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If you have a good credit score, lenders are happy to compete for your business. That's because your strong score tells them that you've managed debt well in the past. Here, we dive into the pool of top lenders to find those with the lowest rates and best terms for borrowers like you.
Lending Partner | Min. Credit Score | Loan Amounts | Apr Range | Next Steps |
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() SoFi Personal Loans
Rating image, 5.0 out of 5 stars.
5.0/5
Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale.
5 stars equals Best.
4 stars equals Excellent.
3 stars equals Good.
2 stars equals Fair.
1 star equals Poor.
We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
|
Min. Credit Score: 680 | Loan Amounts: $5,000 - $100,000 | APR Range: Fixed: 8.99%-29.99% APR (with all discounts) | |
![]() Citi® Personal Loan
Rating image, 4.5 out of 5 stars.
4.5/5
Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale.
5 stars equals Best.
4 stars equals Excellent.
3 stars equals Good.
2 stars equals Fair.
1 star equals Poor.
We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
|
Min. Credit Score: 720 | Loan Amounts: $2,000 - $30,000 | APR Range: 11.49% - 20.49% | |
![]() LightStream
Rating image, 4.0 out of 5 stars.
4.0/5
Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale.
5 stars equals Best.
4 stars equals Excellent.
3 stars equals Good.
2 stars equals Fair.
1 star equals Poor.
We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
|
Min. Credit Score: Good credit | Loan Amounts: $5,000 - $100,000 | APR Range: 6.99%-25.49% (w/ AutoPay)* | |
![]() Axos Personal Loan
Rating image, 4.0 out of 5 stars.
4.0/5
Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale.
5 stars equals Best.
4 stars equals Excellent.
3 stars equals Good.
2 stars equals Fair.
1 star equals Poor.
We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
|
Min. Credit Score: 700 | Loan Amounts: $7,000 to $50,000 | APR Range: 11.79%-20.84% | |
![]() Achieve
Rating image, 4.5 out of 5 stars.
4.5/5
Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale.
5 stars equals Best.
4 stars equals Excellent.
3 stars equals Good.
2 stars equals Fair.
1 star equals Poor.
We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
|
Min. Credit Score: 620 | Loan Amounts: $5,000 - $50,000 | APR Range: 7.99% - 35.99% |
Rates quoted are with AutoPay. Your loan terms are not guaranteed and may vary based on loan purpose, length of loan, loan amount, credit history and payment method (AutoPay or Invoice). AutoPay discount is only available when selected prior to loan funding. Rates without AutoPay are 0.50% points higher. To obtain a loan, you must complete an application on LightStream.com which may affect your credit score. You may be required to verify income, identity and other stated application information. Payment example: Monthly payments for a $10,000 loan at 8.49% APR with a term of 5 years would result in 60 monthly payments of $205.12. Some additional conditions and limitations apply. Advertised rates and terms are subject to change without notice. Truist Bank is an Equal Housing Lender. © 2024 Truist Financial Corporation. Truist, LightStream, and the LightStream logo are service marks of Truist Financial Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Lending services provided by Truist Bank.
Rates as of 8-01-2024. Your APR may be as low as 11.49% or as high as 20.49% for the term of your loan. The lowest rate quoted assumes excellent credit and a loan term of 24 or 36 months. Your APR will depend on a variety of factors including your creditworthiness, term of loan, and existing relationship with Citi. Citi offers personal loans with a period of repayment between 12 and 60-month terms. For example, if you borrow $10,000 for 36 months at 15.99% APR, to repay your loan you will have to make 36 monthly payments of approximately $351.52.
There is a 0.5% APR discount if you enroll in automatic payments at loan origination. Additionally, existing Citigold and Citi Priority customers will receive a 0.25% discount to the APR. If you are in default, your APR may increase by 2.00%. Rates subject to change without notice.
To check for offers you may qualify for, Citi conducts a soft credit inquiry. If you are presented with an offer and choose to proceed with the application process, Citi will conduct a hard credit inquiry which may have an impact on your credit score.
Citi® Personal Loan proceeds cannot be used to pay for post-secondary education expenses or for business purposes. Credit cards issued by Citibank, N.A. or its affiliates, as well as Checking Plus and Ready Credit accounts, are not eligible for debt consolidation, and Citibank will not issue payoff checks for these accounts. If you are unsure of the issuer on the account, please visit https://www.citi.com/affiliatesproducts for a list of Citi products and affiliates.
If you are approved for a personal loan with Citi, you can get your funds the same day with a Citi deposit account, or up to 2 business days for a non-Citi account when using direct deposit. Or, you can select to receive a check by mail in approximately 5 business days.
Terms, conditions, and fees for accounts, products, programs and services are subject to change at any time. You must be at least 18 years of age (21 years of age in Puerto Rico). Co-applicants are not permitted.
If you apply online, you must agree to receive the loan note and all other account disclosures provided with your loan origination in an electronic format and provide your signature electronically.
Personal loans are made available by Citibank, N.A., Equal Housing lender
*SoFi Personal Loan Disclaimer
Fixed rates from 8.99% APR to 29.99% APR reflect the 0.25% autopay interest rate discount and a 0.25% direct deposit interest rate discount. SoFi rate ranges are current as of 03/06/2024 and are subject to change without notice. The average of SoFi Personal Loans funded in 2022 was around $30K. Not all applicants qualify for the lowest rate. Lowest rates reserved for the most creditworthy borrowers. Your actual rate will be within the range of rates listed and will depend on the term you select, evaluation of your creditworthiness, income, and a variety of other factors.
Loan amounts range from $5,000–$100,000. The APR is the cost of credit as a yearly rate and reflects both your interest rate and an origination fee of 0%-7%, which will be deducted from any loan proceeds you receive.
Autopay: The SoFi 0.25% autopay interest rate reduction requires you to agree to make monthly principal and interest payments by an automatic monthly deduction from a savings or checking account. The benefit will discontinue and be lost for periods in which you do not pay by automatic deduction from a savings or checking account. Autopay is not required to receive a loan from SoFi.
Direct Deposit Discount: To be eligible to potentially receive an additional (0.25%) interest rate reduction for setting up direct deposit with a SoFi Checking and Savings account offered by SoFi Bank, N.A. or eligible cash management account offered by SoFi Securities, LLC (“Direct Deposit Account”), you must have an open Direct Deposit Account within 30 days of the funding of your Loan. Once eligible, you will receive this discount during periods in which you have enabled payroll direct deposits of at least $1,000/month to a Direct Deposit Account in accordance with SoFi’s reasonable procedures and requirements to be determined at SoFi’s sole discretion. This discount will be lost during periods in which SoFi determines you have turned off direct deposits to your Direct Deposit Account. You are not required to enroll in direct deposits to receive a Loan.
Impact to credit score: To check the rates and terms you may qualify for, SoFi conducts a soft credit pull that will not affect your credit score. However, if you choose a product and continue your application, we will request your full credit report from one or more consumer reporting agencies, which is considered a hard credit pull and may affect your credit.
We selected SoFi as a best personal loans lender for good credit applicants because there are no fees required, loan limits are high, and interest rates for well qualified applicants are low. An added perk is that SoFi members get special benefits like financial planning services.
A great option for anyone hoping to consolidate high-interest debt from a company that's been around since 1812.
We chose LightStream for best personal loans for good credit because of its top customer satisfaction rankings and rates among the lowest that you'll find. There are no fees, and the autopay discount is more generous than what most lenders offer. Some loans are funded the same day.
The Axos personal loan is a solid option for those who can qualify. Rates are fairly competitive, and the fee is lower than many alternatives. Credit requirements are stricter than most lenders, however, so it may be hard to qualify for folks with less established credit.
We chose FreedomPlus for best personal loans for good credit because it offers competitive loans to well qualified applicants. The best rate is reserved for people with excellent credit who need a relatively small loan and a shorter repayment period. There is no prepayment penalty.
FICO® Scores are calculated on a scale of 300 to 850, with higher scores being better. There’s no official cutoff point that determines what is considered excellent, good, or bad credit, but FICO does offer some guidelines:
If your FICO® Score is in this range… | Your score is generally considered… |
---|---|
800-850 | Exceptional |
740-799 | Very Good |
670-739 | Good |
580-669 | Fair |
579 or lower | Poor |
For the purposes of this discussion we’ll go with FICO’s definition and consider you a good-credit borrower if you have a FICO® Score of 670 or higher. The categories of very good and exceptional are also lumped into the broad category of people who can be said to have “good” credit.
If you’re not sure if you have good credit, there are several websites where you can check your own FICO® Score, or you may be able to access a free FICO® Score through certain credit card issuers if you’re a cardholder. My favorite is myFICO, which is run by the Fair Isaac Corporation -- the creators of the FICO® Score itself. It’s not free, but the tools and resources you get make it well worth the cost. I’ve been a myFICO customer since 2005 and love the comprehensive score reports and the score-predicting tools members can use.
The best piece of advice I can give prospective personal loan borrowers is to shop around for a low interest loan. I don’t just mean reading about the various lending companies like you’re doing right now (although it’s certainly a good start). Rather, I’m talking about actually going through several lenders’ pre-approval processes to see both what loan terms you could qualify for and to ensure you can get approved for a personal loan.
Why several lenders? Simply put, you might be shocked at the variation in loan terms that you could be offered. It isn’t uncommon for the best and worst loan offers a consumer receives to be 10 percentage points apart, even for borrowers with strong credit histories.
Most personal loan companies, including the three I’ve discussed here, allow you to check your loan terms by filling out a quick-and-easy form and without affecting your credit. The lender conducts what is known as a soft credit pull, similar to what companies do when they send you those pre-approved credit card offers in the mail.
In a nutshell, there’s no good reason not to get pre-approved at a few different lenders, and you could save yourself hundreds of dollars (or more).
As a final thought, no discussion on personal loans would be complete without taking a step back and asking yourself if a personal loan is even the best option for you, especially if you plan to consolidate credit card debt or make a major purchase.
Here’s why I say that: If you have good credit, you can probably qualify for some pretty impressive 0% intro APR credit card offers for both purchases and balance transfers. As I write this, there are several balance transfer cards on the market with 0% intro APR offers for 18 months or longer.
If you are confident that you can repay your consolidated credit card debts, or whatever purchase you’re considering making with a debt consolidation loan, within a credit card’s 0% intro APR promotional period, that could be the smarter way to go. Just food for thought as you contemplate your best options.
Lending Partner | Min. Credit Score | Loan Amounts | APR Range | Best For |
---|---|---|---|---|
SoFi Personal Loans | 680 | $5,000 - $100,000 | Fixed: 8.99%-29.99% APR (with all discounts) | Low APR for borrowers with high income |
Citi® Personal Loan | 720 | $2,000 - $30,000 | 11.49% - 20.49% | Debt consolidation and long repayment terms |
LightStream | Good credit | $5,000 - $100,000 | 6.99%-25.49% (w/ AutoPay)* | Borrowers with good credit |
Axos Personal Loan | 700 | $7,000 to $50,000 | 11.79%-20.84% | Borrowers with well-established credit who don't mind paying a small fee for a competitive APR. |
Achieve | 620 | $5,000 - $50,000 | 7.99% - 35.99% | Diverse offerings |
While FICO considers scores in the 670-739 range to be "good," a credit score of 700 or greater is generally more accepted by lenders as being safely in range of a good credit score.
How much you can borrow depends on more than a single credit score. It also depends on factors like how much you earn and your debt-to-income (DTI) ratio.
Some lenders can fund an approved loan in as little as a day, while others take up to two weeks. If speed is important to you, ask lenders about their funding times before deciding which lender to work with.
We're firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers. The Ascent, a Motley Fool service, does not cover all offers on the market. The Ascent has a dedicated team of editors and analysts focused on personal finance, and they follow the same set of publishing standards and editorial integrity while maintaining professional separation from the analysts and editors on other Motley Fool brands.
We're firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers. The Ascent, a Motley Fool service, does not cover all offers on the market. The Ascent has a dedicated team of editors and analysts focused on personal finance, and they follow the same set of publishing standards and editorial integrity while maintaining professional separation from the analysts and editors on other Motley Fool brands.
Rates quoted are with AutoPay. Your loan terms are not guaranteed and may vary based on loan purpose, length of loan, loan amount, credit history and payment method (AutoPay or Invoice). AutoPay discount is only available when selected prior to loan funding. Rates without AutoPay are 0.50% points higher. To obtain a loan, you must complete an application on LightStream.com which may affect your credit score. You may be required to verify income, identity and other stated application information. Payment example: Monthly payments for a $10,000 loan at 8.49% APR with a term of 5 years would result in 60 monthly payments of $205.12. Some additional conditions and limitations apply. Advertised rates and terms are subject to change without notice. Truist Bank is an Equal Housing Lender. © 2024 Truist Financial Corporation. Truist, LightStream, and the LightStream logo are service marks of Truist Financial Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Lending services provided by Truist Bank.
Rates as of 8-01-2024. Your APR may be as low as 11.49% or as high as 20.49% for the term of your loan. The lowest rate quoted assumes excellent credit and a loan term of 24 or 36 months. Your APR will depend on a variety of factors including your creditworthiness, term of loan, and existing relationship with Citi. Citi offers personal loans with a period of repayment between 12 and 60-month terms. For example, if you borrow $10,000 for 36 months at 15.99% APR, to repay your loan you will have to make 36 monthly payments of approximately $351.52.
There is a 0.5% APR discount if you enroll in automatic payments at loan origination. Additionally, existing Citigold and Citi Priority customers will receive a 0.25% discount to the APR. If you are in default, your APR may increase by 2.00%. Rates subject to change without notice.
To check for offers you may qualify for, Citi conducts a soft credit inquiry. If you are presented with an offer and choose to proceed with the application process, Citi will conduct a hard credit inquiry which may have an impact on your credit score.
Citi® Personal Loan proceeds cannot be used to pay for post-secondary education expenses or for business purposes. Credit cards issued by Citibank, N.A. or its affiliates, as well as Checking Plus and Ready Credit accounts, are not eligible for debt consolidation, and Citibank will not issue payoff checks for these accounts. If you are unsure of the issuer on the account, please visit https://www.citi.com/affiliatesproducts for a list of Citi products and affiliates.
If you are approved for a personal loan with Citi, you can get your funds the same day with a Citi deposit account, or up to 2 business days for a non-Citi account when using direct deposit. Or, you can select to receive a check by mail in approximately 5 business days.
Terms, conditions, and fees for accounts, products, programs and services are subject to change at any time. You must be at least 18 years of age (21 years of age in Puerto Rico). Co-applicants are not permitted.
If you apply online, you must agree to receive the loan note and all other account disclosures provided with your loan origination in an electronic format and provide your signature electronically.
Personal loans are made available by Citibank, N.A., Equal Housing lender
*SoFi Personal Loan Disclaimer
Fixed rates from 8.99% APR to 29.99% APR reflect the 0.25% autopay interest rate discount and a 0.25% direct deposit interest rate discount. SoFi rate ranges are current as of 03/06/2024 and are subject to change without notice. The average of SoFi Personal Loans funded in 2022 was around $30K. Not all applicants qualify for the lowest rate. Lowest rates reserved for the most creditworthy borrowers. Your actual rate will be within the range of rates listed and will depend on the term you select, evaluation of your creditworthiness, income, and a variety of other factors.
Loan amounts range from $5,000–$100,000. The APR is the cost of credit as a yearly rate and reflects both your interest rate and an origination fee of 0%-7%, which will be deducted from any loan proceeds you receive.
Autopay: The SoFi 0.25% autopay interest rate reduction requires you to agree to make monthly principal and interest payments by an automatic monthly deduction from a savings or checking account. The benefit will discontinue and be lost for periods in which you do not pay by automatic deduction from a savings or checking account. Autopay is not required to receive a loan from SoFi.
Direct Deposit Discount: To be eligible to potentially receive an additional (0.25%) interest rate reduction for setting up direct deposit with a SoFi Checking and Savings account offered by SoFi Bank, N.A. or eligible cash management account offered by SoFi Securities, LLC (“Direct Deposit Account”), you must have an open Direct Deposit Account within 30 days of the funding of your Loan. Once eligible, you will receive this discount during periods in which you have enabled payroll direct deposits of at least $1,000/month to a Direct Deposit Account in accordance with SoFi’s reasonable procedures and requirements to be determined at SoFi’s sole discretion. This discount will be lost during periods in which SoFi determines you have turned off direct deposits to your Direct Deposit Account. You are not required to enroll in direct deposits to receive a Loan.
Impact to credit score: To check the rates and terms you may qualify for, SoFi conducts a soft credit pull that will not affect your credit score. However, if you choose a product and continue your application, we will request your full credit report from one or more consumer reporting agencies, which is considered a hard credit pull and may affect your credit.