Who We Are and How the Matching Works

We Match Requests. We Don't Make Loans.

American Emergency Funds is not a lender or a broker and does not make credit decisions or fund loans. We connect your request with lenders and lending partners in our network.

That sentence matters, so we'll say it a second way. When you move the slider and tap the button, you're not applying with us. You're asking us to share your request with lenders and lending partners in our network. If one of them wants to make you an offer, the offer, the rate, the term, and the decision all come from that lender. We never see your money, and we never touch it.

Using the site costs you nothing. American Emergency Funds may receive compensation from lenders or lending partners when a visitor is matched or funded. This compensation may affect which lenders appear in our network and how requests are routed. We'd rather tell you that up front than have you wonder how the lights stay on.

What Happens After You Submit

1. You choose an amount. Anywhere from $1,000 to $15,000, in $500 steps. Not every lender can offer every amount, so the number you pick is a starting point, not a promise.
2. You confirm you've read the consent. That checkbox is the TCPA and E-SIGN consent explained on the TCPA consent page. Read it. It's short and it's honest about what it allows.
3. Your request goes to the network. Lenders review it against their own criteria. Some may run a soft inquiry at this stage, which doesn't affect your credit score.
4. A lender may respond with an offer. If one does, you'll be taken to that lender's site to see the actual terms. A hard credit pull, if there is one, happens there, after you decide to move forward.
5. You decide. Read the agreement, check the APR and the repayment schedule, and walk away if it isn't right. Nothing obligates you to accept.

Funding timing is up to the lender and your bank. We can't speed it up, and we won't pretend we can.

Why Emergency Funding

The bills that break a budget rarely announce themselves. A transmission gives out on a Tuesday. A tooth cracks. The furnace quits in February, or a shift gets cut and rent is due in nine days. Savings cover some of that for some people. For plenty of households, they don't, and the gap is real money on a short clock.

Nobody in that spot needs a lecture about emergency funds they were supposed to have built. They need to know what their options are, in plain language, without being talked down to. That's the register we work in: quick, warm, and straight about the trade-offs. Our tagline is "Help for Today. Hope for Tomorrow." We mean both halves of it.

What We Will Never Do

• Promise you'll be approved. We can't, because we don't decide. Submitting a request does not guarantee approval, or a specific rate, term, or amount. Approval, APR, fees, and funding are determined solely by the lender.
• Charge you. There's no fee to submit a request and no fee if you're matched. Any cost of borrowing is set by the lender and shown in the loan agreement before you sign.
• Share your information without telling you. Our privacy policy spells out who gets what and why. You can also opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information at any time.
• Hide the costs. The loan rates and fees page shows the APR range we see across the network and three worked examples, so you can do the math before a lender ever contacts you.
• Pressure you. No countdown timers, no calls telling you the offer expires tonight, no shame about why you need the money. You can close the tab at step one and nothing happens.

Who Can Use the Service

To use this service you must be a U.S. resident and at least 18 years old, and you must meet the requirements of the lenders in our network. Service availability and loan products vary by state. Lenders also generally look for a regular source of income and a bank account that can receive a deposit.

Talk to Us

Questions about how the site works, your privacy, or a request you submitted? Send us a message and a real person will read it. Questions about a loan you've already accepted go to your lender, since they hold the agreement and we don't.