When the time comes to look for a personal loan it's important to remember that there are two main factors that lenders will focus on in judging whether or not to approve your loan: income and credit scores. The importance of income is self evident, as you will need to have an income stream from which to pay off the loan. A good rule of thumb as per income and personal loans is that a loan of approximately 10% of your gross income is considered a reasonable request. So if for example your gross income is $50,000 then a loan request of $5,000 is generally considered acceptable. Credit scores are very important when trying to secure online personal loans because they show lenders your financial track record, your history of making timely (or not) payments and they give lenders an idea of what to expect from you when it comes to the trust that they can place in you in terms of paying back the loan in a timely fashion. Late payments, charge offs, write offs, repossessions, bankruptcies and foreclosures are all factored in to the formulas that lenders use to gauge your risk level and their tolerance to it. Debt to income ratios are also very important because even if you have a strong income level, if you're burdened with a considerable amount of debt it would be more difficult to pay off a new personal loan in a timely fashion. When all of these factors are taken into consideration they are ultimately reduced to a set of numbers, and those numbers are your credit scores. Equifax, Experian and Transunion are the three major credit reporting agencies that monitor personal financial activity, and the credit score numbers that they assign to you go a long way in determining whether or not your loan request will be approved or denied. As a basic rule, what direct lenders want to see from borrowers are credit scores above the 660 level from all three credit reporting agencies, with 700 being the minimum for quality lenders especially in loans of $10,000 or greater. When borrower's credit scores reach the 750 level they can start to consider the possibility of securing loans from local banks, which generally offer low interest rate but are very particular as to the levels of risk which they are willing to tolerate. If you've been frustrated or depressed in your attempts to obtain a personal loan, the important thing is to not give up and to work on the one critical factor that you truly have control over: improving your credit scores. Every negative item on your credit report that is weighing down your credit scores, from late payments to bankruptcies and foreclosures, can be removed if handled in the proper way. At First Loan Choice we are strong proponents of having professional credit analysis firms work with our clients to remove these negative items from their credit reports. Their knowledge and experience in removing these negative and damaging items often results in a quick and substantial raising of credit scores, and that makes all the difference in the world when it comes to getting approved for your personal loans. Every negative item on your personal credit report can be challenged an ultimately removed as federal law dictates that all challenged negative items on credit reports, if not successfully counter challenged by creditorswithin thirty days, will be permanently removed from your credit report. When this happens your credit scores will increase dramatically, and it will become much easier to secure the personal loans that you're looking for.