If you’re self employed, it can be challenging to get a personal loan. Providers use risk-assessment tools to filter out applicants that are less likely to pay back the loan amount.

It’s important to be honest with your lender. This can help weed out lenders that are unwilling to work with you.

How to get a loan

While self employed individuals can often qualify for a personal loan, they may need to provide more documentation than other applicants. Where regular workers can use pay stubs to show proof of income, self-employed individuals need to provide more documents, like tax returns and projections.

Lenders look for consistency in a borrower’s income year to year. They don’t want to see a $40,000 salary in one year and $120,000 income in the next.

As a result, many self employed borrowers don’t qualify for loans. Instead, they must rely on other sources of income to cover their expenses.

Another major hurdle for self employed individuals is that they generally write off a substantial amount of their earnings as business expenses on their tax returns. This helps them avoid paying taxes, but it can also skew their loan eligibility.

This is why it’s important to make sure that you have a solid source of reliable income to show lenders. It’s especially important to have several years of tax returns that show your income is stable each year.

Eligibility

As with any loan, lenders will evaluate your credit score, debts, money loans for self employed income and employment history to determine if you qualify for the loan. But self employed borrowers face additional challenges in obtaining a personal loan because they don’t receive traditional documentation like W2s or pay stubs verifying their income.

For this reason, self-employed borrowers should be prepared to provide proof of income, such as tax returns and bank statements for several years. They also should have a business profit and loss statement, such as a Schedule C or Schedule SE, that documents the cash flow of their business.

Having these documents handy when applying for a loan will make the process go more smoothly, as lenders are more likely to accept a self-employed applicant who has a consistent income and can prove it. Moreover, many lenders offer the option to pre-qualify without a hard credit pull, which can spare you from incurring a temporary hit on your credit scores while you compare loans.

Interest rates

Lenders usually assess a borrower’s income and credit history before making a loan. They want to ensure that you’ll pay the money back in full and on time, and one way they do that is by verifying your income.

Self-employed people don’t always have this type of proof available to them, which can make it harder for them to qualify for a personal loan. But if you’re willing to provide additional documentation, lenders may be more willing to help you out.

For example, if you’ve been in business for several years, it’s a good idea to offer lenders a few tax returns that show consistent and stable income. This will give them peace of mind that you can consistently meet your payments, even when you’re not earning a lot in one year.

Because each lender has a different approach to qualifying borrowers, it’s important to shop around for the best rates and terms on a personal loan. That’s why SuperMoney offers a prequalification process that lets you see your prequalified rates from multiple lenders in two minutes.

Documents required

Before you apply for a loan, you typically provide documents that show how much income you have and how stable your income is. If you’re self employed, that can be a bit more challenging.

Lenders typically use a variety of methods to verify your income when you’re self-employed, including tax statements. These documents usually show your wages and taxes from the previous year.

Using this information, lenders can gauge how well you can keep up with your business expenses and whether or not your income is consistent from year to year.

Many lenders will require you to supply at least two years’ worth of documentation if you want to be approved for a personal loan. That includes your tax returns, a Schedule C or SE, 1099s and bank statements.