Writer: Aaron Crowe
Editor: Lillian Guevara-Castro
Reviewer: Ashley Fricker
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Getting personal loans is often easier from sources other than traditional banks, especially if your credit is less than perfect. For those with subprime credit, alternative lenders specializing in subprime financing can simplify the borrowing process by reducing the usual requirements.
Online lender-matching services can be a good place to start. They work with a network of lenders and can give you multiple options shortly after submitting one form for free online.
The Easiest Personal Loans to Get Online
You may need a quick personal loan for a host of reasons. An emergency such as a hospital visit, a car repair, or getting just enough money to buy groceries before you receive your next paycheck can pop up from time to time.
Here are a few companies that help borrowers get approved for unsecured personal loans, even for those with poor credit scores. Some even offer secured personal loans.
See representative example
1. MoneyMutual
Loan Amount
Interest Rate
Loan Term
Loan Example
Up to $5,000
Varies
Varies
MoneyMutual connects borrowers with lenders that can give them a fast personal loan, with up to $5,000 deposited in their account as soon as the next day.
The company mentions that filling out its online form takes under five minutes. Lenders will assess your details instantly to decide if they wish to collaborate with you. If they do, you’ll be directed to their website to finish the lender’s process, review the loan terms, and sign for the loan if you find it agreeable.
- Personal loans from $500 to $35,000
- All credit types are considered and welcome
- Simple, no credit impact form
- Helping consumers since 2001
- 4.7 out of 5 Trustpilot rating with 2,000+ reviews!
- See official site, terms, and details.
| Loan Amount | Interest Rate | Loan Term | Loan Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| $500 to $35,000 | 5.99% - 35.99% | 60 Days to 72 Months | See representative example |
24/7 Lending Group is a solid choice for, well, anyone. You can get a small loan or a large loan, whether you have good credit or bad credit. And its service is well-reviewed by previous users who claim the network helped them find a quick loan when other lenders wouldn’t.
Once you apply, checking your application status is easy, and you can quickly connect with a lender ready to work with you. This way, you’ll effortlessly compare rates and terms to select the loan offer that best suits your needs.
3. CashUSA.com
- Loans from $500 to $10,000
- Receive a loan decision in minutes
- Get funds directly to your bank account
- Use the loan for any purpose
- See official site, terms, and details.
| Loan Amount | Interest Rate | Loan Term | Loan Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| $500 to $10,000 | 5.99% - 35.99% | 3 to 72 Months | See representative example |
CashUSA.com is one of our top picks in part because it’s one of three companies we recommend that help consumers find personal loans from $500 to as much as $10,000. That can help pay for a major hospital bill if you’ve been in an accident or a loved one has to go to the emergency room.
Its website does a good job explaining how the loan process works for someone with a bad credit score and details the simple eligibility requirements and how to fill out a loan application. While many lenders may not care much about your minimum credit score, they do care about your income. CashUSA.com requires users to have a steady monthly income of at least $1,000 after taxes.
- Quick loans up to $5,000 as soon as tomorrow
- Submit one form, get multiple options
- All credit ratings welcome — good or bad
- Requires a checking account and $800 minimum monthly income to apply
- No collateral or cosigner required
- See official site, terms, and details.
| Loan Amount | Interest Rate | Loan Term | Loan Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| $250 to $5,000 | Varies | Varies | See representative example |
InstallmentLoans.com also has simple requirements for borrowers. It starts with identifying information, such as your driver’s license and cellphone number, and continues with other simple requirements, including having a bank account, a job, and a home address.
A fast personal loan can be approved very quickly. After submitting your information, you’ll receive an on-screen message if you’re approved and connected with a lender. It may take a minute or more to determine whether a lender will work with you, so this network recommends not closing or navigating away from its webpage after completing the form.
- Loans from $500 to $10,000
- Get connected with a lender
- Simple form & quick funding
- Get your money as soon as next the business day, if approved
- See official site, terms, and details.
| Loan Amount | Interest Rate | Loan Term | Loan Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| $500 to $10,000 | 5.99% - 35.99% | 3 to 60 Months | See representative example |
Bad Credit Loans offers some of the smallest loans around, making it easy to solve a small financial problem quickly. Loan amounts of $500 to $10,000 with repayment terms of three months to three years are available.
As with other bad credit lender networks, its lenders don’t require collateral for a small personal loan, and applicants won’t be denied a loan because they have a poor credit history. A steady income and checking account are the only security required.
- Loans from $250 to $35,000
- Large lender network
- Fast loan decision
- Use the loan for any purpose
- Funding as soon as one business day, if approved
- See official site, terms, and details.
| Loan Amount | Interest Rate | Loan Term | Loan Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| $250 to $35,000 | 5.99% - 35.99% | 3 to 72 Months | See representative example |
PersonalLoans.com offers the highest loan amounts among the lending networks we’ve reviewed, with loan amounts of up to $35,000. Your loan can be used for any purpose, which means you can renovate your home, use it as a business loan to get your small business off the ground, or as an auto loan to help you buy a car, among other things.
PersonalLoans has two separate lending networks. One focuses on helping people with poor credit scores, and the other works with people who have good and excellent credit. If your credit score is so bad that none of its lenders offer you a loan, it may share your contact information with other partners that can offer you debt relief, credit repair, credit monitoring, or other services.
- Small personal loans starting at $100
- Receive an approval decision in as little as 2 minutes
- Funds can be deposited into your account in one business day and used for any purpose
- No hidden fees
- See official site, terms, and details.
| Loan Amount | Interest Rate | Loan Term | Loan Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| $100 to $20,000 | Varies | Varies | See representative example |
SmartAdvances.com helps people find payday loans as low as $100 and installment loans as large as $20,000. Filling out its simple form can help connect you with a direct lender willing to work with you, even if you have terrible credit.
What Is The Easiest Loan to Get?
Payday loans are among the easiest to get approval for, but they come with significant risks due to their extremely high interest rates. However, they can be a quick solution when you need funds urgently.
The lending networks we recommend make getting a personal loan easy by giving you multiple loan offers to choose from after you fill out a short loan application form online. It takes only minutes, and the approval requirements are easy for most people to meet.
You may be offered a payday loan, also known as a cash advance or short-term loan, which generally has easy approval requirements.
Even though there’s no guarantee of loan approval or multiple offers, if you meet the basic criteria, it’s likely at least one bad credit lender will present you with a loan offer.
The basic requirements are:
- Age: At least 18.
- Citizenship: Must be a U.S. citizen or resident with a valid Social Security number.
- Income: Reliably collect a specific minimum amount of income or benefits each month, usually $800 to $1,200 after taxes.
- Bank account: Have an active bank or credit union account in your name.
- Identification: Provide a Social Security number, a valid email address, bank account details, and work and/or home phone numbers.
The loans are easy to get in other ways, too. The lenders know that applicants will likely have bad credit.
While lenders may prefer people with an excellent credit history, they realize that people with huge credit card debt, late payments, and other credit problems still need a personal loan from time to time. That’s why lenders are willing to provide loan amounts from $100 to $35,000 to borrowers with bad credit.
A personal loan isn’t a secured loan, meaning that you haven’t put up your home or other valuable possessions as collateral in case you don’t repay the personal loan. To make up for the risk the lender is taking, subprime lenders usually charge higher personal loan rates than what borrowers would likely find if they had a good credit history.
Auto loans and federal student loans are also generally easy to obtain. Lenders recognize the necessity of vehicles, and the government ensures easy access to federal student loans since young borrowers often lack established credit profiles.
How Do I Apply For a Personal Loan?
Applying for a personal loan through a lending network is easy. Each may have its own process, but in general, it follows a certain order.
The online lender starts by asking you to fill out a loan application. The information it may ask you for includes:
- The reason for the loan
- Name
- Zipcode
- Social Security number
- Date of birth
- Address
- Email address
- Phone number
- Loan amount
- Monthly income
Some matching services might stop after gathering basic information from you, while others may forward your application to a lender who will request additional details. Alternatively, the matching service could require more information during the prequalification process. Additional details they might ask for include:
- How long you’ve lived at your address
- If you own or rent
- Employment status
- Length of employment
- How often you’re paid
- Whether you’re active military
- Gross monthly income
- Next payday
- Employer’s contact information
- Driver’s license or state ID number
- Type of bank account you have: checking or savings
- If you’re paid via direct deposit or paper check
- How long you’ve had your bank account
- Credit score (OK to be unsure)
Within minutes, if not seconds, the matching service will identify lenders interested in funding your loan. You may just have to provide bank details, such as your bank’s routing number and account number, so it knows where to deposit your loan proceeds.
The matching service will then likely transfer you to the lender’s website, where you’ll finish the application process by providing more information. This may include the lender asking your permission to conduct a credit check.
The lender should be able to do a credit check within minutes. If you meet its minimum credit score requirement, among other things, then you will receive a loan agreement with the rate and terms of the loan. Read the loan terms and make sure you understand all of them — you’re under no obligation to accept the loan offer.
The loan will likely have a fixed rate, meaning the interest rate will be the same during the repayment term, and the monthly payment will be the same every month. Loan amounts for an unsecured personal loan can be as high as $35,000, though loan approval is easier for smaller loan amounts.
If you accept the loan offer, you’ll complete the paperwork and e-sign the agreement. The cash should be deposited into your bank account in one to two business days. Your loan payment may be automatically withdrawn from your bank account each month.
The loans are generally repaid in three to 72 monthly fixed installment loans. The loan shouldn’t have a prepayment penalty, allowing you to pay it off early without charging you an additional fee. There is no charge to use any lender matching service.
Is a Personal Loan Easy to Get With Bad Credit?
Having bad credit doesn’t mean you can’t qualify for an unsecured personal loan. And it doesn’t have to be a secured personal loan that requires collateral, such as a car loan.
A loan may not be so easy to get from a bank, credit union, or another traditional lender if you have a poor credit history, but the lending services we’ve reviewed are all ready to work with people who have bad credit.
As we listed above, the qualifications for a bad credit loan are usually pretty lenient. MoneyMutual requires only earning a regular monthly income of $800. If you’re only working part time, that requires a salary of $10 per hour before taxes, based on working 80 hours each month, or 20 hours per week.
- Short-term loans up to $5,000
- Online marketplace of lenders
- Funds available in as few as 24 hours
- Simple online form takes less than 5 minutes
- Trusted by more than 2 million customers
- See official site, terms, and details.
| Loan Amount | Interest Rate | Loan Term | Loan Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to $5,000 | Varies | Varies | See representative example |
Those who are self-employed and people on a fixed income, such as through Social Security benefits, can also qualify if they have at least $800 in monthly income. Some lenders will accept a pension, disability, and other types of benefits as qualifying income.
What Credit Score Do I Need For Loan Approval?
These personal loans are a type of signature loan, meaning you only need to sign a legal document agreeing to repay the loan. You don’t have to put up collateral. Without collateral, lenders may use an applicant’s credit score to weigh the risk of whether they’ll repay the loan on time.
FICO is one of the credit score providers often used by lenders. A FICO score below 580 is considered poor or simply bad. FICO scores can be as low as 300, but some lenders may still approve a small loan for someone with this score.
Lenders must have your permission to access your credit report. This is called a hard inquiry and can cause your credit score to drop slightly.
As we’ve mentioned earlier, a low credit score shouldn’t prevent you from being approved for a loan. Other criteria lenders may look at include:
- Stable employment history
- Not changing addresses often
- Steady payment history of bills and debts on time
- No late payments
- Existing debt of no more than 30% of your income
But each lender will have its own approval criteria.
Will My Credit History Be Checked?
Maybe, but you should assume your credit history will be checked by any lender offering you a fast personal loan.
A credit check probably won’t happen during the prequalification phase with a lending network, including the networks we recommend. But once a loan option is presented to you, a lender will likely ask for your approval to run a credit check with at least one credit bureau.
This is a promising indication that your loan funding will likely be approved. Your interest rate hinges on your credit score, with a more favorable rate if your credit is good to excellent.
A hard inquiry on your credit report may lower your credit score a little bit, but it shouldn’t be by much, and the effect won’t be for long.
If you’re worried about your approval chances, you may want to work on raising your credit score. It’s the best way to increase your approval odds for a personal loan since these are a type of unsecured loan, and a credit score is used to determine the chance that a borrower will repay the loan.
Paying your bills on time and keeping your debt levels low are the best ways to raise a credit score. One measurement lenders use is the debt-to-income ratio or DTI. It measures your debt payments compared to your income, and most lenders prefer that your DTI not be higher than 36%. That is, your monthly debt payments don’t exceed 36% of your income.
Credit card debt is another issue. Lower your credit utilization ratio, or CUR, to below 30%. To calculate this ratio, divide the amount of your total credit used by the total available credit you have (card balances divided by credit limits). The less of your available credit you’re using, the better.
Your credit utilization and other debts owed account for 30% of your FICO credit score, so paying down your debt will both lower your CUR and raise your credit score.
Debt consolidation can also help. If you’re paying down a few credit cards, and some have much higher interest rates than others, then consolidating them through a 0% APR balance transfer to one credit card can help you pay off your credit card debt faster.
Are These Loans Payday Loans?
You may be offered a payday loan if you live in a state that permits them, or you may also be offered an installment loan.
Other than CashAdvance and MoneyMutual, most of the lending networks we recommend work with lenders that allow years to repay the loan. That’s not how a payday loan is typically defined, and it doesn’t have to be a repayment option for you.
CashAdvance works with lenders that provide payday loans that must be repaid in 15 to 30 days, and at interest rates starting at 300% and as high as 2,290%.
These personal loans use your next paycheck as collateral if you don’t pay. Almost half of these loans end up in default, some studies show. That means your next paycheck will be swallowed up whole by the payday lender, and your debt will increase.
These should be your last loan option for small emergency loans. They’re high-interest loans, and payment is due quickly. Since half of such borrowers default on the loans, it’s a clear sign that they’re difficult to afford.
Only paying part of the loan, having a late payment, or not paying the loan back at all can cost you additional fees and you could face collections from your lender. If you think you may miss a payment, you should immediately contact your lender and discuss your options. Most lenders are often willing to work with you if you need help.
What Will My Interest Rate Be?
From the lending networks we’ve checked out, some provide sample interest rates from their partner lenders. These rates span from 6% to 36%, with the highest rates typically applied to those with a bad credit history.
CashAdvance focuses on payday loans and charges interest rates of 300% to 2,290%. The highest rates, of course, are for borrowers with a low credit score.
Lending networks will usually warn potential customers that the interest rate varies and depends on the lender. Once you’re approved and matched with a lender, you’ll be transferred to its website where you can review the loan terms, repayment schedule, and all other fees associated with this loan option.
Still, lenders often provide representative examples of interest rates. Bad Credit Loans indicates on its website that its network lenders often charge between 5.99% and 35.99% and that APRs vary according to the information you supply in your loan request.
It gives the representative example of borrowing $2,000 for 12 months with a 19.9% APR and a monthly payment of $183.63. The total repayment will be $2,203.56, meaning you’d pay $203.56 in total interest over a year to borrow $2,000.
The company reminds customers that installment loans are somewhat expensive when compared with other loan products. They’re not recommended as a long-term financial solution, such as debt consolidation, and should only be taken out for emergency financial needs. A debt consolidation loan can take years to pay off.
Your Best Options For the Easiest Personal Loans to Get
The easiest personal loans to get, especially if you have a low credit score, can come from lending networks that specialize in working with borrowers with poor credit.
A cosigner isn’t necessary, though having a cosigner can improve your approval chances and possibly get you a lower interest rate. Instead, you’ll need to meet a few simple, minimum requirements. These include having at least $800 per month in income, a steady job, and a bank account.
The interest rate will likely be higher than it would be if you had good credit, but these types of personal loans are meant for people with poor credit. You can use the money as an emergency loan for whatever you need, and pay it off as quickly as possible. The best personal loan is the one that offers you the lowest APR and has no prepayment penalties.
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