BadCreditLoans: Best for bad credit
Bad Credit Loans is an aggregator that helps you find the best installment loans for bad credit. In addition to personal loans, the company also offers a wide range of other installment loan services, including mortgages, auto loans, business loans, and dedicated debt consolidation loans.
Finding reliable bad-credit installment loans can be difficult because many have higher interest rates, hidden fees, and administrative costs.
Because BadCreditLoans is an installment loan aggregator, it searches for the best installment loans for your needs. It has a simple application process backed by an algorithm to find the best bad-credit loan from multiple lenders. The site tries to find the best match for you, ranging from finding the right type of loan to working with lenders with a low minimum credit score.
By going through an aggregator, you can save time and effort.
Upstart: Best for lack of credit history
Upstart also offers a direct payment service to creditors, which is convenient if you’re looking for a debt consolidation personal loan. The company also offers flexible monthly payments, as long as the new date is within 15 days of the old one.
LightStream: Best for larger loan amounts
LightStream is the online consumer lending division of Truist. The company started operating after a merger of SunTrust Bank and BB&T, both reputable banks with extensive lending portfolios.
The online lender provides unsecured personal loans that are suitable for personal, family, or household use. LightStream offers some of the highest loan amount limits and generous loan terms, making it the ideal lender for people looking for a large lump sum.
The company also offers borrowers several appealing perks, including no prepayment penalty, no late fees, and no origination fee. The LightStream rate-beat program lets borrowers shop around, as the company will offer to beat a competitor’s interest rate by up to 0.1%, provided the borrower meets certain criteria.
SoFi: Best for low interest rates
SoFi has been one of the leading online lending platforms since its inception in 2011. The lender has extended over $50 billion in loans to date and offers many features that borrowers appreciate.
The company doesn’t charge origination fees and has no penalties for late payments or prepayments.
When you sign up with SoFi, you also get access to various perks, such as unemployment protection, autopay interest rate discounts, and the ability to adjust your payment due date annually.
Best Egg: Best for good credit
Best Egg is an online lending platform that offers loans from Cross River Bank and Blue Ridge Bank. The service offers both secured and unsecured loans, giving customers flexibility to find the ideal solution for their needs.
The lender is also one of the few that allows multiple loans at one time, as long as the total value of the loans doesn’t go over $50,000.
Another appealing perk for people looking to consolidate debt is Best Egg’s Direct Pay offering. Not only does the lender directly pay your creditors, but individuals who take advantage of this offer can also get lower interest rates and larger loan limits.
While Best Egg does charge an origination fee, it’s significantly lower than many of its competitors. Best Egg borrowers may pay up to 5.99% of their total loan amount for their origination fee, while other lenders often go up to 8% of the total loan amount. The company also charges a flat $15 fee for any missed payments or returned checks, but there are no prepayment fees for early loan closures.
Payoff: Best for debt consolidation
Payoff focuses on using installment loans to pay off credit card debt. This means that unlike most of the other providers we’ve looked at, you can’t use this loan to pay for home renovations or other personal uses.
Payoff is one of the best installment loans for individuals looking to pay off their credit card debt. Because the lender offers a competitive APR, customers can save on high credit card interest rates and instead pay off their debts sooner.
The lender has several member perks that include changing the monthly payment date and no prepayment penalties. Because Payoff is a service for credit card debt, there are also several resources such as free monthly FICO score updates and access to a member experience team. In general, Payoff customers report a 40-point increase on their FICO scores at the end of their repayment process.
Avant: Best for low monthly payments
Avant is a lending service that offers both unsecured and secured loans. In general, secured installment loans will have a lower interest rate than unsecured loans of the same amount.
This online lender focuses on customers with good to fair credit, so it has a relatively low minimum credit score. To make up for the increased risk associated with subprime lenders, the company has a relatively high APR range and charges several fees, such as an origination fee of 4.75% of the total loan amount.
LendingClub: Best for peer-to-peer lending
LendingClub started in 2007 and has funded over $55 billion in loans. Unlike many other web-based lenders, the company uses a marketplace-lender or peer-to-peer model. Instead of offering the loan directly, LendingClub connects borrowers with a network of investors who provide the funds.
LendingClub is a good option for individuals with good to fair credit scores because of its relatively low minimum credit score requirement. Like many other online lenders, LendingClub charges several fees
Marcus by Goldman Sachs: Best for on-time payment rewards
Marcus by Goldman Sachs is the online consumer lending division of the bank Goldman Sachs. The platform offers reasonable loan limits and terms and has a prequalification process that allows applicants to see their terms and estimated APR before committing to a loan.
The lender stands out by providing many consumer-friendly features, such as the lack of origination fees and no penalties for late payments or prepayments. Marcus by Goldman Sachs also offers a reward for borrowers who make 12 consecutive on-time payments.
You can also choose your monthly repayment date, an important feature for people with unusual payment schedules.