Personal Loan List for less-than-perfect credit (Below a 700 credit score)
We’ve spent years in the lending industry and we track dozens of lenders. We want to pull all that information together in this video and give you the ultimate list of personal loans for people who have fair credit meaning credit scores below 700. If you have credit scores between, say, 600 and 680, you might not be sure where you can go to get the best loan. Obviously, one of the biggest challenges is finding a lender who will approve you. So, all the companies on *this* list say that they will lend to people with credit scores down to at least 620. The other thing I will say before we get started is that we’ve done detailed reviews of most of these lenders. So, if you want more information, check the description below for links to those review videos.
How did we decide how to rank these personal loan lenders/companies for people with fair credit?
Well, we are ranking them based on the APR they offer, how much they will lend (both on the low side and on the high side), whether they charge fees like origination fees and late fees, the transparency of their policies, and the lending features that you might find beneficial. Let’s get at it!
60MonthLoans Personal Loan
60MonthLoans offers personal loans between $2,500 and $10,000 at an APR of between 19% and 69%. They aren’t terribly clear how far down the credit spectrum they will lend, but their top APR of 69% indicates to me that they aren’t terribly stringent. They do charge a sizable origination fee of at least 5% and as high as 10%, which can be a real issue if you are planning to pay off your loan early. One thing that keeps me from ranking 60MonthLoans too high is the fact that many of their policies aren’t clear. I am not sure if they charge a late fee or other fees. I don’t know if they accept a cosigner. And I don’t know what other benefits they have. They also have a somewhat confusing application process that makes people think they say that the application is “approved” when what they really mean is that the application is just completed and ready for review. So, I am going to put 60MonthLoans in the B-tier.
Achieve Personal Loan
Achieve offers personal loans between $5,000 and $50,000. So, they aren’t great for people who just need a couple thousand dollars. Their APRs range from 8.99% to 35.99% and they claim to lend to people with fair credit, or to people with credit scores as low as 620. They will charge an origination fee of between 1.99% to 6.99%. You don’t get a reimbursement on the origination fee if you pay the loan off early, so keep that in mind if you decide to go with them. Achieve does charge a late fee of $15 or 5% of the late amount, whichever is higher. Achieve offers several different discounts depending on whether you add a co-borrower, whether you are consolidating other debt, and even if you have retirement savings. They also offer an option for a home equity loan which could give you access to a higher loan amount and/or a lower APR. I don’t love the higher origination fee or the late fee, but I do appreciate the discounts, and different lending options. So, I am going to put Achieve in the S-tier.
Avant Personal Loan
Avant offrs personal loans between $2,000 and $35,000 at an APR between 9.95% and 35.99%. They say that they lend to people with credit scores between 600 and 700, so squarely in the range we are looking at today. Avant does charge an origination fee of up to 9.99%, which they call an administration fee. Normally, I would caution people about loans with origination fees as high as 9.99%, but Avant is the only lender I know that will give you a prorated reimbursement for your administration fee if you pay the loan off early. I like that. (There is a caveat that you aren’t eligible for reimbursement if your administration fee was less than 5%, but that seems reasonable to me.) They do charge a pretty hefty $25 late payment fee which could be compounded by the fact that they also charge a dishonored payment fee. Avant doesn’t offer any other features that could be useful to people. I like their policy of reimbursing the administration fee, but don’t love their other fees and feel like they lack the features of a really great lender, so I am going to put Avant in the A-tier.
Best Egg Personal Loan
Best Egg lends between $2,000 and $50,000 for a personal loan at an APR between 8.99% and 35.99%. They say that they lend to people with credit scores between 620 and 700. Best Egg charges origination fees between 0.99% and 8.99%. You should be a bit cautious if you are getting hit with one on the higher end of that range, especially if you are planning on repaying the loan early. They charge a pretty standard late fee, as well. Best Egg does have a few interesting features. Many of the lenders on this list only offer unsecured loans, but Best Egg also has a secured option, if that’s what you’re looking for. They will use the loan proceeds to pay off other debts if you are using them for debt consolidation. They also allow you stack more than one Best Egg loan. Obviously, that could be a bad thing, but you could use it to your advantage by minimizing the amount you borrow initially knowing that you have an option for going back if you’ve cut things too closely. I don’t love their origination fee, but think that they offer enough other interesting features that I am going to put Best Egg in the S-tier.
Happy Money
Happy Money lends between $5,000 and $40,000 for a personal loan at an APR between 11.72% and 17.99%. That is the lowest top APR of any lender on this list. That’s great, but it also means that potential borrowers are going to have the hardest time getting approved. The primary reason that they have lower APRs is because they aren’t the lender. Happy Money is connecting you with a network of credit unions. They probably only lend down to a credit score of 640, so if you are below 650 you are likely to have a difficult time getting a loan with them. They have an origination fee of between 1.5% and 5.5%. It’s great that they don’t have a late fee or any other fees. If you are using the loan to consolidate other debt, they will pay those debts directly for you. They won’t accept a cosigner, so you can’t strengthen your application with a friend of loved-one. I am going to put Happy Money in the S-tier. It’s as good as anything, if you can get approved. That could be a big “if.”
LendingClub Personal Loan
LendingClub lends between $1,000 and $40,000 for a personal loan. If you need less than $2,000, this is one of only a few options. They lend at APRs between 9.57% and 35.99%. LendingClub says that they will lend to people with credit scores as low as 600. They have an origination fee between 3% and 8%, so if you plan on repaying the loan early, keep an eye on that. They will also charge the greater of $15 or 5% of the overdue amount if you are late on a payment. If you are using the proceeds to consolidate other debt, they will pay off those other debts for you directly. They also won’t accept a co-signer if you think your application needs a little extra juice to get approved. LendingClub is a good lender that just lacks features that show they are really customer-centric, so I am going to put it in the A-tier.
LendingPoint Personal Loan
LendingPoint lends between $2,000 for a personal loan and the very strangely specific top number of $36,500. Their APRs range from 7.99% to 35.99% and they say that they lend to people with fair credit. That means that if you are around 650, you have a reasonable chance of being approved. They have an origination fee of “up to 10%” which is quite high, so you might want to keep that in mind if you plan on repaying the loan early. They have a late fee, but it’s hard to know what it really is because they say it is “up to $30.” I don’t love how it’s not absolutely clear. They also don’t offer other features like direct payoff for debt consolidation or adding cosigners to an application. Lack of features, heavy fees, and lack of transparency means that I am going to stick them in the B-tier.
NetCredit Personal Loan
NetCredit lends between $1,000 and $10,000 for a personal loan. They are really focused more on people with bad or poor credit. You can see that in their APRs which range from 34% all the way up to 99%. Those higher APRs mean that you really have to plan on paying the loan off as early as possible. Taking two or three years can mean that the cost of the loan might cause more problems in your finances than the loan would solve. They have an origination fee between 1% and 5%, which could be worse. But, the real cost of the loan is the interest rate. They do charge a late fee and don’t really offer much other features. High interest rates, fees, and no mitigating features. I am going to put NetCredit in the D-tier.
Marriner Finance Personal Loan
Marriner Finance is a storefront lender. You can borrow online, but the terms will be slightly different. Most storefront lenders are a little less clear about things online because they want you to come into a store where a salesperson can sell you. They lend between $1,000 and $25,000 for a personal loan, but if you want to avoid going into a store, you can’t borrow less than $1,500 or more than $15,000. They only have stores in 25 states, so it’s not even guaranteed you would be able to find a Marriner store even if you wanted to go into one. Their APRs range from 15.49% and 35.99% which is a good range for the fact that they say they lend all the way down to 580 on the credit spectrum. You do need to know, though, that if your application is not good enough (and I don’t know exactly what the criteria is) you will have to put up a lien on your motor vehicle to be approved. Forcing you to secure the loan with your car title can put your transportation at risk, so you should continue with that process with caution. It is not clear whether they charge late fees or other fees. I don’t love the store business models, but their APRs are better for people with bad credit than others on this list, so I will put them in the C-tier.
OneMain Financial Personal Loan
OneMain Financial is another storefront lender, which means that a lot of their policies are shrouded in mystery. They lend between $1,500 and $20,000 for a personal loan at an APR between 18% and 35.99%. They can charge an origination fee as high as 10%. But, none of this is really that simple. They are regulated at the state level, so origination fees, terms, and other fees might depend on which state you live in. They may lean on you to secure the loan with the title to your motor vehicle and then pressure you into buying additional insurance on your car. They have other insurance products that they will try and get you to buy as well which will disguise the true cost of borrowing with them. And recently, here at The Yukon Project, we’ve even heard from customers that say that OneMain makes it difficult to make principal-only payments so they struggle to pay the loan off early. The push to buy insurance, the lack of transparency, and the reports that they make it hard to pay the loan off early all means that OneMain is going in the D-tier.
OppLoans Personal Loan
OppLoans is another lender for people with poor or bad credit. If your credit score is in the mid-600s, you would probably be approved, but I would hope you could get a much more affordable option from another lender. OppLoans lends less than $4,000 personal loan at an APR of 160% to 179%. At those rates, you would really need to aggressively pay off the debt in 6 months or it would become punishing. The APR is high, but they don’t charge any other fees: no origination fees, no late fees, no NSF fees. That much I can appreciate. They don’t do direct pay off for debt consolidation, but that’s okay because at those interest rates, I can’t imagine why you would ever use them to consolidate. With APRs this high, I just can’t put them any higher than the C-tier and I am only putting them there because of their lack of other fees.
Prosper Personal Loan
Prosper lends between $2,000 and $50,000 personal loan at APRs between 8.99% and 35.99%. Prosper says that they welcome applicants with less-than-perfect credit. And that is undoubtedly true, but the average credit score of their applicants is around 680, so getting approved can get difficult for people lower on the credit spectrum. They do include an origination fee between 1% and 8%. They charge late payment fees as well as failed payment fees. The fact that they charge both of those could easily be a double whammy if you don’t have enough money in your account on the day the payment is due. If you need to strengthen your application, they will take a cosigner. Prosper is pretty good, but just not S-tier material, so they go into the A-tier.
Rise Credit Personal Loan
Rise Credit lends between $500 and $5,000 for a personal loan, but first time borrowers are not likely to get more than $3,000. They lend to people with poor or bad credit scores and it shows in their interest rate. Their APRs range from 60% all the way up to 299%. That eye-popping APR is really only tolerable for very short-term borrowing. Their terms go up to 3 years, but you would only want to go into a loan with Rise with the plan to have it paid off in a matter of months. The sooner the better. They don’t charge an origination fee or a late fee, but if you are late on a payment, interest will continue to accrue on the due amount. Rise Credit does offer free services like credit monitoring and credit report reviews. I like the lack of fees and the credit monitoring features they offer, but the APR is too high for me to put them any higher than tier-C.
Upgrade Personal Loan
Upgrade lends between $1,000 and $50,000 for a personal loan at an APR of 8.49% to 35.99%. They have an origination fee that will fall within the range of 1.85% and 9.99%. Ten percent is a high origination fee. If you are planning to pay off your loan early, you want to minimize the origination fee you’ll be paying. They do offer APR discounts if you sign up for autopay, if you consolidate other debt, or if you choose to secure the loan with a motor vehicle title. If you are using the proceeds of the loan to consolidate other debt, they will pay off those loans for you. They do charge a modest late fee, but it could be compounded with a failed payment fee if you don’t have enough money in your account on the day the payment is due. You can include a cosigner if you feel like you need to strengthen your application. Upgrade has some good features, a broad lending range, and fairly modest fees. So, I am going to put it in the S-tier.
Upstart Personal Loan
Upstart lends between $1,000 and $50,000 for a personal loan at an APR of 7.8% to 35.99%. They say that their origination fee is between 0% and 12%. Twelve percent is the highest I have seen with any lender. If you are borrowing money for a short time and get an origination fee that high, you might consider looking around for another option. I think the reason there is such a broad range for the origination fee is because Upstart has a network of dozens of banks and credit unions that lend through the Upstart brand. There are probably a lot of different policies. You never know what you are going to get. But, the bright side is that you might have a better chance of being approved. (Although, I’ll be honest with you. They may have a lot of partners, but over 60% of their lending goes through just three partners. So, it might not be broad at it seems.) Upstart also charges a late fee as well as an ACH return fee, so if you fail to have enough money in your account on the day the payment is due, it could be rather expensive. They also don’t offer some of the other potential benefits like debt payoff for consolidation and cosigners as others do. I like their network of lenders, but feel like their fees and their lack of features puts a ceiling on them, so I put Upstart in the A-tier.
World Finance Personal Loan
World Finance is another storefront lender. I do complain that storefront lenders are not very transparent about their policies, and World Finance is the least transparent of all of them. They do not even list a range of expected APRs on their website. They lend between $450 and $12,000 for a personal loan, but beyond that, they don’t say anything about their lending. Could they be great? Possibly. Could they be a disaster? Very possibly. But I certainly can’t recommend a brand that provides no information. If you’ve used World Finace, we’d love to hear about your experience: what was their APR? Did they charge late fees? Was it hard to repay the loan? Did they try and sell you insurance? Until we know more about them, they are getting relegated to the D-tier.
Having a credit score below 700 means you need to apply to many lenders to make sure you’re getting the best personal loan.
If you’ve got a credit score in the 600s you may not have the luxury of picking a lender on this list. They may actually do the picking. That’s why it’s so important that you don’t just apply to one lender. Shop around. That is the only way to be sure that you are getting the best deal you can in your situation. Remembr, all these lenders have different algorithms for deciding who to lend to and none of them rely on credit score. One might approve you while another one denies you. At The Yukon Project, we’ve tried to make shopping around easy. If you go to our marketplace page, you can apply to any one of our featured lenders. Behind the scenes, we will check your rate with up to 40 other lenders. Our partners use a soft credit pull which means applying won’t hurt your credit score. We will show you all the offers that are given so you can pick the one that is best for your situation.
If you have any questions or comments about any of these lenders, leave a comment below and we will try and answer it. If you found this video useful, please like it and subscribe to our channel. Thanks for watching.
Stop paying the high interest rates from carrying a monthly balance on your credit card!
Soft Credit Pull, Up To 40 Lenders at Once, See what you’re approved for!