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Happy Money Personal Loans Review

Happy Money offers personal loans to help borrowers consolidate high-interest credit card debt.

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By Matt Carter
Matt Carter

Written by

Matt Carter

Writer

Matt Carter is an expert on student loans. Analysis pieces he's contributed to have been featured by CNBC, CNN Money, USA Today, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post.

Updated March 21, 2024

Editorial disclosure: Our goal is to give you the tools and confidence you need to improve your finances.

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Happy Money could be a good option if you have fair credit or better, but are paying higher rates than you’d like on your credit cards or other installment loans.

Best credit card consolidation loans

Happy Money, previously known as Payoff, provides personal loans to borrowers to help them pay off high-interest debt at lower interest rates. The company says borrowers who pay off at least $5,000 in credit card debt boost their FICO Score by 40 points on average.

Founded in 2009, Happy Money is an online lending platform that offers personal loans to help borrowers pay off high-interest credit card debt. The company says on its website that it’s helped more than 208,000 members by working with lending partners to fund more than $3.7 billion in personal loans.

The lender’s Payoff Loan is designed to help you reduce and get rid of your high-interest credit card debt. You can’t use a Payoff Loan for other purposes, like home improvement projects or vacations, but the lender says it may be able to help with certain personal unsecured installment loans.

Best for consolidating credit card debt

Happy Money

3.9

Credible Rating

Check Rates

on Credible’s website

Est. APR

11.72 - 17.99%

Loan Amount

$3000 to $40000

Min. Credit Score

640

Pros and cons

More details

Why should I consolidate high-interest debt?

Consolidating high-interest debt can help your credit score in three ways: by reducing the overall amount of debt you owe, lowering your credit utilization ratio, and improving your credit mix.

Your credit utilization ratio is how much credit you’re using compared to the total amount of available credit you have. Consolidating credit card debt with a personal loan will lower your credit utilization ratio once you pay off your credit card balances, which can help increase your credit score.

Your credit mix is the different types of credit you have (like auto loans, credit cards, or mortgages). Adding a personal loan to your credit mix and making on-time payments can also help your score, as your credit report will show that you’re able to handle repayment for multiple types of credit products.

Check Out: How Debt Consolidation Helps Your Credit

Happy Money personal loan rates and fees

Not only does Happy Money offer some of the lowest personal loan rates to those who qualify, it doesn’t charge a prepayment penalty for repaying your entire loan balance ahead of schedule. Even if you have shaky credit and are approved for a Happy Money loan at the higher end of its APR range, this rate will still likely be lower than other financial products, like credit cards or payday loans.

Like many lenders, Happy Money charges an origination fee, which is a fee that lenders often charge to process a loan. Happy Money’s origination fee ranges from 0% to 5% of the total loan balance.

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Good to know

An origination fee is the only fee that Happy Money charges. It’s a one-time fee that will be taken out of your total loan funds.

How to qualify

Happy Money provides detailed information on exactly what it’s looking for in order to approve your loan request. You have to check five boxes with Happy Money in order to qualify for a personal loan.

  1. Credit score: Happy Money won’t make loans to borrowers who have credit scores of less than 600.
  2. Debt-to-income ratio: The percentage of your pre-tax monthly income that’s needed to make monthly payments for housing, credit cards, and other debts can’t exceed 50%. Learn how to calculate your debt-to-income ratio.
  3. Age of credit history: You need at least three years of good credit history to qualify with Happy Money.
  4. Open tradelines: Happy Money wants to see you’ve got at least two lines of credit (such as credit card accounts) and no more than one installment loan (like a car loan), and that you’re making payments on them on time.
  5. No delinquencies: You can’t have any current delinquencies or any delinquencies that were longer than 90 days overdue within the last year.

Learn More: How To Prequalify for a Personal Loan

Fast loan approval

If your loan application is approved, Happy Money can either deposit your loan funds into your bank account or pay your credit card balances directly.

If you’re having the funds deposited into your bank account, the time to fund a Happy Money personal loan is between three and six business days after you sign your loan documents. If you opt to have Happy Money send the money to your credit cards, those funds should appear on your card statement within 30 days after you sign your loan documents.

Loan repayment options

You can make monthly payments on your Happy Money personal loan in a few different ways: Have the payments automatically deducted from your bank account, log in to your online account and authorize a one-time payment from your checking account, or send a paper check by mail each month.

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Note

If you send a paper check, the lender suggests putting it in the mail at least seven days before your payment is due so that it’ll be paid on time.

The lender advises its members to set up automatic payments because it’s the easiest way to make sure the payments are made on time each month.

How Happy Money compares to other lenders

Here's how Happy Money compares to other lenders who specialize in debt consolidation.

Credible rating

APR from11.72 - 17.99%
Loan Amount$3000 to $40000
Term Length2 - 5
Min. Credit Score640

Credible rating

APR from7.99 - 29.99%
Loan Amount$10,000 to $50,000
Term Length2 - 5
Min. Credit Score620
Read Our Review

Credible rating

APR from8.49 - 35.99%
Loan Amount$1000 to $50000
Term Length2 - 7
Min. Credit Score600
Read Our Review

Things to consider before applying

While Happy Money can be a great option for consolidating credit card debt, keep in mind that you won’t eligible for a loan from Happy Money if:

  • Your credit score is less than 600
  • You live in Massachusetts or Nevada
  • You have less than three years of good credit

How to take out a personal loan with Happy Money

When looking for the best personal loans for debt consolidation, comparing rates from multiple lenders can maximize your savings. Don’t forget to factor in any fees, and remember that the repayment term will also affect your monthly payment. Shorter repayment terms will usually get you a better interest rate, but be prepared to make bigger monthly payments.

Credible allows you to compare prequalified personal loan rates, repayment terms and monthly payments available to you from multiple lenders, including Happy Money.

Use our personal loan calculator below to see how much your monthly payments might be.

Meet the expert:
Matt Carter
Matt Carter

Matt Carter is an expert on student loans. Analysis pieces he's contributed to have been featured by CNBC, CNN Money, USA Today, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post.