Discover answers to our most commonly asked questions.

Discover answers to all of the most commonly asked questions at Pigeon Loans. From payments to loans, and account help to jargon explanations, we've got an answer to everything.

Frequently Asked Questions | Pigeon Loans

Answers to your questions about account management and setup.

Answers to your questions about payments. 

Young baby Squeaker pigeon

Answers to your questions about words or phrases you don't yet understand. 

Answers to your questions about anything else you may be curious about.

Creating a new account on Pigeon Loans is simply and easy. To create an account with us, all you'll need is an email address and a name - we love humans, we are less fond of robots 🤖 .

Navigate to the Sign Up page and enter in your information to get started.

Once your information is accepted, we'll ask you to confirm your information by sending you a one time code to your email address. Please use the code you receive and paste it back into our website so that we can verify your account.

After successful verification, you'll be redirected to your brand new Profile dashboard where you can create loans, add more account information, or activate your account.

All you need for a Pigeon Loans account is to sign up with an email address, a name, and desire to make a loan with someone you know & trust.

How do I create a Pigeon Loans account?

Changing your account information is very simple.

We allow you to change details about your account such as:

To change these details, navigate to your Profile and find the Account Settings section of your dashboard. Once in your Account Settings, feel free to change any details you desire.

You are always in coontrol of your account details. Feel free to login to your Pigeon Loans dashboard to make the changes you need.

How can I change my account details?

"A Squeaker is a young bird; a cheeper. A squab or young domestic pigeon still in the nest."

We refer to our users and Pigeon family as Squeakers. It's a fun term we use at Pigeon Loans to make everyone feel welcome and feel like a member of our flock.

A Squeaker is defined as a young bird; a cheeper. A squab or young domestic pigeon still in the nest.

What is a Squeaker?

Within the United States? Not usually.

Don't believe us? Read about your tax implications discussed in our blog post.

Outside of the United States? Please consult your local tax experts for advice on this matter.

Taxes and loans can be complicated. Most of the time you don't have to worry about crunching hard numbers, but sometimes you need to consider a few extra details.

Do I have to pay taxes on my loans?

We understand that sometimes things come up.

If the agreed upon timeline has elapsed and the Borrower still has an outstanding balance, we will first ask both parties if they would like to extend their loan. Upon any new agreement, we allow your original loan to be extended for up to 12 calendar months.

In the event of a loan extension, the Lender of this respective loan will receive an additional 3% interest on the remaining payoff amount of the loan term.

Subsequently, each payment made by the Borrower during the loan extension term will be subject to a 1% payment fee that will go directly to Pigeon Loans.

Note this fee does not apply to Freebird Payments.

Secondly, a Lender and Borrower can come to an agreement to cancel the remainder of the loan if both parties agree to such action. This decision will generate a new addendum to your previously agreed upon contract and wipe clean any outstanding debts.

Finally, a Lender can find a Borrower "in breach" of their contractual obligations. To trigger such an event, both a cancellation and extension must be denied by the Lender. At such a point in time, the loan will end in a default state and using their generated agreement, the Lender of any given loan is legally allowed to seek measures through a court of law or collections agency to retrieve any unpaid debts.

What happens if the Borrower cannot pay off a loan within the time frame initially agreed upon?

Getting paid back is an important part of the Pigeon Loans journey, but obviously life happens and circumstances arise which make this expectation really hard to achieve.

What happens if the Borrower cannot pay off the loan within the time frame initially agreed upon?

The time it takes for money to move on our platform from one person to another depends on the payment method the sender chooses to utilize.

Once you send money on our platform, it automatically begins the process of moving to your intended recipient's bank account. You will receive a receipt from our payment processor, Stripe, which will confirm your transaction, and then those funds will begin to move to their intended destination.

Payment Timetables:

Freebird Payments: Instant (Fastest Option)

One-Time Payments via Credit or Debit Card: 2 - 5 Calendar Days (Fast)

Bank Transfers: 5 - 14 Calendar Days (Slowest)

If your payment has not completed within one of the above timetables, please contact us at support@pigeonloans.io.

How long does it take for money to deposit after sending a payment?

Payments and money moved on Pigeon Loans can be tracked and transacted at the speed of light, or they can take a few days to settle - the choice is yours.

For all of our loans, we use the Simple Interest formula; we do not institute any compounding effects. We try to keep our platform simple and easy to understand, so Pigeon Loans tends to err on the side of being a more advantageous platform for the Lender of our loans in respect to this question.

For loans created and managed on our platform, any interest is calculated and applied to the entirety of the loan at the beginning of our process. Regardless of the repayment behavior, the Borrower of their respective loan will pay the principal + total calculated interest no matter what the timing or behavior of their repayments.

Ultimately, paying off a loan sooner than negotiated is not advantageous to the Borrower.

How is interest applied on a loan and how do repayments affect the remaining outstanding debt?

We like to keep things simple at Pigeon Loans, so all of our loans exist using the Simple Interest formula. No compounding, no variable rates, just simple math.

To activate your account on Pigeon Loans you will need create a Stripe account with us and link it to our platform. For those of you unfamiliar with Stripe, feel free to read about who our partner is here.

First, you will need to login to your Pigeon Loans account and navigate to your Profile dashboard. If you haven't activated your account already, you should see on the left hand panel a section to Activate Your Account, feel free to click that button to get started.

On the next page, you'll be presented with a quick disclaimer about the Stripe account creation process. Behind the scenes, we will do all the hard work of linking your Pigeon Loans account to your Stripe account, all you have to do is follow the instructions on screen.  If you've made a Stripe account outside of Pigeon Loans for any reason, that is totally fine - we may pre-populate your information in the set up process to help you activate faster! 

While going through the activation process, remember to only input accurate and true information. 

As a member of the Pigeon Loans community, you agree to abide by our Terms of Service and come to our platform as an individual - not a corporation, small business, or entity like thereof. Failure to follow instructions may result in the closure & restriction of your account by Stripe & Pigeon Loans.

How do I activate my Pigeon Loans account?

Activating your account on Pigeon Loans is simple. All we need is some basic information from you and our partners at Stripe will get you all set up with your account activation.

How do I activate my account?

Pigeon Loans allows for a wide range of loan configurations, with flexible bounds for loan details such as principal amount, term length, and interest rate.

For any loan made on our platform, we allow for:

Minimum Principal Amount: $1 USD
Maximum Principal Amount: $250,000 USD


Minimum Term Length: 1 Month
Maximum Term Length: 84 Months


Minimum Interest Rate: 0%
Maximum Interest Rate: 99%

For tips on selecting the right interest rate and avoiding potential usury troubles, read our blog post.

Are there any limits to the loans I make on Pigeon Loans?

On Pigeon Loans you can make loans up to a quarter of a million dollars, have it last up to 84 months, and charge whatever interest you want within reason of your local jusrisdiction's laws.

Yes, of course you can refer people to Pigeon Loans.

We are a community of people that grows every single day. If you have a friend or family member you think could benefit from Pigeon Loans, then feel free to invite them over using our Branch Out feature.

When you use the Branch Out feature, and it's accompanying Referral Link located on your Profile page, we will reward you for growing our community. For each new Squeaker you bring on board, we'll award you 2,000 Pigeon Points.

Don't worry, the person you invite will also receive a bonus 2,000 Pigeon Points just because we enjoy spreading the love!

Can I refer someone to Pigeon Loans? What happens if I choose to Branch Out?

We love referrals at Pigeon Loans. Bring a friend, invite a family member, spread the word and get rewarded for it.

Can I refer someone to Pigeon Loans?

Visit and follow one of our social media pages. 

We update our pages regularly with stories, news, and juicy Pigeon Loans information. For a more in-depth look into our latest developments, you can check out our blog aka The Nest. 

For press communication or to contact us for other matters, feel free to send us an email at pigeon@pigeonloans.io.

Where can I keep up with the latest news about Pigeon Loans?

Pigeon Loans is all over social media. Give us a like, follow us, and keep up to date with all our lastest news and buzz.

Pigeon Loans is free for Lenders.

When a loan is signed and activated, we charge Borrowers a small flat fee of $4.29 for every month that your account has at least 1 active loan. You can make as many loans as you want on our platform for no additional cost at all!

For full details on fees on our platform, visit our Pricing page.

Quirks to Note:

We recommend you make payments directly with your bank (ACH, SEPA, etc.) account as we do not charge any additional fees when using these services.


Like most payment processing platforms, we will add a small % fee to any debit or credit card transaction made on our website.


If you want to create a macro loan agreement, any loan larger than $3,000.00 USD, we may add a 1% fee, called the Pigeon Fee to each payment made on our platform. This fee is often paid for by the Borrower of any given loan and is paid out to Pigeon Loans to cover our payout expenses.

Note this fee does not apply to Freebird Payments.

Are there any fees associated with using Pigeon Loans?

We aim to make Pigeon Loans as affordable as possible for everyone and anyone no matter your financial circumstance.

There are typically two ways to lose access to your account:

Account Is In Violation of Our Terms of Service & Restricted 

If you've simply forgot the password to your account, feel free to navigate to the Login page and reset your password at any time. You will have to verify your email address once again, so make sure you look out for any verification codes we send your way.

If you cannot access your account for any other reason aside from a forgotten password, then your account has more than likely been restricted due to a Terms of Service violation. In order to get greater insight into why your account was closed and / or regain access to your account, feel free to email us at support@pigeonloans.io or simply send us a note via our Contact page.

How do I regain access to my Pigeon Loans account?

Losing access to your Pigeon Loans account can be stressful and frustrating. We're here to help you out no matter the circumstance, just contact us.

How do I regain access to my account?

The contracts signed on Pigeon Loans are binding and can be legally enforced by either the Lender or Borrower in a number of jurisdictions.

However, we could never hope to cover every local law in every jurisdiction across the globe. For example, if a father and son wanted to make a loan in Mauritius - Pigeon Loans cannot guarantee every clause and legal idiosyncrasy regarding their local code of law will be vetted and accounted for in our generated contracts.

With this understanding in mind, we have done our best to make our loan agreements as extendable and as broad as possible. You are a part of our flock, so we are here to help you in any way you need if you have any questions or concerns.

We highly recommend you carefully look over the details of your contract before signing.

In the scenario you aim to enforce your Pigeon Loans generated contract, please seek professional legal counsel in your local jurisdiction to navigate that matter.

Are contracts from Pigeon Loans legally binding?

Contracts on Pigeon Loans are peer reviewed, approved by lawyers, and are legally binding entities in most jurisdictions around the world.

We get this question a lot - Pigeon Loans will not and does not have the ability to lend you money directly.


If you are seeking to borrow money, you must find a friend, family member, or someone you know willing and able to start a loan with you outside of our platform. Once you've found that person, feel free to bring them to Pigeon Loans and you can start the process of creating your loan together. 

For more information on how you can use Pigeon Loans check out our Ways To Use Pigeon information guide, or better yet, get started right away in only a few simple steps.

Pigeon Loans does not lend individuals money on our platform. We are a service that allows you and someone you know to create a loan agreement with each other, and we'll simply serve as the resources and tools to make that process as positive & rewarding as possible.

Will Pigeon Loans lend me money?

Very observant of you, it looks like you have a keen eye 😎

We start all of our loans using the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) format. So most of the time, due to timezone differences, we record a slightly earlier loan start date to accommodate everyone.

Why is the start date of my loan one day earlier than expected?

Timezones make a lot of things difficult. So to fix a lot of problems before they happen, we added a special wrinkle to every loan on our platform.

Simply put, we allow our users to make payments outside of the Pigeon Loans platform using a proprietary system we call Freebird Payments.

For example, let's say you want to pay your brother back using Venmo? Or maybe, you received money from your grandmother as a cashier's check in the mail? How about a money transfer from Sydney to Paris using Wise? For any of these scenarios, we've created an in-house mechanism for you to seamlessly track and record those payments.

When making a payment, all you have to do is choose the Freebird Payment option within any given active loan. Enter the amount of money transacted between you and your loan partner, select the method of payment used, and finally enter in the date it occurred. We will then confirm the existence and validity of this payment with your loan counterpart, and add it to your payment history.

We simplify the payment process, while you get to use the payment platform that works best for you.

Freebird Payments is a special system we have built into Pigeon Loans that allows us to track any form of money movement made outside of our platform pertinent to your loan.

What is a Freebird Payment?

Pigeon Loans bank (ACH, SEPA, etc.) payments are processed 1 time within a 24 hour period at either 3:00 UTC, 11:00 UTC, or 19:00 UTC.

If you want to cancel an outgoing payment before any of these times, we recommend you cancel it using the orange "Cancel" button in the Outgoing Payments section of your Profile page. This button will not appear if we are unable to cancel your payment as a result of a cutoff time already passing.

Contact us directly at cancellations@pigeonloans.io if you have any questions or concerns.

Please note it is not possible to cancel some forms of payment once initiated (i.e., debit or credit card transactions).

We offer all the flexibility you need to navigate payments within your loan the smart way. Made a mistake in your payment details? Cancel it at the click of a button.

How do I cancel an outgoing payment?

Creating a loan is simple!

All you have to do is invite a friend, family member, or loved one to Pigeon Loans. After you've created an account on our platform, feel free to send your counterpart a loan offer from your Profile dashboard. Once your loan partner has accepted your invite, you will be on your way to starting your loan.

First, you will enter into negotiations with the other individual you are creating a loan with and agree upon: 

Second, both parties will activate their accounts. Account activation allows our platform to move funds, deposit money, and facilitate your loan payments.

After these two simple steps, all you and your trusted squeaker have to do is sign your uniquely generated contract to activate your loan, and start your loan journey.

Learn how to create a loan with your friends, family, and loved ones on Pigeon Loans.

How do I create a loan?

Anyone can create a loan!

If you have a bank account, debit card, or credit card, an individual you trust and want to go into a loan agreement with, and a love for pigeons, we have a home for you.

Lenders love us because we help you help others, and Borrowers love us because we make it super easy to get money in a crunch.

Everyone can make a loan on Pigeon Loans. All you need is a bank account, a friend or family member interested in making a loan with you, and a love for pigeons.

Who can create a loan?

You have successfully signed up to use our platform. 

You have created and linked your Stripe account to use with our service.

When you first create your Pigeon Loans account, you will see the Activate Account button on the left hand side of your Profile dashboard. Once you have clicked that button, we will walk you through the various steps to get your information verified by Stripe and add your payment information to our platform.

If there are ever any errors with validating, adding, or verifying your Stripe account, you will see an alert and a caution symbol on your Profile page prompting you to take action to fix these problems.

What does it mean to have an active account?

Pigeon Loans and Stripe have partnered to make your loan process as powerful as possible. Activate your account on our platform by creating a connected account with Stripe.

Payments on our platform are quite simple to understand. For all of our users, we allow you the ability to move money to your friends and family on our platform through numerous avenues.

Currently on Pigeon Loans you can move money via:

Bank Transfers (ACH | SEPA - To Be Launched) 

Regarding each one of these payment methods, there may be various fees associated with any given transaction. All payments that occur on our platform are powered by and secured by Stripe - the world leader in payments technology.

Your ability to make payments can transcend social circle, communities, or even borders. Whether you live in Canada, the United States, England, Austria, Brazil, or any of the other 40+ countries we service, you will never have to worry about currency conversions or excessive remittance fees.

For more information on all the countries we service, feel free to check out the Available Countries list on Stripe.

Lastly, depending on your choice of payment method, you can receive or send money related to your loan near instantaneously. Our slowest form of money movement is the Bank Transfer method, which can often take days for funds to move from one individual to another, but we offer faster methods of payments in the form of Card Transactions, and Freebird Payment tracking.

For more information on how long it takes for a payment to successfully transact on our platform, feel free to visit this helpful guide on payment timetables.

Learn how money gets sent from lenders to borrowers, and vice versa, on our platform.

How do payments work on Pigeon Loans?

When you use our platform you earn rewards in the form of Pigeon Points. Pigeon Points are non-monetary tokens that can be exchanged for gifts like Amazon Gift Cards.

If you sign up for an account on Pigeon Loans, you'll earn Pigeon Points. Made a loan and sent out the principal via our payment portal? You'll earn points. Every month you have an active loan on our platform, you'll earn points.

We reward you every time you use Pigeon Loans!

We've outlined all the ways you can earn Pigeon Points below:

Points schedule are subject to change. All points granted based on USD denomination.

What are Pigeon Points? How can I earn rewards? What gifts can I receive?

Pigeon Loans is the most rewarding way to make a loan with someone you know. Find out all the perks, gifts, and bonuses you can recieve for helping out your loved ones.

When our users send loan invites to each other, we use the phrase 'Post A Pigeon' to pay homage to the homing pigeons that used to carry messages from village to village in many former cultures. From ancient Egypt to 19th century Europe, the Pigeon Post was used to send messages to friends, family, and loved ones over long distances.

When you use Pigeon Loans we do our best to send your loan invites and money to your loved ones as efficiently as our friends the homing pigeons.

When you 'Post A Pigeon' on Pigeon Loans, you are sending someone you know an invite to make a loan on our platform.

What does it mean to 'Post A Pigeon'?

For starters, we will always notify you if a payment you sent through our platform does not succeed. Depending on the type of payment you made, it make take some time for us to process it and thus it may not have triggered any notifications yet.

If you are aware a payment will not be successful before we are notified by our payment processor, please feel free to reach out to us at support@pigeonloans.io to let us know.

If you believe you have not received a deposit you were expecting to receive, please let us know about your concern as well.

What if my payment is declined, rejected, or bounces?

Sometimes special circumstances arise on Pigeon Loans that causes payments to be rejected or denied. Feel free to contact us for support.

Yes you can cancel any loan made on our platform.

For loans that have not yet been signed and are still in the pending phase, either the Lender or Borrower can cancel the entirety of the loan and invalidate the entire process.

For active loans, both the Lender and the Borrower will have to come to a mutual agreement on canceling the loan.

If both parties have agreed to forgive and cancel unpaid debt, you may need to report this event on your taxes. Please consult your local tax code for advice on this matter.

You have the power to do whatever you please with your loan. Come to an agreement with your lender or borrower and feel free to cancel your journey on Pigeon Loans.

Can I cancel my loan?

Yes!

We operate in 40+ countries. We utilize US Dollars as our currency denomination, but we will gladly take care of your currency conversions behind the scenes. We have partnered with Stripe to make this process seamless for all of our customers. Visit Stripe Global to see which countries we support.

Note: In addition to our base fees, we charge a small 2.5% fee on any foreign transactions to cover our currency conversions.

Can I create and start a loan outside of the United States?

Create a loan with your friends and family on Pigeon Loans from over 40 different countries around the world.

Because we are the smartest way to loan money for everyday people.

Here are a few reasons you should use our platform:

Pigeon Loans is free to use for anyone deciding to lend on our platform!

We increase the likelihood of a Lender getting paid back the total sum of money they've lent out to their friend, family member, or individual they trust.

We handle all the annoying paperwork, legalities, and structure of setting up a loan.

Whether they be automatic payments or one-time monthly transactions, we allow you to make direct payments on your loan on our platform.

You earn Pigeon Points anytime you use our platform.

We do not perform credit checks or inquire about your financial history like other lending platforms.

We allow Lenders the ability to reap financial gains in the form of customized interest rates.

We grant Borrowers the flexibility to extend the duration of their loans and negotiate loan forgiveness with their Lenders.

We are a global platform that cares deeply about our customers.

We are the experts, so we will support all of our customers throughout their loan journey.

Visit our Ways To Use Pigeon page to learn more about all the advantages thousands of people are experiencing each and every day from make loans the smart way. 

Learn about the reasons why people all over the world are using Pigeon Loans.

Why would I want to use Pigeon Loans?

Stripe is a $100 Billion Dollar global corporation, that enables innovations like ours to process your money and get it to its destination quickly and safely. Our friends at Stripe enable us to process your payments and send you money in a fast, user friendly, and secure manner.

We could never fully explain all the capabilities and features Stripe contributes to the Pigeon Loans platform, so instead head on over to their About Stripe page to learn more about their company and what they've built.

Stripe is the world's leading payment processor helping businesses all over the world move money on the Internet.

What is Stripe?

For any of our loans, we strive to never deny a payment. However, since we are committed to being the best platform we can be, we do have some restrictions currently in place to help us regulate and maintain the best loan experience for our squeakers.

Besides our sole platform limits, we have no control over whether or not your bank will allow for a transaction to succeed. Often times banks have a daily withdrawal limit, or maximum debit card purchase for their customers. For situations such as these, we recommend you contact your bank or card issuer to authorize your transaction on our platform.

For bank transfers, we have a hard limit of $25,000 USD per transaction. So if your loan has a Principal larger than $25,000 USD we recommend you either split your loan into multiple loans that add up to your sum principal or use our Freebird Payment option.

If you have explored all online options and cannot make a transaction on our platform, we have provided you a way to track payments made outside of Pigeon Loans. You can use our Freebird Payment feature whenever is most convenient for you.

Payments on our platform are supported in numerous ways and we never aim to deny money moving through Pigeon Loans.

Will Pigeon Loans deny any payments?

Using our platform is the smartest way to ensure you get back any money you loan out.

Like any loan, we can’t guarantee that a debt will be paid back, but our data shows that people who use Pigeon Loans get paid back more often than those who don't. We've done our homework and know that Lenders who document, formalize, and keep track of their loans on our platform are more likely to receive the full sum of their Principal back over time. Our platform is built on trust and therefore we trust and recognize that our users will honor their contracts.

We expect that our contracts, the ability to extend your loan, and the ease of use we offer through our platform, will enable a smooth and seamless loan process for all parties involved.

In the unlikely scenario Lenders need to take legal measures to get their money back, with the guidance of an attorney, our contracts can be used in various court of laws to seek collections or utilize a related system thereof.

For tips on how to foster a trouble-free loan process, visit our blog post.

If I am lending money to my friends and family, how do I know I will get paid back?

We set reminders, keep everyone on the same page, and encourage positive loan behavior with rewards - all of these things work to help everyday people get paid back for their generosity.

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