FAQs

Sunfish provides consumers a fast, easy, and comprehensive way to search financial service offers from top loan providers to support their family-building needs.

Yes, Sunfish is a lender that also works with other trusted lenders to provide clinics and their customers access to the best loan options available. Sunfish guides the process to ensure that customers are provided quality offers and experience when working with other lenders.

Yes, you will receive the funds directly and can use them at any clinic or agency.

Yes absolutely we support surrogacy too! We can lend up to $100K for any part of your journey.

Our service is 100% free.

There are no application fees for any of the lenders on our platform. Some lenders may charge an origination fee of 1-12% of the loan that will be deducted from the loan proceeds before they are delivered to you. This fee is factored into the APR you see. There may also be late payment fees or ACH return / check refund fees. Please check with the loan provider if you have any specific questions regarding their fees.

Yes, you must be a U.S. Citizen or permanent U.S. resident.

A personal loan (what most people mean when they talk about a loan) is an unsecured or collateral-secured loan that you can use for any purpose: consolidating debt, refinancing your credit card debt to a lower rate, or financing a life event. You pay back your loan in fixed monthly payments to the lender, with no penalty for paying the loan off early.

With regard to personal loans, a secured loan requires a borrower to back the loan with some type of collateral, in order to be eligible for and receive funds. If a borrower defaults on the loan, the lender can repossess the asset to account for any unpaid balance and/or fees.

An unsecured personal loan, on the other hand, is not backed by an asset as collateral. As a result, if a borrower defaults on an unsecured loan, a lender has less avenues to recover their funds, although they can pursue action through a debt collection agency or other means. While the majority of personal loans are unsecured, secured personal loans often come with lower rates, since the lender is taking on less risk.

Typically, a house or car are used as collateral with their intended loan products (a mortgage and auto loan, respectively), but both can also be used to secure a personal loan, depending on the loan amount. Other examples of assets used to back secured loans include: bank accounts, stock investments, equity from life insurance policies, other types of real estate, and precious metals along with other high-value personal belongings.

As noted above, secured loans often come with a lower APR’s (interest rate + costs & fees) than unsecured loans, as they are deemed less risky by lenders. In addition, secured loans also tend to have higher borrowing limits, which is ideal for consumers looking to obtain large funds. Furthermore, borrowers with lower credit scores may find it easier to get approved for a secured loan if they have an eligible asset to include as collateral. 

On the other hand, secured loans do run the risk of borrowers having the assets they choose as collateral becoming repossessed. Furthermore, if an asset does not cover the unpaid loan amount, lenders can take additional actions to recover funds. Secured loans also tend to have more restrictions for use than unsecured loans. It’s important for prospective borrowers to understand the risk of secured loans, and whether it is the right choice based on their financial situation and ability to make regular payments.

APR is the “annual percentage rate”: the annual cost of your loan, as a percentage of the loan amount. The cost includes your interest rate and any fees or charges associated with your loan, including the origination fee. Example: If you borrow $5,000 on a 36 month repayment term with a 10% APR, the monthly payment will be $161.34. Total repayment at the end of 36 months will end up being approximately $5,808.24. As can be seen, the total interest accrued will be $808.24.

When you see a pre-approved offer, the lender has determined that you meet certain approval criteria based on a soft pull of your credit profile that Sunfish has performed. Through matching you with pre-approved loan offers, Sunfish identifies loans that you will more plausibly get approved for if you were to complete a loan application with that loan provider. Pre-approved offers are conditional commitments for an exact rate from a lender, and should let you know if you qualify for that loan. The rates are subject to change but are very rarely different from the rate you’ll see. This enables Sunfish to match you with loan offers that best meet your needs, all while only doing a soft inquiry on your credit report.

The requirements vary by lender, but we provide loan options for most consumers  across the  credit score spectrum. 

When you fill out the form on the Sunfish website, you can not add a co-signer. You will be able to add a co-signer when you move forward with one of our partner lenders. When you fill out the form on the Sunfish website, many borrowers elect to enter the information of the person with the strongest candidacy as there is the most weight put on that person’s income, credit score, etc. 

Yes, select the primary application – the person whose information is entered first – as the one with the strongest candidacy as there is the most weight put on that person’s income, credit score, etc. When you move forward with one of our partner lenders, you will be able to add a co-signer, and they can be a family member.

No. This application will not impact your credit score. Upon completion of the application, and with your consent, a “soft-pull” may be run on your credit. This has no impact on a consumer’s credit score. The “soft check” is used to help get you real-time personalized pre-qualifying offers. If you decide to proceed with a loan offer, it is customary for lenders to make a “hard pull” of your credit report, which may have an impact on your credit score. 

A soft pull (or inquiry) typically occurs when a person or company checks your credit report as part of reviewing your credit application or an employment background check. A soft pull may be recorded in your credit report, depending on the credit bureau, but does not affect your credit score. We complete a soft credit pull when you complete the application based on your name, address, and date of birth.

Hard inquiries generally occur when making a lending decision. Hard inquiries appear on your credit report and can negatively affect your credit score. Loan providers may require a hard pull at the very end of the process on their website once you click to accept the loan terms and complete your application.

If you are not matched with a pre-qualified or pre-approved offer, that means that based on the information you provided, such as credit score or income, you did not meet certain selection criteria from our lenders. All determinations of credit worthiness are determined by our lender partners, not by Sunfish.

If you are not matched with a pre-qualified or pre-approved offer, you may search again for a smaller loan amount. First, double check there is not a hold on your credit through the credit bureaus (Equifax or Transunion), which could prevent a lender from being able to do a soft credit inquiry that is required before a loan offer can be made. Searching for loans does not impact your credit score, so you may modify your search as needed. You may also consider other financial product options and special offers available to you. For further help, contact us at paige@joinsunfish.com and we can give you more tips. Patients of our partner providers may also be able to schedule a call with our financial advocates.

Our process and the processes used by our lending partners and platforms is entirely digital. You never have to leave the comfort of your home or desk and you’ll get matched with personalized loan offers from many top providers. Instead of applying for a loan with one lender, our platform dynamically matches you in real-time with loan offers from partnered lenders, showing you the best rates available in one easy place.

Sunfish is a lender that also offers personal loans from partner lenders through a loan marketplace. Sunfish will match you with pre-approved/pre-qualified loan offers across an extensive network of top providers, each of which has its own loan products and understanding of a “good” borrower. Instead of applying for a loan with one lender, we dynamically match you in real-time with loan offers from partnered lenders, showing you the best rates available in one easy place. This saves you time and energy and hours of research on your part is condensed into matching you with the best loan offers for your needs in less than 60 seconds.

When you proceed with a loan offer, you will be taken to the loan provider to complete the loan. Consumers must complete the loan application workflow directly with the lending platform in order to obtain the loan. When possible, we try to make this transition easier by filling out the lender’s application with any information you entered with Sunfish’s application.

Your loan will ultimately be provided by and serviced by the lender, and they will have their own customer service teams to answer any of your questions. We only work with top lenders so we are confident they meet the highest standards of quality service. That said, we always welcome feedback and comments on your experience, so feel free to reach out to us at support@joinsunfish.com.

Currently, our partner lenders disburse funds directly to you, in a single advance of funds or in multiple drawdowns through a line of credit.

We regret that you did not receive a loan offer through our loan marketplace. The lenders in our marketplace each have different credit underwriting and loan criteria and unfortunately if you did not receive a loan offer, we do not have visibility into the decision criteria.

There are a few things you can do:

First, double check there is not a hold on your credit through the credit bureaus, which could prevent a lender from being able to do a soft credit inquiry that is required before a loan offer can be made.

Some lenders may have certain loan criteria such as max loan amount or origination fees, which may be another factor in why you may not have seen an offer.  Try to lower your loan amount and re-apply.