Personal loan, or line of credit?

[DeeBee78]

Long story short, my parents own two 100 year old houses that need new windows and frames. They can't afford it, and asked me to help. I've got estimates of $12,000 - $14,000 for the windows. I have some cash saved up, so I was looking at a $10,000 home improvement loan. My lowes card won't go over 5k, because it's too new. 

I'm wondering which one would be easier to get approved for? I can't seem to get in with the peer-based lenders like prosper and lending club, so now I'm looking at local credit unions, NASA, Pen-Fed, etc. Any idea if the U/W criteria are more leinent on PLOC or personal loans? 

My TU is my stongest score, so anyone know a lender that pulls TU primarily? 

[gibeon]

PLOC/CLOC have been way more lenient, in my experience than personal loans.

However, the interest will likely be higher than a good personal loan.

[Anonymous]

Could you get a HELOC for the repairs? Since the house is collateral, you would likely get a lower rate.

Also, have you tried calling the CSRs or EO for the Lowes card and explaining that you would like a credit limit increase because the windows in your house need replacing, and you'd like to buy the new windows through them? People on the Credit Cards forum have reported success coupling asking for a large CLI on the Lowes card with providing some renovation based reason for it.

[DeeBee78]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Could you get a HELOC for the repairs? Since the house is collateral, you would likely get a lower rate.

Also, have you tried calling the CSRs or EO for the Lowes card and explaining that you would like a credit limit increase because the windows in your house need replacing, and you'd like to buy the new windows through them? People on the Credit Cards forum have reported success coupling asking for a large CLI on the Lowes card with providing some renovation based reason for it.

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Due to some ongoing legal complications, they can't take out a HELOC on the property right now. Basically there is another party on the mortgage, causing problems for our family. My grandmother bought the houses (2 houses, one parcel) with her friend who was supposed to live in one of them. That friend never moved in, never made a mortgage payment, and wants a cash buyout. My family is in the process of getting her removed from the mortgage and deed. 

I talked to credit solutions, and they raised my limit to $6k yesterday, but said they couldn't do any more at this time. 

[Anonymous]

Have you tried others besides Lending Club and Prosper? There are a bunch of them that are soft pulls to check. Others are Payoff.com, Sofi.com, Avant.com, Upstart.com, BestEgg.com, and PromiseFinancial.com. 

[DeeBee78]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Have you tried others besides Lending Club and Prosper? There are a bunch of them that are soft pulls to check. Others are Payoff.com, Sofi.com, Avant.com, Upstart.com, BestEgg.com, and PromiseFinancial.com. 

Payoff.com - Denied. Only reason was more than two hard inquiries in a 6 month period. 

Sofi - Not allowed to lend in the state of Nevada.

Avant - Interest rate is too high. 

Upstart - Won't let me apply. I tried last summer and it hasn't let me apply since. Says my email address is in use. I log into my account, and there's no option to apply, update information, etc. When I go to the overview page, it just says that I don't qualify, but it's pulling that from June of 2014.

BestEgg - Denied - old medical debt on Experian report.

Promise Financial - Denied. Number of recent inquiries. 

Guess this will just have to wait until I have the cash, or Lowes doubles my limit. 

[Anonymous]

Ever think about getting a new credit card?? Something like those 0% for 12-24 months card. Might be able to do that instead