If you plan to make a big purchase or pay off credit card debt with a personal loan, your options broaden when you have a good credit score. With good credit – a FICO score of 670 or better – you’re more likely to receive approval for a personal loan and qualify for a lower interest rate than consumers with fair credit or worse.
Still, the ball is in your court to find the best rates and terms for a personal loan. You’ll want to compare the best personal loans for good credit to find the lowest interest rate and the best repayment terms.
- Can you get a personal loan with good credit?
- How can you compare the best personal loans for good credit?
- Where is the best place to get a personal loan?
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Lender |
Learn More |
APR |
Max. Loan Amount |
Min. Credit Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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As low as 10.49% | $50,000 | Not disclosed | |
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7.99% to 23.99% | $100,000 | Not disclosed | |
 |
7.99% to 23.43% | $100,000 | Not disclosed | |
 |
6.50% to 35.99% | $50,000 | 300 | |
 |
6.49% to 14.04% | $35,000 | Not disclosed | |
 |
Not disclosed | $50,000 | 700 | |
 |
7.96% to 35.97% | $50,000 | 600 | |
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Up to 35.99% | $47,500 | 630 | |
 |
8.42% to 29.99% | $45,000 | Not disclosed | |
 |
Up to 35.99% | $12,000 | 650 |
If you need money fast, Alliant Credit Union typically makes same-day online personal loans between $1,000 and $50,000. The $14 billion Chicago-based credit union, founded in 1935, is one of the biggest in the nation, with 600,000 members. In addition to personal loans, Alliant offers home and auto loans, credit cards, checking and savings accounts, individual retirement accounts, trust accounts, and insurance policies.
LightStream is the online consumer lending division of Truist, which formed in 2019 from the merger of BB&T and SunTrust. SunTrust acquired the assets of online lender FirstAgain in 2012 and relaunched the business as LightStream. LightStream’s online personal loans range from $5,000 to $100,000 and can be used for nearly any reason. Personal loans are available to borrowers nationwide with good to excellent credit.
SoFi, short for Social Finance, offers personal loans of up to $100,000 to borrowers with very good to excellent credit. The nationwide lender was founded in 2011 and is known for offering loans with no fees. In addition to personal loans, SoFi offers student loans, auto and student loan refinancing, home loans, and small-business financing.
Upstart is a lending platform that uses artificial intelligence to improve access to affordable credit. Based in California and founded by former Google employees in 2012, Upstart also applies AI to reduce lending risks and costs for its bank partners. The lending intermediary provides unsecured personal loans from $1,000 to $50,000 to borrowers anywhere in the U.S. except West Virginia or Iowa.
PNC Bank can trace its history back to 1852 and the Pittsburgh Trust and Savings Co. Today, PNC Bank is the seventh-largest bank in the U.S., and it features a wide range of consumer and business banking services. Among its suite of products, PNC offers personal, unsecured installment loans up to $35,000. Applicants are considered based on satisfactory credit history, ability to repay and income.
Axos Bank is a digital bank founded in July 2000 with one product, a basic checking account. The San Diego-based bank has since focused on providing innovative products and solutions, including personal loans, to customers nationwide. Potential borrowers can prequalify online with no credit damage and obtain personalized loan options and rates.
Upgrade offers access to personal loans, the Upgrade card with a personal line of credit, rewards checking, and credit monitoring and educational tools. Founded in 2017 in San Francisco, the firm also has operations offices in Chicago, Phoenix and Montreal.
LendingUSA was founded in 2015 to be a lending solution for merchants. LendingUSA provides point-of-sale customer financing through more than 10,000 merchant partners in various sectors including medical services, pet services, funeral services and consumer services.
Rocket Loans offers personal loans to qualified borrowers in all 50 states. These loans are designed for people with fair to excellent credit who need to borrow up to $45,000 for debt consolidation, home improvements, medical expenses and business or other expenses.
Founded in 2005 and based in San Carlos, California, Oportun originates unsecured personal loans of up to $12,000 in 11 states. Loans are available in 30 additional states through Oportun’s partnership with Pathward, formerly known as MetaBank. The lender has no credit history requirement, making its loans an option for consumers with no credit or limited credit. In addition to unsecured personal loans, the lender offers secured personal loans to borrowers in Arizona, California, Florida, New Jersey and Texas.
Personal loan interest rates rose this week, trending higher for three-year and five-year loan terms. Here are the average personal loan rates offered to well-qualified applicants with a credit score of 720 or greater, as of Jan. 16:
- Three-year personal loan term: 15.87% (down from 17.23% a week ago).
- Five-year personal loan term: 16.95% (down from 18.64% a week ago).
Personal loan rates vary widely based on creditworthiness. Borrowers with very good or excellent credit scores will see much lower interest rates than those with fair or poor credit, as seen in the chart below:
Good credit makes approval more likely but doesn’t guarantee it. You should have no problem meeting the minimum credit score requirement, but you’ll still need to satisfy other criteria, including annual income
and debt-to-income ratio.
Your debt-to-income, or DTI, ratio is a percentage that tells lenders how much you spend on debt each month compared with how much you earn. Generally, personal loan companies prefer a DTI smaller than 36%, which means monthly debt obligations as a percentage of your income should not exceed that amount.
A low DTI ratio can offer easier approval and better interest rates than a high DTI, which can signal to lenders that you might be taking on too much debt.
Lenders also look at your ability to make monthly payments and how consistent your income has been recently, says Sarah Pierce, chief revenue officer of Sealed, a consumer service that helps people reduce their home energy waste, and formerly an executive with online mortgage lender Better.com.
“To determine this, lenders typically need documentation of your income history from the last two years, verified by tax returns and pay stubs,” Pierce says.
In addition to income and DTI, loan purpose could play a role in approval, but this factor may receive less weight than others. A personal loan application might ask how you plan to use your loan funds, such as paying for a wedding, repairing a home or car, or consolidating credit card debt.
If your income, DTI or another factor disqualifies you from getting an unsecured personal loan, you could consider a secured personal loan, also known as a collateral loan.
Whatever you choose, your credit score is critical to determining loan terms, including loan amount, says Mark Victoria, senior vice president and head of unsecured lending at TD Bank. Make sure your credit report is accurate before applying for a loan, he says.
You’ll want to review your credit reports and dispute errors. Normally, you’re entitled by law to one free copy of your credit report from each of the three national credit bureaus every 12 months at AnnualCreditReport.com.
Evaluating factors such as APR, loan amount and fees will help you select the right loan. You can start your comparison shopping by prequalifying with at least three personal loan lenders.
Many personal loan companies offer online prequalification, which uses a soft credit check to determine your eligibility. Unlike a hard credit check when you formally apply for a loan, a soft credit check does not hurt your credit score.
When you prequalify, you will provide personal information to the lender that will let you learn an estimated loan amount, APR and monthly payment.
The APR provides a simple way to assess the cost of a loan. It includes interest charges and fees, such as origination fees, providing your total yearly cost of borrowing.
Taking the lowest APR deal may save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars, depending on your loan’s principal balance. The average APR for a personal loan is about 8.73%, according to the Federal Reserve’s data in the second quarter of 2022, but a good credit score can result in more competitive interest rates.
Good-credit borrowers may qualify for rates at the low end of a lender’s APR range. Personal loan lenders may offer you lower rates because your good credit score suggests that you’ve used credit responsibly and may have a lower risk of default than other borrowers.
Make sure that you read the terms and conditions of your loan offer, and note all fees and when they will apply. In addition to origination fees, some lenders charge late fees, application fees and prepayment penalties.
Calculate how quickly you can realistically afford to repay the personal loan. But keep in mind that the longer the loan term, the more you will pay in interest over the life of the loan.
The term range you’ll have to repay your loan in full varies by lender. Some lenders offer a maximum loan term of three years, and others provide up to seven years to pay back loans.
You might even get flexible repayment terms, allowing you to tailor your payoff plan to attain a monthly payment that works best for your budget.
Personal loan amounts vary by lender, and a good credit score isn’t a guarantee of an offer for a lender’s maximum loan amount. You’ll need to meet the financial institution’s minimum annual income and other requirements for approval.
You can request a loan amount in your application, and the lender will evaluate whether that figure is reasonable based on factors such as income and credit history, Victoria says.
“Some lenders allow borrowers to request a higher loan amount, but in some cases, decisions are automated based on eligibility,” he says.
Lenders may offer you discounts to earn your business. “The most common incentive is a rate discount, typically used to incentivize consumers to sign up for autopay,” Victoria says.
Knowing what other borrowers think of working with a lender can be helpful because you can gain insight into what to expect if you get a loan. Read full reviews to learn about a lender’s interest rates, terms, loan amounts and fees.
Find the Personal Loan That’s Right for You
The best place to get a personal loan with good credit depends on the loan terms you seek. Traditional banks, credit unions and online lenders offer personal loans for good-credit borrowers.
You can choose from among many lenders offering personal loans if you have good credit. Here’s a look at how different types of lenders may stack up:
- Your financial institution. If you have good credit and a relationship with a financial institution, see what loan offers it has for you. It already has your identifying information and some of your financial details and could provide a fast decision on your loan application.
- A traditional bank. Conventional banks, as for-profit financial institutions, could charge higher APRs and fees on personal loans than other lenders. But if you prefer banking at convenient brick-and-mortar branches, this option might be for you.
- Credit unions. These member-owned financial institutions return profits to members in the form of lower fees and competitive personal loan rates. If you meet a credit union’s eligibility requirements, then you can join and apply for a loan.
- Online lenders. Because these lenders lack physical branches, you apply and upload documents digitally.
Pros
- Flexibility: For the most part, what you spend a personal loan on is up to you. For example, the loan can help pay for home renovations, car repairs or medical bills. However, there are some restrictions. You can’t use a personal loan to pay for postsecondary education or to purchase real estate. Be sure to read the fine print for additional rules.
- Competitive rates: The APR for personal loans can range from about as low as 4% up to 36%. If you have a great credit score, a strong credit history and a stable income, you can qualify for lower rates than alternatives, such as credit cards.
- Higher borrowing limits: Personal loans generally offer borrowing limits that start at $1,000 and go up to $100,000, depending on your qualifications.
- Credit building: If you make the monthly payments on time, your credit score may increase, as payment history accounts for 35% of your score.
Cons
- Multiple fees: Personal loans may come with various fees and penalties. Some lenders will charge application and origination fees. The origination fee could be a flat rate or a percentage of your loan amount, which can be between 1% and 6%. There also may be penalties for late payments and early payoff.
- Higher monthly payments: Because a personal loan repayment term is generally from one to five years, the fixed monthly payments could be large. This is different from credit cards, where you have the option to make smaller minimum monthly payments.
- Home equity loan. If you’re making major home repairs, a home equity loan or a home equity line of credit could offer a lower interest rate. However, this loan is secured by your home, so you risk foreclosure if you can’t pay it back.
- Balance transfer credit card. If you can qualify for one, a credit card with an introductory 0% interest period may be best if you want to pay off credit card debt without being charged interest. Just be sure that you can pay off the balance before the rate expires, usually from 12 to 21 months.
- Personal line of credit. With a line of credit, you use funds when you need them, like with a credit card. Interest rates sometimes are lower than with credit cards, but personal lines of credit generally come with a repayment term. Some may have variable rates.
- Borrowing from family or friend. If you go this route, keep in mind how a loan from a family member or a friend could affect your relationship, especially if you have a problem paying it back.
U.S. News selects the Best Loan Companies by evaluating affordability, borrower eligibility criteria and customer service. Those with the highest overall scores are considered the best lenders.
To calculate each score, we use data about the lender and its loan offerings, giving greater weight to factors that matter most to borrowers. Personal loan companies are evaluated based on customer service ratings, interest rates, maximum loan term, minimum and maximum loan amounts, minimum FICO score, online features, and origination fees.
The weight each scoring factor receives is based on a nationwide survey on what borrowers look for in a lender.
To receive a rating, lenders must offer qualifying loans nationwide and have a good reputation within the industry. Read more about our methodology.
To recap, here are the picks:
Best Personal Loans for Good Credit of January 2023
LendingClub connects borrowers and investors through its online marketplace. LendingClub originated on Facebook and evolved into an extensive peer-to-peer lender, though it no longer offers peer-to-peer loans. Borrowers in all U.S. states can apply for $1,000 to $40,000 loans with LendingClub.
Chicago-based Avant has lent more than $6.5 billion to borrowers since its 2012 founding. In partnership with WebBank, Avant offers secured and unsecured personal loans and a credit card. The online lender helps borrowers with fair to excellent credit, or average scores from 600 to 800.
Universal Credit is an online lending platform that is powered by the fintech firm Upgrade, which has been in operation since 2017. Universal Credit is not a bank itself, but facilitates loans through its lending partners. It specializes in personal loans, especially for debt consolidation.
Founded in 1912, OneMain Financial is the largest lending-exclusive financial company in the U.S., offering secured and unsecured personal loans. The company has more than 1,500 branches in 44 states. OneMain Financial’s loans have fixed rates, fixed payments and no prepayment fees.
Bankers Healthcare Group, now BHG Financial, was established in 2001 and has funded more than $10 billion in flexible loans for more than 700,000 borrowers. The Davie, Florida, business provides direct loans for any personal, household, family or recreational need and specializes in financing for busy professionals.
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