022, SoLo Funds has 1.32 out of 5 stars on the Better Business Bureau (BBB) website based on 44 customer reviews. Most of the complaints are from lenders who haven’t been repaid and didn’t understand the terms for how late payments or nonpayments are handled.
Reviews on the Google Play (4.6 out of 5 stars) and Apple App (4.1 out of 5 stars) stores are more favorable with many people mentioning how helpful the loans were. However, there are still many reports of lenders not being paid back in full or on time.
Featured Partners
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Methodology
We reviewed SoLo Funds based on 16 data points in the categories of loan details, loan costs, eligibility and accessibility, customer experience and the application process. We rated SoLo Funds based on the weighting assigned to each category:
- Loan cost: 35%
- Loan details: 20%
- Eligibility and accessibility: 20%
- Customer experience: 15%
- Application process: 10%
Within each category, we also considered several characteristics, including available loan amounts, repayment terms, APR ranges and applicable fees. We also looked at credit score requirements, whether the lender accepts co-signers or joint applications and the geographic availability of the lender. Finally, we evaluated SoLo Funds’ support tools, borrower perks and features that simplify the borrowing process—like prequalification options and mobile apps.
