Though unauthorised money lenders offer fast approval loans, an illegal money lender will fail to provide any contract containing proper terms, will charge more than 4%, will seek processing upfront when it comes to loan approval, will promote on other channels such as text messages, flyers, WhatsApp, and will offer a loan amount greater than what is legally permitted.
A legitimate money lender, on the other hand, will not conduct any of the above and will be formally listed in Singapore's list of approved money lenders.