Taking the time to compare personal loan lenders is a decision that makes sound financial sense. After all, the company you choose is one with whom you are likely to build a long lasting relationship, so you want to make sure that you are going to be able to work well with that lender. Doing that may require more than an Internet search of the lender and his corporate strategies and interest rates.

Research Corporate Strategies

In order to have a good relationship with a lender, you need to understand how the company operates and what kind of a corporate strategy they have. You also want someone who is able to work well with customers and isn’t too busy to take the time to answer a question or handle a customer problem. The customer service department must be one that understands the meaning of customer service and that customers are the backbone of the company. You also want people in customer service who understand the meaning of not bringing their problems to work with them and who understand when the time is appropriate to redirect a call to a supervisor without feeling offended or inadequate.

Find Out Corporate Policies on Customer Contact Policies

Although you hope that you never need to know information about a lender’s policies on poor customer service, you certainly need to know how they handle it in the event that it happens. If you should call some time about a problem and the customer service representative has an arrogant attitude, you want to know what steps you can take to resolve the issue. You shouldn’t expect to have to shrug it off as “he/she is having a bad day,” because that is not your problem. Nothing makes a company look more incompetent and show lack of professionalism than customer service representatives who are unable to deal with customers in a professional manner.

Procedures of the Collection Department

Although you hope that you never have to face this issue, when you compare personal loan lenders, you want to make sure that you choose one who understands that sometimes people do run into problems. You do not want a lender who is going to treat you like a deadbeat because your payments fell behind a few times because of circumstances beyond your control. It’s important that the lender you choose have collectors who can understand an occasional problem and do not come across as demanding and aggressive. Unfortunately, in some companies the collectors are so aggressive that they treat the occasional late payment as a major issue and come across as though your account was getting ready to go to the legal department. Know before you choose your lender what the strategy is for debt collection and make sure it is enforced in the event you ever find yourself in need of that department of the lender.