Best for:
- Borrowers who want to borrow $50,000 or less
- Borrowers with good to excellent credit
- Borrowers who can wait a few days to receive loan funds
If you need a relatively small personal loan for debt consolidation, moving expenses, or home improvements, PenFed Credit Union could be a good choice.
PenFed offers loans with competitive interest rates and loan terms as long as five years.
In this post:
- PenFed interest rates and loan details
- PenFed personal loans review
- How PenFed compares to other lenders
- How to take out a personal loan with PenFed
- What to consider before applying for a PenFed personal loan
PenFed interest rates and loan details
PenFed Credit Union offers fixed-rate personal loans to borrowers with good to excellent credit.
You can use its loans for a variety of personal expenses, including credit card consolidation, debt consolidation, home improvement, medical bills, or even your dream wedding.
Here are the most important features you should know about PenFed personal loans:
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| Credible rating | 
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| Fixed rates | 8.49% - 17.99% APR |
| Loan amounts | $600 to $50,000 |
| Loan terms | 1 to 5 years |
| Min. credit score | 700 |
| Time to fund | 2 to 4 business days after verification |
| Cosigner permitted | Yes |
| Fees | None |
| Loan use | Solely for personal, family, or household uses |
| Best for | Debt consolidation or home improvement |
PenFed personal loans review
Established in 1935, PenFed serves more than 2 million credit union members. It offers personal loans to borrowers in the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, Okinawa, and all states except Massachusetts.
While some credit unions restrict membership eligibility based on factors like where you live or what company you work for, anyone can join PenFed.
PenFed is also unique in that it offers a wide range of loan amounts — you can borrow as little as $600 or as much as $50,000. What’s more, PenFed doesn’t charge an origination fee or prepayment penalty. Considering that other lenders charge as much as 10% to originate loans, PenFed borrowers stand to save a significant amount of money, especially on larger loans.
If you’re approved for a loan with PenFed, you’ll typically receive your loan funds within two to four business days after verification.
How to qualify
To get a personal loan through PenFed, you’ll need:
- Good to excellent credit
- Stable income with a debt-to-income ratio that shows you can comfortably afford your loan payments
While you don’t need to be a PenFed member to qualify for a loan, you’ll have to join the credit union if you decide to accept the loan. The process is easy, and military affiliation isn’t required. When you receive your loan, PenFed will open a savings account for you preloaded with $5 to establish your membership.
Also keep in mind that PenFed is one of the few personal loan lenders that allows applicants to apply with a cosigner. This could help you get approved if you have less-than-perfect credit or have insufficient income. Applying with a cosigner might also help you qualify for a lower interest rate.
Learn More: Good Credit Personal Loans
Repayment
PenFed’s personal loans have repayment terms ranging from one to five years. The right loan term for you will depend on your unique situation. A short one-year term minimizes the amount of interest you pay and is especially suitable for small loans. A longer term stretches out payments on larger loans to keep them affordable.
PenFed doesn’t charge prepayment penalties, so if you can afford it, you can pay off the loan early to save even more on interest.
Learn More: Personal Loans for Fair Credit
How PenFed compares to other lenders
The best way to determine whether a particular lender is right for you is to compare its loan features against those from competing lenders. Here’s a look at how PenFed stacks up against two other Credible partner lenders:
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Credible Rating
Credible lender ratings are evaluated by our editorial team with the help of our loan operations team. The rating criteria for lenders encompass 78 data points spanning interest rates, loan terms, eligibility requirement transparency, repayment options, fees, discounts, customer service, cosigner options, and more. Read our full methodology.
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Credible Rating
Credible lender ratings are evaluated by our editorial team with the help of our loan operations team. The rating criteria for lenders encompass 78 data points spanning interest rates, loan terms, eligibility requirement transparency, repayment options, fees, discounts, customer service, cosigner options, and more. Read our full methodology.
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Credible Rating
Credible lender ratings are evaluated by our editorial team with the help of our loan operations team. The rating criteria for lenders encompass 78 data points spanning interest rates, loan terms, eligibility requirement transparency, repayment options, fees, discounts, customer service, cosigner options, and more. Read our full methodology.
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|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed rates | 8.49% - 17.99% APR | 7.99% - 15.19% APR | 6.99% - 35.99% APR |
| Loan terms | 1 to 5 years | 3 to 6 years | 2 to 5 years |
| Loan amount | $600 to $50,000 | $10,000 to $50,000 | $2,000 to $50,000 |
| Time to get funds | 2 to 4 business days after verification | Next business day | As soon as one business day |
| Min. credit score | 700 | 740 | 640 |
| Origination fee | None | 0% to 2% | 2.4% to 5% |
| Best for |
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How to take out a personal loan with PenFed
Getting a prequalified rate from PenFed won’t affect your credit score. If you like what you see and want to apply, you’ll need to verify your identity and document your income by submitting pay stubs, bank statements, and W-2 forms. PenFed will tell you exactly what documents it needs to process your application.
You don’t have to be a PenFed Credit Union member to apply for a personal loan, but you must join if you want to accept your loan offer.
Before applying for a PenFed loan, be sure to shop around with as many lenders as possible to get a personal loan that’s right for you. Credible makes this easy. You can compare rates from multiple lending partners — including PenFed — in two minutes.
After you’ve chosen a lender, you can complete your application online, close your loan, and get the money you need.
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What to consider before applying for a PenFed personal loan
PenFed is a solid option for borrowers with good credit who want a wide range of loan amounts and flexible repayment terms. But before you apply for a loan, keep these things in mind:
- May not qualify if you have bad credit: PenFed requires applicants to have a minimum credit score of 700 to qualify for one of its loans. If your score is lower than that and you don’t have a cosigner with good credit, you may need to look for a different lender.
- No loan amounts greater than $50,000: PenFed’s maximum loan amount is only $50,000, which is lower than the maximum of some other lenders. If you have a larger home improvement project or need more money to pay off credit cards, you’ll need to find another lender.
No two borrowers are alike, so the best loan for someone else might not be the best one for you. Credible makes it easy to evaluate loans and rates so you have all the information to make the right choice for your needs.
Keep Reading: Personal Loans for Bad Credit
Kat Tretina contributed to the reporting for this article.
The company above is one of Credible’s approved partner lenders. Because they compete for your business through Credible, you can request prequalified rates from them by filling out a single form. Then, you can compare your available options side-by-side. Requesting prequalified rates is free and doesn’t affect your credit score. Credible receives compensation if you close a loan with one of our partner lenders. The rates you receive and the fees you pay (if any) are not impacted by this compensation.
About Rates and Terms: Rates for personal loans provided by lenders on the Credible platform range between 5.40%-35.99% APR with terms from 12 to 84 months. Rates presented include lender discounts for enrolling in autopay and loyalty programs, where applicable. Actual rates may be different from the rates advertised and/or shown and will be based on the lender’s eligibility criteria, which include factors such as credit score, loan amount, loan term, credit usage and history, and vary based on loan purpose. The lowest rates available typically require excellent credit, and for some lenders, may be reserved for specific loan purposes and/or shorter loan terms. The origination fee charged by the lenders on our platform ranges from 0% to 10%. Each lender has their own qualification criteria with respect to their autopay and loyalty discounts (e.g., some lenders require the borrower to elect autopay prior to loan funding in order to qualify for the autopay discount). All rates are determined by the lender and must be agreed upon between the borrower and the borrower’s chosen lender. For a loan of $10,000 with a three year repayment period, an interest rate of 7.99%, a $350 origination fee and an APR of 11.51%, the borrower will receive $9,650 at the time of loan funding and will make 36 monthly payments of $313.32. Assuming all on-time payments, and full performance of all terms and conditions of the loan contract and any discount programs enrolled in included in the APR/interest rate throughout the life of the loan, the borrower will pay a total of $11,279.43. As of March 12, 2019, none of the lenders on our platform require a down payment nor do they charge any prepayment penalties.
