SoFi Personal Loans Review, July 2025

Best online bank loans

Unlike many other online lenders, SoFi is a bank. This means that it makes loans directly instead of going through a third party — you could have your checking, savings, and personal loan all in one place. If this is important to you, consider SoFi's other advantages. 

SoFi offers personal loans up to $100,000 to borrowers with good and better credit, which makes it one of few lenders offering large loans for consolidating credit card and other debts. Other lenders offering very large debt consolidation loans include BHG Financial (up to $250,000), Navy Federal Credit Union (up to $150,000 for home improvement loans), and LightStream. Other loan purposes available with SoFi include:

• Large home improvement projects
• Medical treatments, such as IVF
• Travel, vacation, and major life events

Notably, SoFi’s minimum personal loan amount is $5,000. If you want to borrow less (like $1,000 or $2,000), consider a lender that offers small personal loans.

Good for same-day funding

If you need money fast, SoFi is one of a few lenders that can send money the same day you're approved, as long as you sign documents by the lender's 6 p.m. ET cutoff time. According to SoFi, 82% of typical loans are funded on the same day they are approved, excluding direct pay loans and personal loan refinancing. If you need a loan for debt consolidation or credit card refinancing, that time period is likely to be longer. 

Personal loan funding times vary by lender, but only a handful of online lenders typically offer same-day funding.

SoFi pros and cons

Although SoFi offers some of the best personal loans available, there are also some drawbacks to consider before applying.

Pros

• Fast funding: Once a loan is approved, SoFi can often fund it the same business day.
• FDIC-insured bank: SoFi is one of relatively few personal loan lenders that is a bank itself. It doesn't partner with a bank to originate loans.
• No origination fee required: Personal loans typically come with origination fees to initiate the loan, but SoFi makes them optional. You can choose to pay an upfront origination fee to lower your interest rate or not pay a fee to maximize your loan amount.
• Rate discounts: SoFi currently offers two ways to get a discount on your personal loan interest rate. Enrolling in autopay reduces the interest rate by 0.25%; opening a SoFi Checking and Savings account with qualifying direct deposit saves you another 0.25%.
• More options for repayment terms: Some lenders offer rigid loan repayment terms of 2 to 5 years; some only offer 3- or 5-year payment options. SoFi offers repayment terms ranging from 2 to 7 years.
• High borrowing amount: SoFi offers loans up to $100,000.

Cons

• May need good credit to qualify: Although SoFi doesn’t disclose a minimum credit score requirement, a FICO score in the good credit range (above 670) could improve your odds. Borrowers with excellent credit are most likely to qualify for SoFi’s lowest rates.
• Minimum borrowing amount: If you only need $1,000 or $2,000 — to cover a car repair or unexpected vet bill, for instance — SoFi isn’t the right fit. To get a SoFi personal loan, you have to borrow at least $5,000.
• High minimum APR: SoFi personal loans start at an 8.99% APR, which includes both rate discounts; without those discounts, the lowest possible rate is 9.49%. Some other lenders have lower minimum APRs, such as LightStream (6.49%, with autopay discount).
• No cosigner option: SoFi doesn’t offer personal loans with cosigners, although the lender does allow co-borrowers to apply for joint personal loans.

Read More: Co-applicant vs. Cosigner: What’s the Difference?

How to qualify for a SoFi personal loan

SoFi doesn’t explicitly state its credit score and income requirements, but you can prequalify online in a few minutes, without any impact on your credit score. Prequalification can give you a sense of whether you’ll be approved and at what rate (rates and terms are estimates only).

Credit score and financial history

While SoFi does not disclose its minimum credit score requirements, you’re likely to need a FICO score above 670 to qualify.

SoFi also does not disclose a maximum debt-to-income ratio for personal loan approval, but personal loan lenders typically prefer a DTI below 36%.

Income and employment

SoFi does not explicitly indicate what its income and employment requirements are, but the lender does state that it considers your monthly income and expenses when determining your eligibility for a personal loan.

Specifically, SoFi indicates that an applicant should be employed and/or have sufficient income to be approved. Alternative income, such as disability benefits or passive income (like from rental properties), may be enough to qualify.

Finally, SoFi also states that you may be able to qualify for a personal loan if you don’t currently have a job but have an offer of employment to start within the next 90 days.

Read More: How To Get a Personal Loan if You’re Unemployed

SoFi personal loan purposes

People use personal loans for everything from debt consolidation and home renovations to moving costs, vacations, and weddings. Although SoFi loans made through Credible can be used only for debt consolidation and credit card refinancing, borrowers applying on the SoFi website can also apply for loans covering:

• Home improvement
• Medical expenses
• Vacation expenses
• Moving expenses
• Wedding expenses
• Family planning (such as adoption or IVF treatment)
• Car repairs
• Funeral expenses

Notably, there are a few things you can’t use a personal loan for, from SoFi or any other lender. Those restrictions typically include:

• College tuition
• Business expenses
• A down payment on a home
• Gambling
• Any illegal purchases

SoFi personal loan fees and penalties

SoFi advertises its personal loans as largely fee-free, but you’ll want to read the fine print carefully as part of your due diligence before moving forward. Here are some specific personal loan fees and how they work at SoFi.

Loan origination fees

SoFi advertises that its personal loans have “no origination fees required,” which is an admittedly confusing, yet very specific, way of phrasing this.

Personal loan origination fees are charged at the beginning of a loan (think of it as the cost of underwriting and processing) and are expressed as a percentage of that loan. For instance, a 5% origination fee on a $10,000 loan would be $500. Typically, the lender would deduct that $500 from your loan proceeds upfront, meaning you’d actually receive $9,500, but you’d have to repay the full $10,000 personal loan.

Some lenders offer personal loans with no origination fees, usually for borrowers with great credit. SoFi, however, makes origination fees optional, from 0% to 7%.

Why would you ever agree to an origination fee if they’re not required? According to SoFi, opting into an origination fee could yield a lower interest rate.

Learn More: APR vs. Interest Rate on a Personal Loan: What To Know

Early repayment penalties

Very few lenders charge you if you pay off your loan early. SoFi also does not.

Other fees

Many lenders charge late fees on personal loans if you miss a payment. SoFi notably does not charge late fees.

However, you still don’t want to miss personal loan payments. Depending on how late you are, SoFi may report the late payment to the credit bureaus, which can lower your credit score.

How SoFi compares to other lenders

How to contact SoFi

You can contact SoFi customer support in a number of ways. The easiest is the chat function online, but note that you need to have an account — so if you have questions before moving forward with a SoFi personal loan, you may need to choose another option.

You can call SoFi’s personal loan support team at 855-456-7634 during the following business hours:

• Monday through Thursday, 5 a.m.-7 p.m. PT
• Friday through Sunday, 5 a.m.-5 p.m. PT

Additionally, you can tweet SoFi on X with the @SoFiSupport handle.

About SoFi personal loans

SoFi is a combination online lender/bank, nationally chartered and FDIC-insured. SoFi, which stands for Social Finance, Inc., was founded in August 2011, but the company did not begin offering personal loans until 2015. Headquartered in San Francisco, the company has more than 10 million members and has funded more than $73 billion in loans (across all loan types). 

Rating SoFi personal loans

Credible evaluates personal loan lenders based on factors such as customer experience, minimum fixed rate, maximum loan amount, funding time, loan terms, and fees. Credible’s team of experts gathered information from each lender’s website, customer service department, in-house resources, and via email support. Each data point was verified to make sure it was accurate at the time of publication.

Learn more about how Credible rates lenders by exploring our personal loans lender rating methodology.