How to authenticate hard money lenders

[Jacob Trimble]

My wife and I are trying to get all our financing options together. Currently we have private money (close family and friends) as well as pre-approval from our bank to purchase some investment property. I want to explore into hard money to expand our options and network as far as lending goes. However, I have noticed a great deal of scammers out there that are actually pretty good at looking like a legit company. We understand being weary of unusually low interest rates and we've also been told to ensure that they are able to roll their fees into the loan. I'm wondering what else people look for (Like certain accreditation from BBB) to help authenticate a hard money lender. We would like to use them as an option for the future but I'm having a hard time trusting many of the companies I run into or come across. To better help us what rates, fees, LTV, should we expect to see for a basic fix and flip or BRRRR type of investment in the range of 80-150K? As always we appreciate any insights and advice.

Thanks,

Jake