Ally Bank Personal Loans: 3 Alternatives

Ally Bank personal loans: 3 alternatives

Editorial Note: Intuit Credit Karma receives compensation from third-party advertisers, but that doesn’t affect our editors’ opinions. Our third-party advertisers don’t review, approve or endorse our editorial content. Information about financial products not offered on Credit Karma is collected independently. Our content is accurate to the best of our knowledge when posted.

We think it's important for you to understand how we make money. It's pretty simple, actually. The offers for financial products you see on our platform come from companies who pay us. The money we make helps us give you access to free credit scores and reports and helps us create our other great tools and educational materials.

Compensation may factor into how and where products appear on our platform (and in what order). But since we generally make money when you find an offer you like and get, we try to show you offers we think are a good match for you. That's why we provide features like your Approval Odds and savings estimates.

Of course, the offers on our platform don't represent all financial products out there, but our goal is to show you as many great options as we can.

Ally Bank doesn’t offer personal loans directly. You’ll have to go through a healthcare provider or home improvement contractor that partners with Ally Lending to issue medical loans or home improvement loans.

If you’re looking for a personal loan for another purpose — like consolidating debt or making a major purchase — and you want to work directly with a lender, one of these three could be a good alternative.

Best for debt consolidation: Discover
Best member perks: SoFi
Best for large loan amounts: Wells Fargo

Best for debt consolidation: Discover

Why you may want to consider Discover: Unlike Ally, Discover offers personal loans for debt consolidation. And if you’re looking to consolidate high-interest credit card debt, Discover can usually pay off your lenders directly. This can be helpful if you think you might be tempted to spend the loan funds on other things.

Limited fees — Discover doesn’t charge any application or origination fees, and there are no prepayment penalties for paying your loan off early. But you will be charged a fee for any late payments.
Loan amounts — Discover offers personal loans between $2,500 and $40,000. There’s no collateral required to take out a loan, and you’ll receive a fixed interest rate.
Multiple repayment terms — Discover offers some choices for the length of your repayment period on a personal loan: 36, 48, 60, 72 and 84 months. That can help you nail down a monthly payment amount that works for you — but remember that a longer term usually means paying more interest over the life of the loan.

To learn more, read our Discover personal loan review.

Best member perks: SoFi

Why you may want to consider SoFi: SoFi offers personal loans between $5,000 and $100,000 that can be used to consolidate debt, fund home improvement projects and even finance IVF. And SoFi offers unique benefits for its members like unemployment protection — so if you lose your job, SoFi may be able to put your loan into forbearance for you.

Fees — SoFi doesn’t charge any prepayment penalties or origination fees.
Fast application and funding — The online application process is quick, and if you’re approved you may be get same-day funding. (The exact timing will depend on your bank.)

To learn more, read our SoFi personal loan review.

Best for large loan amounts: Wells Fargo

Why you may want to consider Wells Fargo: Wells Fargo offers personal loans that can be used to pay down debt, fund a major expense or pay for home improvements. You can apply for an unsecured loan between $3,000 and $100,000 with competitive rates.

Multiple loan terms — Wells Fargo offers multiple loan repayment terms between 12 and 84 months.
No fees — A Wells Fargo personal loan doesn’t have any origination fees, closing costs or prepayment penalties.
Fast credit decision — Wells Fargo says most customers will get word if they’re approved or not the same day they apply.

To learn more, read our Wells Fargo personal loan review.

How we picked these alternatives

Since Ally Bank is an online lender, we looked for other lenders that offer personal loans online. We considered things like fees, loan terms and amounts, ease of application and time until funding, as well as any other features that might make a loan stand out. We also looked for personal loans that offer uses Ally doesn’t, like the ability to use a loan to consolidate debt.

About the author: Jamie Johnson is a Kansas City-based freelance writer who specializes in finance and business. She covers a variety of personal finance topics, including building credit, credit cards, personal loans and student loans… Read more.