Finbro versus MoneyCat: the two SEC-confirmed direct lenders, side by side

Why these two

Of every provider we list, Finbro and MoneyCat are the two direct lenders whose registration rests on a statement from the SEC rather than on their own footers — an advisory in Finbro’s case, a Freedom of Information response in MoneyCat’s. They also both publish their terms, which most of the market does not. That makes them the only pair you can compare on facts rather than on marketing. The full registration detail on each is in is this loan app legit?; the comparison below is about the loans.

Side by side, on published figures

Every figure is from the lender’s own published material as of our last check, with the source linked on its review page. Where we have not verified something, the table says so rather than guessing.

For a first loan

MoneyCat. A genuine 0% first loan with no processing fee is the cheapest private credit on this site for a small amount repaid on time, and the operator names itself clearly as the sole lender on its own platform. The limit on a first application will be below the ₱20,000 maximum, as it would be at Finbro. Read the repeat-loan rate before accepting, because that is the product you will be offered next.

For a larger amount or a longer term

Finbro. Its ₱50,000 ceiling is two and a half times MoneyCat’s and its twelve-month term is double. The price of that reach is in Finbro’s own example: ₱1,000 over twelve months repays ₱2,320, a total cost of 132% of the principal. Legal, because a twelve-month term is outside the 2026 ceiling; expensive, by any other measure. Online loans with long-term payment puts that example beside HoneyLoan’s and Kviku’s, and a ₱20,000 loan in the Philippines works through the amount most people comparing these two actually want.

On trust

A tie, with different caveats. Finbro’s operator is confirmed by the regulator itself, but its CA number is published inconsistently across the web, and its name was counterfeited — counterfeit loan apps explains how to be sure you have the SOFI Financing app. MoneyCat’s registration numbers match between the SEC’s letter and its own footer, but its maximum APR does not match between its own documents, so get the repeat-loan figure in writing. Neither asks for your contacts, on what we have recorded; Finbro’s app requests camera and location only.

Repaying either

Both publish repayment guidance for GCash, and Finbro additionally for Cebuana Lhuillier, M Lhuillier and SM Bills Payment; the live list is on each app’s repayment screen. How to pay an online loan walks through every channel, including why a counter payment on the due date is already late.

Where we stand

We earn a referral fee if you apply to either lender through this site, and the fee does not decide the verdict: the scores on each review page come from a published rubric, and a lender whose own example prices above the ceiling for a covered loan scores zero on cost regardless of what it pays us. The online loan comparison shows both beside every other provider we list.