Best personal installment loans

Sarah Brodsky Written by:
Erin Dunn Edited by:
Updated
•5 min read • Leer en español
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If you’re planning a major purchase or looking to consolidate debt, you may want to shop for a personal installment loan.

These loans let you make fixed monthly payments on the amount you borrow for a set period, which can give you a predictable timetable for when you’ll pay off your debt. You may also see personal installment loans referred to as just personal loans.

These are our picks for the best installment loans, sorted by key categories.

Best for poor credit: OneMain Financial

Why OneMain Financial stands out: OneMain Financial is a potential loan option for people who need bad credit loans. The lender has about 1,300 branches, so you can ask questions or get help with an application in person.

  • Offers secured and unsecured loans — Whether you have collateral can affect your chances of approval and the loan terms you may be offered. OneMain Financial requires a lien on an eligible car for large loans.
  • Relatively high interest rates — While OneMain offers APRs that are better than what you’ll likely pay on a title loan or a payday loan, its rates are higher than what some other personal loan lenders offer.
  • Fees — Origination fees vary by state. You could be charged a flat fee between $25 and $500, or between 1% and 10% of your loan amount. You might also be charged late fees and nonsufficient funds fees, which vary depending on your state.
  • Accepts joint applications — You can apply with someone else, so if you have a co-applicant with better credit, that could boost your chances of getting approved.

Read reviews of OneMain Financial personal loans to learn more.

Best for debt consolidation: Happy Money Payoff loan

Why Happy Money’s Payoff loan stands out: Happy Money’s Payoff loan offers an option for people who want to consolidate credit card debt. You can check if you prequalify by sharing information about your income, credit and savings, and Happy Money presents potential loan options with different rates, monthly payments and loan lengths.

  • Direct payments to creditors — Your funds can be sent directly to credit card issuers, which takes some of the hassle out of consolidating multiple debts.
  • Doesn’t require excellent credit — You could get approved with credit scores of 620 or higher, but Happy Money says you can’t have any open delinquencies on your credit report when you apply.
  • Range of loan amounts — Happy Money offers personal loans from $5,000 to $50,000, with repayment terms between two years and seven years.

Read reviews of Happy Money’s Payoff personal loan to learn more.

Best online loan experience: Happen Bank (formerly LendingClub)

Why Happen Bank stands out: With Happen Bank (formerly known as LendingClub), you can go through the entire application online — including on a mobile device. A detailed help section offers guidance on each step of the application.

  • Co-applicants allowed — You have the option to apply jointly with someone else. If that person has better credit, a joint application might get you a better rate or a larger loan amount than you’d be approved for on your own.
  • Loan terms — Loans are available in 24- to 60-month terms, with loan amounts of $1,000 to $75,000. That’s a good range, whether you need a small loan for an emergency expense or a larger amount for a major purchase.

Read reviews of Happen Bank personal loans to learn more.

Best for large loans: SoFi

Why SoFi stands out: SoFi offers personal loans between $5,000 and $100,000. In comparison, other lenders often cap their loans at $40,000 to $50,000.

  • Funds may be disbursed quickly — Borrowers may get the money from their loan as soon as the same day their loan is approved. (The exact timing will depend on your bank.)
  • Discount for automatic payments — You can get a discount on your APR of 0.25% if you set up autopay. SoFi also offers a 0.25% member discount rate for those who qualify.
  • Good credit likely needed — While SoFi’s advertised eligibility criteria aren’t very specific, the lender says that you’ll need strong credit and monthly income.

Read reviews of SoFi personal loans to learn more.

Best for fast funding: LightStream

Why LightStream stands out: LightStream offers same-day loans on banking business days. You’ll need to sign your loan agreement, share your bank account information and finish the verification process by 2:30 p.m. Eastern time to potentially get the funds via wire transfer the day you’re approved. (The timing for access to your funds will depend on your bank.)

  • Promises to beat competitors’ rates — If you’re approved for an unsecured loan from a competitor, LightStream will beat the rate by 0.1 percentage points, with some qualifications.
  • Discount for autopay — If you have excellent credit and you set up autopay before your loan is funded, you could get a 0.5 percentage point rate discount.
  • No option to prequalify — LightStream doesn’t offer prequalification. To find out if you qualify for a loan, you’ll need to submit a full application and be subject to a hard credit inquiry.
  • Strong credit needed — You’ll need to meet income requirements. You should also have a credit history going back several years with a good mix of different account types, a history of on-time payments and a track record of building savings.

Read reviews of LightStream personal loans to learn more.

Our methodology: How we pick the best personal loans

Credit Karma’s editors evaluate the best personal loans by reviewing key features of dozens of popular lenders. Those features fall into three important categories:

  • Affordability: We start by checking if a lender’s rates are competitive: are they higher than average or are they lower than many competitors? From there, we analyze if fees — particularly an origination fee — may make your loan more unaffordable. Last, we’ll check if the lender offers rate discounts for items such as automatic payments that may reduce your rate.
  • Customer-friendly features: Taking out a personal loan is a big financial commitment, so we prioritize lenders that make things easier for you. For instance, do they offer a wide range of loan amounts for people with different borrowing needs? Do they offer at least several loan terms to give you more flexibility with your monthly payment? And, crucially, can they fund your loan quickly? A lender will also get bonus points for offering direct payments for debt consolidation or other customer-friendly features.
  • Transparency: We believe personal loan terms should be easy to find and decipher. Prequalification, which lets you check what rate you may qualify for without a hard credit inquiry, is particularly important. We also check to see if a lender has been recently penalized by regulators.

*Approval Odds are not a guarantee of approval. Credit Karma determines Approval Odds by comparing your credit profile to other Credit Karma members who were approved for the personal loan, or whether you meet certain criteria determined by the lender. Of course, there’s no such thing as a sure thing, but knowing your Approval Odds may help you narrow down your choices. For example, you may not be approved because you don’t meet the lender’s “ability to pay standard” after they verify your income and employment; or, you already have the maximum number of accounts with that specific lender.