 TITLE: How Does a Hardship Loan Affect Your Credit? CONTENT: How Do Hardship Loans Impact Your Credit?\n-----------------------------------------\nWhen considering a prospective lender, it's important to find out how the loan will affect your credit. Griffin suggests asking any lenders you're considering the following questions:\n*   Will you perform a credit check?\n*   Will this loan be reported to the credit reporting agencies?\n*   Will it be reported as an installment loan?\n*   If the lender doesn't report the loan as an active account, will late payments or other negative issues be reported?\n\"If a lender is reporting your loan, it should appear as an installment loan on your credit report, along with the principal loan amount, your payment history, whether or not your loan is current, and so on,\" Griffin says. \"You shouldn't see any surprises from a credit reporting perspective.\"\nAs with any loan, keeping up with your monthly payments until your debt is paid off will typically raise your credit score; falling behind will send your score in the opposite direction.\nWhat if your lender says they'll skip the credit check and credit reporting? This may not be great news, says Griffin: \"Payday or title loan lenders may position their loans as hardship loans, but high interest rates and extremely short payoff periods make it easy to get trapped in overwhelming debt.\" A lender that's promising fast cash with easy qualification or no credit check—especially coupled with high interest rates, exorbitant fees and\/or a quick payoff term—is probably making you an offer you should refuse. END