10 Best Loans for Bad Credit

Upgrade is the top provider of personal loans for bad credit.  It allows borrowers to take out as much as $50,000—higher than many other lenders—and offers loan terms as long as 84 months, far longer than other companies provide.

Additionally, Upgrade allows borrowers to apply with a joint applicant, which can help them get a lower rate. And for borrowers who can’t qualify for an unsecured loan, Upgrade also offers secured loans that use your vehicle title as collateral. 

Upgrade has a pre-qualification tool you can use to check your loan options without affecting your credit score. And if you take out a loan, you can take advantage of Upgrade’s Credit Health Tool to monitor your credit, get tips on improving your credit score, and receive fraud alerts. This feature is especially helpful if you have poor credit scores, as you work to better your credit and regain control of your finances. 

• You must be the age of majority in your state.
• You must have a checking account.
• You must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.
• You must have a credit score of 560 or higher (or have a creditworthy person to serve as a joint applicant).

Upgrade loans aren’t available to residents of Washington, D.C. It prohibits borrowers from using loans for gambling, investing, or college expenses, including tuition and room and board. 

With many personal loan companies, there isn’t the option of adding a co-signer or co-borrower to your application; you must meet the lender’s eligibility requirements entirely on your own. For borrowers with less-than-perfect credit or insufficient income, that can make it difficult to get a loan. 

PenFed Credit Union offers personal loans ranging from $600 to $50,000. While it has a relatively high credit score requirement compared to some others on this list—its minimum is 650—it allows borrowers to apply with a co-borrower. Adding a creditworthy co-borrower to your application may help you qualify for a loan with better rates than you’d get on your own. 

PenFed doesn’t charge origination fees, and it’s one of the few lenders that offers unemployment and financial hardship payment plans for personal loan borrowers. Although PenFed is a credit union, its membership is open to the general public. 

• You must be a PenFed member (you can join online by opening a savings account and depositing $5).
• You must be the age of majority in your state.
• You must have a valid Social Security number or individual taxpayer identification number.
• You must have a verifiable source of income.

When you use a personal loan to consolidate high-interest debt, you have to be careful to use the loan for its intended purposes; otherwise, you risk adding to your overall debt. Best Egg makes it easier to pay off your debt by offering direct creditor payments. 

When you are approved for a debt consolidation loan, Best Egg will send the loan funds to pay off your credit cards or medical bills on your behalf. That way, the money never hits your account, so there’s no risk of spending it on other uses. 

Best Egg disburses funds in as little as one day, and it also has a secured loan option for borrowers who don’t qualify for unsecured loans. 

To qualify for a loan from Best Egg, you must meet the following criteria: 

• You must live in an eligible state; Best Egg loans are not available to residents of Iowa, Vermont, West Virginia, or Washington, D.C. 
• You must be the age of majority in your state.
• You must have a personal checking account and a physical mailing address.

Best Egg doesn’t disclose its income or credit score requirements online, but a spokesperson told us that the minimum recommended score is 600. 

First Tech Federal Credit Union (FCU) stands out from other lenders due to its competitive interest rates, broad range of loan amounts, and multiple repayment term options. For borrowers with bad credit, it also allows applicants to apply with co-signers to improve their odds of getting a loan. 

First Tech FCU doesn’t charge origination fees or application fees, so your total loan cost may be lower with the credit union than if you used another lender. 

As a credit union, you must be a member of First Tech FCU to get a loan. However, its membership criteria aren’t as restrictive as some, so more people can join and take advantage of its loan products. 

To qualify for a loan from First Tech FCU, you must be a member of the credit union or sign up during the loan application process. To join, you must:

• Have a family or household member that is a member of First Tech FCU
• Work for one of the hundreds of companies on the credit union’s list of partners
• Work or live in Lane County, Oregon
• Belong to the Computer History Museum or the Financial Fitness Association (you can join online; digital memberships start at $15 per year)

You must be the age of majority in your state to be eligible for a loan, and the credit union’s minimum credit score is 600. 

If you have an emergency expense, you don’t have time to wait for a lender to disburse the funds; you need them right away. Rocket Loans is our pick as the best lender for fast loans because it may disburse funds as soon as the same day you apply. 

To be eligible for same-day funding, you’ll need to complete the loan process and sign the promissory note by 1 p.m. Eastern Time on a business day. Rocket Loans will send the funds to your bank account by ACH. Take note that you may not have access to the funds immediately if there are any processing delays at your bank.

Rocket allows you to borrow up to $45,000, and you can have up to 60 months to repay the loan. If you sign up for automatic payments, you can qualify for an interest rate discount to help you save money. 

Rocket Loans can be used for a wide range of purposes, including medical bills, debt consolidation, solar panel installation, or home improvements. 

• You must be at least 18 or the age of majority in your state.
• You must have proof of income.
• You must live in an eligible state; Rocket Loans does not issue loans to residents of Iowa, Nevada, or West Virginia. 

Rocket Loans doesn’t disclose its minimum credit score or income requirement, but borrowers are evaluated based on their credit history and current debt-to-income ratio. 

These personal loans cannot be used to repay student loans. 

If you are a military veteran or current servicemember and need a personal loan, Navy Federal Credit Union is hard to beat. Whether you have a small car repair or a major home renovation planned, NFCU could be a good choice: It offers loans as small as $250, but it also allows you to borrow up to $50,000.

Navy Federal offers competitive rates, and its home improvement loans have repayment term options as long as 180 months—by far the longest repayment term on our list.

Navy Federal Credit Union doesn’t charge application or origination fees, a rarity among lenders that work with borrowers with poor credit. 

• You must be the age of majority in your state.
• You must have a verifiable source of income.
• You must be a member of Navy Federal Credit Union.

To join Navy Federal Credit Union, you must belong to one of the following groups: 

• Active duty service member
• U.S. military veteran
• Family member of a qualifying service member or veteran
• Department of Defense civilian employee or retiree

If you have poor credit and take out a personal loan, you may be focused on improving your finances and bettering your credit score. As your score improves, you may be eligible for better rates on the personal loan. But many lenders prohibit you from refinancing an existing loan with them; Avant is one of the few that allows current borrowers to refinance their personal loans to potentially get a lower interest rate. 

Avant offers quick loan disbursements, and it accepts credit scores as low as 550, making it a good choice if your credit score is in the poor to fair range. 

• You must be the age of majority in your state.
• You must have at least $1,200 in monthly income.
• Your total debt-to-income ratio, inclusive of your housing payments, cannot exceed 70%.

Avant’s loans aren’t available in Hawaii, Iowa, New York, Maine or West Virginia.

If you have a credit score that’s in the “poor” range—between 300 and 579—finding a loan can be hard. Finding a loan with an APR that’s not in the high double or triple digits can be even harder. 

That’s where Upstart comes in. It has the lowest minimum credit score of any lender on our list; its minimum required score is 300, which is the lowest possible score you can have. You can borrow up to $50,000, and, if approved, your loan funds can be disbursed in as little as one day.

• You must have a credit score of 300 or higher.
• You must be the age of majority in your state.
• Your debt-to-income ratio must not exceed 45% if you live in Connecticut, Maryland, New York, or Vermont; in all other states, your debt-to-income ratio cannot exceed 50%.
• You must have fewer than six inquiries on your credit reports within the last 12 months.
• You must have a verifiable source of income.
• You must not be a resident of either West Virginia or Iowa.

Loans for borrowers with bad credit tend to have limited repayment term options; with many, the maximum is 60 months or less. But with Lending Point, you can choose up to 72 months to repay the loan. And while some lenders with longer terms are credit unions with limited memberships, Lending Point is available to the general public. 

With a longer term, you’ll pay more in interest over time, but you’ll get a more affordable monthly payment. When money is tight and you have an emergency expense, being able to spread out the cost over a longer period to get smaller payments can be worth the tradeoff.

Unlike some of the other lenders on our list, Lending Point doesn’t allow co-signers or joint applications, but it has relatively low requirements for income and credit, and it disburses funds as soon as the next day after approval. 

• You must be the age of majority in your state.
• You must live in an eligible state; Lending Point doesn’t offer loans in Nevada or West Virginia.
• You must have a valid Social Security number.
• You must earn at least $35,000 per year.
• You must meet the lender’s credit requirements. 

Most personal loans are unsecured, so lenders determine your eligibility for a loan and your interest rates based on your credit and income. For borrowers with less-than-perfect credit, qualifying for an unsecured loan can be difficult, if not outright impossible. 

Mariner Finance could be a useful option because it offers both unsecured and secured loans. Depending on your credit, Mariner Finance may give you the option of taking out a secured loan with your car or other property as collateral. Opting for a secured loan can improve your chances of qualifying, and you may be able to borrow more at better rates than you would with an unsecured loan. 

Mariner Finance also allows borrowers to apply with co-signers, which can make it easier to qualify for a loan.

Although you can apply for a loan online, you can only apply for loans of $1,500 to $15,000 through the lender’s site. For other loan amounts, you must visit a branch in person.

• You must live in a state where Mariner Finance is licensed to issue personal loans.
• You must be the age of majority in your state.
• You must meet credit and income requirements (or have a creditworthy co-signer).
• Loans cannot be used for post-secondary education expenses, business expenses, investments, or gambling.