Best Unsecured Personal Loans For People with Bad Credit in the USA in 2025
We’re going to go over the best unsecured personal loans for people with bad credit in the USA for 2025. But because no lender is perfect, I am going to give you the pros and cons of each one. After all, if you are going to go the trouble of applying for one of these loans, you have the right to do it with your eyes wide open.
We’re uniquely qualified to give you this information. You see, we’ve spent years in the lending industry. We have studied the personal finances of thousands of people. And we track dozens of national lenders. We’re going to tell you what you need to know so you can make the decision on what’s best for your circumstances.
What do we even mean by “bad credit.”
For the purposes of this video, we are talking about people with credit scores below 620. This is when it is particularly hard to get approved for an unsecured loan. Most lenders won’t approve people with credit scores this low. All the lenders on this list say they will.
First up, Oportun personal loans for bad credit.
Oportun has some of the best APRs for subprime borrowers. They max out at 36%. That’s unusually low for a company that says they approve people with bad credit or no credit. They also lend amounts as low as $300. They lend as much as $6,000 to new customers and as much as $10,000 for returning customers. If you need a little help getting approved, they will accept cosigners on their loans. They also cater to Hispanic customers with the option of toggling the website between English and Spanish. While they offer a secured version of their loan, it’s only available in 6 states. They will charge a 10% origination fee, which is rather high. And if you are late on a payment, they will charge either $15 or 5%, whichever is greater.
NetCredit offers loans in 37 states, so they are pretty likely to lend in your state.
In a handful of those states, they lend a minimum of $500, but in most of their states, they don’t lend less than $1,000. They will lend up to $10,000, which is one of the highest amounts for lenders who lend to people with bad credit. You will want to be cautious about taking a $10,000 loan, though, because the interest rate can be punishing.
Their maximum APR is 155%, although their most common maximum is 100%. Their minimum APR is 34%, which is quite good for loans in this space. I suspect that they will lend to customers who have credit scores in the mid-500s. But they will look at other aspects of your personal finances, so approval won’t be all about your credit score.
They charge origination fees between 1% and 5%. I generally think origination fees below 5% are acceptable. If you are late on a payment, they will charge a late fee of between $10 and $15, which isn’t too bad, but there are lenders on this list that do not charge any late fees. If you are looking for an open-ended credit solution, they also offer lines of credit in most of their states.
Opploans lends in 40 states, so their coverage is nearly national.
They lend a minimum of $500 and a maximum of $4,000. So, they don’t offer loans as large as some of the other lenders on this list, but you probably wouldn’t want a loan that big from Opploans.
That’s because they aren’t cheap. Depending on what state you live in, the maximum APR will be either 160% or 179%. That means you really will only want to take one of these loans for a short period of time. If you hold one of these loans for too long, the interest expense will take a big bite out of your finances. I believe that they will lend to people with credit scores in the mid- or low-500s. Opploans will not charge any additional fees: no origination fee, no late fees, and no NSF fees.
Rise Credit lends in 28 states, so they might not offer loans in your state.
Their minimum loan amount in most of those states is $500. Their maximum is $5,000, but most first-time borrowers will not qualify for an amount that high.
These loans aren’t cheap, which means you will not want to hold one for very long. They have terms that go up to 36 months, but you would never hold a Rise loan that long. You should always plan on paying these loans off early…the earlier the better.
The minimum APR for a Rise loan is 60%. Their maximum APR will depend on the state in which you live. The most common maximum loan amount is 149%. But there are ten states where they will charge more than that, either 199% or 299%. In those states, you really should stay away from high amounts or long terms. Rise does say that they will drop your APR over time with subsequent loans. So, if you find yourself as a frequent borrower, your loans would get cheaper over time.
Rise does not charge any additional fees. They don’t charge an origination fee or NSF fees. If you are late on a payment, they will not charge you additional fees, but your late amount will continue to incur interest.
I believe most of their borrowers will have credit scores in the 500s and they will approve people with credit scores in the low-500s.
Rise offers a couple of free features that are a bit unusual in this space. They offer something called Credit Score Plus so you can track and monitor your credit score. They will also give you a 5-day risk free guarantee. If you take a loan and want to back out, they will charge you nothing if you return the money within 5 days.
60MonthLoans is only available in 17 states, so it’s a crapshoot whether you live in one of the states where they lend.
Their minimum loan amount is $2,000, so this is not a good loan for you if you are just looking for a little bit of money. Their maximum loan amount is $10,000, which is the highest you can get in the bad credit space.
Their APRs are some of the lowest on this list, as well. Their minimum APR is 19%, which is really good for people with bad credit. Their maximum APR is only 69%. That is also a great rate…unless you are borrowing more than $5,000 or for more than 3 years. In that case, the interest could really add up.
They charge an origination fee of between 5% and 10%, which is kind of high. That origination fee would be accounted for in the APR, but you want a lower origination fee if you plan on paying the loan off early. Because you don’t get a reimbursement for the origination fee.
60MonthLoans has a confusing application process. People report that they think they are approved when their *application* was just “accepted” or received. In general, their policies are not as clear as the other lenders on this list, so you would want to closely review the loan terms before you accept their loan.
Simple Loan from US Bank is a great option for bad credit.
But it’s only available in 28 states and only to people who are already existing US Bank customers. This is going to be the lowest cost option for you, if you can get it. But, it maxes out at $1,000, so it might not meet your needs if you have a bigger problem. But they will lend as little as $100…which is the lowest loan amount I have seen outside of payday loans. The loan itself doesn’t have an interest rate. Instead, you will be charged $6 per every $100 you borrow. You will need to pay off the total over the course of three months.
If you find yourself borrowing small amount of money a few times a year and you live in one of the states where US Bank operates, you might want to consider changing banks. It could save you a lot of money in the long run.
One Main Financial boasts a great low APR for people with bad credit, but they have a reputation for pushing customers to secure the loan with their motor vehicle.
This can put your car at risk if you struggle to pay off the loan. We have also heard from customers that One Main Financial makes it unnecessarily difficult to pay the loans off early. They also push their borrowers to pay for insurance that is unnecessary. This raises the cost of the loans even though the APRs look great.
Their policies are unclear until you have a loan agreement in hand. You can expect a sizable origination fee, late fees, and NSF fees. So, the interest rate might be lower than other options, but there are several other ways that the cost of these loans could be higher than you expect.
There are a group of lenders who claim that they will lend to people with bad credit. These lenders would be great low-cost options for you if you could get a loan with them. But I am skeptical that you would be able to qualify. So, if you can get one of them, they would be a great option…but I wouldn’t get your hopes up.
Of course, if you have bad credit and are looking for an unsecured personal loan, the most important thing you can do is to shop around. You owe it to yourself to get the best deal you can in your circumstances. Lenders who will approve people with bad credit each have their own algorithm for approving people. You might not be approved by one company only to be approved for a better option by a different one. This space can be really unpredictable.
At The Yukon Project, we’ve tried to make shopping around easy.
If you visit 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 check, so applying will not hurt your credit score. We will show you all of the lenders who would approve you, so you can pick the best loan for you.
If there are other lenders that you think belong on this list, leave a comment below. We are trying to build a community of people who can pool their knowledge so that we can all make the best decisions for our personal finances. If you found this information helpful, please consider liking this video and subscribing to our channel. Your support helps us out and we really appreciate it.
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