The Whole Process in One Paragraph
You complete one short application; our system presents it to network lenders; interested lenders respond with offers showing complete terms; you review, accept or decline, and — on acceptance — sign electronically with the lender, who typically deposits funds to your bank account as soon as the next business day.
Everything below is that paragraph in slow motion, with the honest details at each step. Two facts frame all of it: checking your options is free and does not obligate you, and every binding number — APR, payment, fees, schedule — is disclosed by the lender in writing before your signature, never after.
Step 1: The Application (About 5–10 Minutes)
You provide identity, income, employment, and bank details through the secure form on our apply page — accurate to your records, because automated verification checks what you type against what your documents prove.
The form asks for what lenders verify: who you are (name, address, date of birth, Social Security number), what you earn (gross monthly income and its source), and where funds would arrive (an active checking account in your name). Accuracy is the whole craft — our application guide covers the exact-figures rule, the bank account audit, and the five documents worth staging. Applicants who follow it move through verification in minutes; applicants who round optimistically are the ones who stall. You will need to be 18 or older, a U.S. resident, with verifiable income and an active bank account — the full picture is on the eligibility page.
Step 2: Matching (Usually Minutes)
Your application is presented to lenders in the network whose criteria it may fit; each lender runs its own review, and interested lenders respond — commonly within minutes during business hours.
Matching is not approval; it is introduction at scale. Each network lender prices independently — which is the practical advantage of a network application over a single-lender one: several pricing engines see your file at once, and their offers can differ meaningfully. Initial review may involve a soft credit inquiry, which does not affect your credit score; a lender's final underwriting may involve a hard inquiry, disclosed before it happens. If no lender extends an offer, you owe nothing and lose nothing — our guides on strengthening a file and rebuilding credit are the constructive next read.
Step 3: Offer Review (Take Your Time)
An interested lender presents complete terms in writing: APR, monthly payment, number of payments, total of payments, and every fee. Nothing is binding until you sign, and declining costs nothing.
This is the step we publish an entire literacy cluster for. Read the offer with the five-numbers ritual; check the APR against the honest ranges on our rates page; reproduce the payment in the calculator; and test it against your budget's ceiling. If the offer fits, accept and sign electronically with the lender. If it doesn't, decline — politely, freely, and with our genuine blessing, because a borrower who declines a wrong-sized offer today is a borrower who trusts the process tomorrow.
Step 4: Funding and Repayment
After acceptance and final verification, the lender deposits funds electronically to your bank account — often as soon as the next business day — and repayment runs on the fixed schedule you signed, typically by automatic withdrawal.
Timing runs on business-day rails: offers signed early on a weekday tend to fund fastest, and weekend signatures generally become Monday money — plan deadline expenses accordingly, per the timing section of our application guide. Repayment is where the fixed personal loan structure pays its keep: the same payment, on the same date, until a known end. Set the autopay date two days after your pay date, keep the payoff date visible, and aim windfalls at principal where your agreement confirms no prepayment penalty. Questions about an active loan — due dates, payoff quotes, hardship options — go to your lender directly, using the contact details in your agreement; they hold your account, and they answer fastest.
What This Process Costs You
Using Reliant Funding costs borrowers nothing at any step: no application fee, no matching fee, no acceptance fee. Lenders compensate us for introductions, as disclosed in full on our disclosure page.
The only money that should ever leave your account in this process is scheduled loan repayment to your lender, after funding, per signed terms. Anyone demanding upfront payment to "process," "insure," or "release" a loan is running the oldest fraud in lending — end that conversation and report it. It is never us, and it is never a legitimate lender.