Personal Loan Rates: Best Lenders of October 2026

Personal loan rates are affected by the current interest rate environment, plus factors like your credit score, income, and existing debt. The chart below shows average APRs and chances of approval, by credit score. 

Personal loans are a type of installment loan — you receive a lump sum of money upfront and repay that amount over a set number of years. Payments are made monthly and, unlike credit cards, payments and interest rates are typically fixed. Fixed rates mean your monthly payments won’t change even if rates go up, which is helpful with budgeting. Here are the features of most personal loans:

• Repayment terms between 2 and 7 years: Repayment terms can extend from under 1 year to over 10 years, depending on the lender and loan purpose. Most personal loan terms range from 2 to 7 years.
• Loan amounts from $1,000 to $50,000+: Loan amounts are typically available between $1,000 and $50,000, depending on the lender and what you can qualify for. But some lenders offer loan amounts over $100,000 (one even offers $250,000 loans).
• Interest rates from 5.99% to 35.99%: The rate you get depends largely on your credit score, income, and current debt. If you have excellent credit, you’re most likely to qualify for rates below 10%. If you have fair credit, the rate you qualify for may be in the mid- to high 20% APR range. If you can qualify for a loan with bad credit, you’re likely looking at an APR above 30%.
• Possible origination fees: Some loans charge origination fees — a percentage of the loan, often deducted from the amount you receive. Origination fees typically don’t exceed 10% (but can), and are less likely and lower when you have good credit. Other fees that may be charged include late fees and insufficient funds fees.
• Funding within days: If approved, most personal loan lenders can disburse funds within a few business days — some can send money as soon as the same day you apply. Applying is relatively quick (you can expect to finish the application within 30 minutes), with instant approval decisions common — especially if you have very good credit.
• Can be used for a wide array of purposes: Personal loans, like credit cards, are the Swiss Army knife of the lending world. You can use them for virtually anything, aside from illegal activities, gambling, higher education, and a down payment on a home. Many lenders don’t allow them for business purposes either.  

If a lender charges an upfront fee, it’s expressed as part of the APR along with the interest rate. An APR represents the total cost of borrowing money, expressed as a percentage. Lenders are required by the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) to display APRs instead of interest rates, so that you can better compare overall loan costs. If the lender charges no upfront fees, the interest rate and APR are the same. Fees that are avoidable, like late fees or insufficient funds fees, are not expressed in the loan’s APR.

This list is not all-inclusive, but you’re typically allowed to use personal loans for debt consolidation, credit card refinancing, home renovations and repairs, major purchases, vacation expenses, medical expenses, emergency expenses, moving costs, bills and rent, auto repairs, used car purchases, and auto refinancing. 

Credible borrowers used their personal loans in more than 20 different ways last year. However, personal loan statistics show that the five most common purposes accounted for about 88% of loans approved through the Credible marketplace:

• Debt consolidation: 40%
• Credit card refinancing: 26%
• Home improvement: 9%
• Major purchase: 8%
• Paying bills or rent: 5%

You’re generally not allowed to use a personal loan for college tuition, a down payment on a house, gambling, buying securities, cryptocurrency, or other investments, illegal purposes, or to buy real estate. You’re sometimes allowed to use a personal loan for business expenses. 

Learn More: What Are Personal Loans Used For?

Personal loans cost much less than credit cards, on average — two-year personal loan interest rates are more than 10 percentage points lower than credit card interest rates, according to the Federal Reserve. For example: 

• If you put $10,000 on a credit card at the average rate of 22.15% and paid it off in two years, you’d pay $520 per month and spend $2,469 on interest. 
• If you used a two-year personal loan and were approved at the average rate of 11.86%, you’d pay $470 per month and only $1,282 in interest.

A 0% APR credit card could be much less expensive than a personal loan if you can afford to pay off the expense (or the bulk of it) before the promotional period expires and the card's regular APR goes into effect. However, there’s no guarantee you’ll be approved for a card with the credit limit you need for your purchase.

The cost of a personal loan depends primarily on your credit score, the length of the repayment term, and how much you borrow. Lower credit scores and longer repayment terms lead to higher APRs, while a shorter repayment term and/or higher credit score can lead to a lower rate.

The following cost estimates are based on APRs typical of each credit score range.

Getting a loan with bad credit (a FICO score below 580) can be difficult. According to 12 months of Credible personal loans data, less than 1% of borrowers with bad credit were able to prequalify for a personal loan. There are a few steps bad-credit borrowers can take that may make a big difference:

• Apply with a cosigner or co-applicant: A cosigner is liable if you don't make payments. This reduces the lender's risk, which makes them more likely to lend you money without good credit. But lenders that allow cosigners on personal loans are less common than those that allow co-borrowers. Unlike a cosigner, a co-borrower is someone who also benefits from the loan — they have equal access to loan funds. They're also equally responsible for repayment. In either case, the lender considers the other person’s income, credit score, and debt along with yours deciding whether to approve your application. 
• Apply for a smaller loan amount: Having bad credit will increase your interest rate, which in turn increases your monthly payment. If the lender doesn't think you can afford that payment (based on your income and current debts), it could deny your application. In this case, a smaller loan amount (and monthly payment) could be the difference between approval and denial. In fact, borrowers approved with bad credit received smaller loan amounts, on average, than borrowers with better credit, based on 12 months of Credible closed loans data. 
• Become an authorized user: This can be a fast-track way to improve your credit score if high balances or a lack of revolving accounts are keeping it down. When you become an authorized user on someone else's credit card, that account is typically added to your credit report — increasing your available credit by however much credit the primary cardholder has available. Since most credit card companies report authorized users to credit bureaus, it means the cardholder's positive (or negative) payment history is added to your report too. If someone is late on payments or has maxed out their credit card, this strategy is unlikely to work in your favor — and could work against it.
• Apply with a bad-credit lender: Sometimes your application is denied because you didn't meet the lender's minimum credit score requirement. But some lenders consider borrowers with credit scores below 580, like Reprise and OneMain Financial. Before applying with any lender, confirm your credit score is at least good enough to meet the minimum requirement. 
• Improve your credit score: A FICO score closer to 580-669 (fair credit) could make you eligible for a loan with more lenders (like Universal Credit, Avant, and Upgrade). Start by checking your credit reports for errors — if a paid account has been misreported, for example, file a dispute with the bureau reporting it. You can view all three of your consumer credit reports for free weekly through the federally authorized AnnualCreditReport.com. Otherwise, practice good credit habits by paying debts on time and keeping your credit utilization low. 
• Reduce your debt-to-income ratio: It may seem counterintuitive, but if there’s a way for you to pay down debt before you apply for a loan, you could improve your chances of qualifying. Your debt-to-income ratio (DTI) represents the percentage of your gross income that goes toward debt — add up all your minimum monthly debt payments and divide that by your total monthly income (before taxes). The lower your DTI, the better. A DTI over 40% may be seen as a red flag that might lead to a loan denial, especially if paired with bad credit.

Disclosure: Credible's prequalification form is not able to accept requests to add cosigners or co-applicants to personal loans at this time. If you wish to request a personal loan with a cosigner or co-applicant, please visit your preferred lender directly. You can still check prequalified rates individually on Credible.

If you're approved for and accept a personal loan, it will be recorded on your credit report, along with a hard credit check. The hard credit check can lower your credit score for up to one year, typically between a few points and 10 points.

The difference is when the hard credit check is applied. Here’s a rundown of which actions can impact your credit score and how:

• Prequalifying won’t hurt your credit: A soft credit check is run to determine APRs, loan amounts, and terms you’re likely to qualify for — it won't affect your credit score.
• Applying for a loan with most lenders will ding your score: When you submit your application is when most lenders perform a hard credit check. Even if you don’t move forward with the loan, the hard check would still apply and your score could drop. A few exceptions include BHG Financial, 60 Month Loans, and Upgrade. These lenders place the hard pull after you accept the loan, but not if you don’t. 

While prequalification won’t hurt your credit, prequalification quotes are not lender offers. Your rate could change once you formally apply (or you might not be offered a loan at all). You’ll need to apply to receive an actual loan offer, which is why it’s advantageous to apply with lenders that don’t hard-pull your credit until you accept an offer.

• Principal: The original amount of money borrowed.
• Interest rate: The percentage charged on an annual basis for borrowing money. It’s based on the current loan amount.
• APR (annual percentage rate): Indicates the total annual cost of the loan, including interest and certain upfront fees, like origination fees.
• Origination fee: A fee many lenders charge when you get a loan — it’s typically charged upfront and more common for borrowers without good credit.
• Fixed interest rate: An interest rate that stays the same throughout the loan term. Personal loan rates are typically fixed.
• Secured loan: A loan backed by collateral, such as your car, a savings account, or another asset.
• Unsecured loan: A loan that does not require collateral and is primarily based on creditworthiness, as opposed to the value of a tied asset.
• Debt-to-income ratio (DTI): The percentage of your gross monthly income that goes toward debt payments.
• Prequalification: An initial estimate of the loan terms you may qualify for, typically based on a soft credit check.
• Hard credit inquiry (or check): A credit check conducted as part of a formal loan application can bring your credit score down by a few to 10 points for up to one year.
• Soft credit inquiry (or check): A credit check that does not affect your credit score.
• Default: Failure to repay the loan according to the loan agreement.
• Delinquency: A payment that is past due but has not necessarily reached default status.
• Amortization: The process of scheduling payments, including both principal and interest, over a period of time. Personal loans are amortized such that payments remain fixed for the life of the loan.
• Co-borrower: Another person who applies for the loan and shares access to the funds and responsibility for repayment, also called a co-applicant.
• Cosigner: A person who guarantees a loan for someone else — they agree to repay the loan if the primary borrower does not.

Credible evaluated 32 lenders across 1,184 data points to choose the best lender overall plus top picks for different borrowers and use cases. Across lenders, we collected data on customer experience and service options, minimum and maximum fixed interest rates, minimum and maximum loan amounts, funding times, loan terms, fees, discounts, third-party reviews, and more.

We assigned a score to each attribute based on how that feature compared with the same feature for every other lender in the set. Scores were weighted according to their relative importance — for instance, maximum origination fee scores received a high weight since loan cost is among the most important factors in determining loan value. Individual attribute scores were then added to determine each lender's overall star rating. 

Attributes were grouped into categories; each category contributed to lender scores as follows: 

• Borrower cost (22.5%): Origination fee ranges and minimum and maximum APRs measure upfront and overall costs and lender accessibility across credit score groups.
• Flexibility (22.5%): Maximum loan terms, number of loan purposes, minimum and maximum loan amounts, and availability of joint and secured loans measure the range of options for loan size, repayment terms, and loan types.
• Eligibility and availability (22.5%): Minimum income requirements, funding speed, minimum credit score requirements, and state availability measure how easily and how quickly borrowers can access personal loans.
• Reputation (15%): Trustpilot, Better Business Bureau, and J.D. Power ratings measure customer satisfaction.
• Discounts, customer service, and account management (12.5%): Discounts for autopay and direct pay, plus availability of mobile apps and live customer support chat, measure borrower perks and ease of loan management.
• Partner lender data (5%): Data from loans closed by our partners, including average rates, loan amounts, funding time, and eligibility criteria, measure real-world performance and borrower outcomes.

Non-partner lenders were evaluated based on the same criteria but not assigned star ratings. Learn more about how Credible rates lenders by exploring our full personal loans lender rating methodology.

Credible is a personal loans marketplace that partners directly with lenders to offer loans for a wide range of credit profiles and loan purposes. Because of these relationships, we have access to the most current interest rates that real borrowers are being approved for, along with average rates by credit score and loan purpose, approval rates overall and by lender, and more. Lender-specific data is based on 12 months of loans closed by that lender on the Credible marketplace. Lenders may also provide product and eligibility insights that we share in reviews. The data we use is primary source data and does not include any personally identifiable information about borrowers.