The Best Personal Loans

Monday, October 18th

2021 Personal Loan Reviews

Upstart

Upstart features extensive artificial intelligence to improve access to credit for borrowers of all types. Looking beyond your credit score makes it more likely you'll be approved for your loan. Thousands of people have used this platform to get personal loans very quickly once approved. For their innovative approach to lending, competitive interest rates, and high customer satisfaction, Upstart earns our highest rating.

LendingTree

LendingTree is an online loan marketplace for every type of borrowing, from personal loans to credit cards and beyond. You can use this service to easily compare offers from up to five lenders at a time, helping you access good rates and terms for your personal loan. We love the detailed information provided on each lending partner, with thousands of client reviews to help determine which one is the best choice for a personal loan. LendingTree has a great reputation and is a trustworthy option if you want to use a referral service to research and secure a personal loan.

SoFi

SoFi has some big benefits compared with other options for personal loans. They offer the lowest average interest rates, assistance (and forbearance) if you lose your job while repaying a loan, and even occasional sign-up bonus money. But an increase in the number of complaints from SoFi clients, which describe negative experiences specifically with the customer service department, gave us some cause for concern.

Credible

If you'd like to compare rates across multiple lenders with a single application, Credible is a good resource for personal loans. While that kind of one-stop shopping saves you some time, you'll still need to research each lender and read your loan terms carefully. Overall, Credible has a strong reputation and gets high marks from customers.

Upgrade

Upgrade is one of the newer options in the personal loans industry, but the company has already made a strong showing. With just two lenders in their partnership, Upgrade can typically offer a one business day turnaround once you've accepted a loan offer. The BBB gives this service the highest possible rating, and most consumers won't have trouble getting a good personal loan here.

SuperMoney

SuperMoney offers "comparison shopping" for many financial products, including personal loans. They offer funding through just over a dozen partners, and you can see detailed information and reviews about each one before filling out your application. SuperMoney hasn't been around as long as some of the other referral platforms we evaluated and so there's not as much customer feedback yet. SuperMoney is a good way to gather information about personal loans you might be eligible for, but you'll still have to complete your application directly with the lender you choose.

Prosper

Prosper gives everyday investors (and institutions) the ability to fund personal loans for everyday individuals. This peer-to-peer lending platform offers next-day funding in many cases, but you need a credit score of at least 640 to be eligible to borrow money here. Overall, Prosper has a good reputation and is a reliable source of personal loans if you qualify - just remember, peer-to-peer lending is a different kind of experience.

LendingClub

LendingClub used to crowdfund all of their personal loans through investors. But, after undergoing some changes, their lending is now structured more like a regular bank. They offer fixed-rate loans with repayment terms of at least 36 months, and recent customer feedback is very positive. You should have a good experience if you choose to get a personal loan here, but we're holding back a higher recommendation while they continue proving out their new structure.

OppLoans

OppLoans is an option to consider if your credit history isn't so impressive. The lender offers funding in 30+ states with maximum APRs way higher than the other lenders in our review - but they're still much less than what you'll find with payday loans, which are often the only choice for consumers with low credit scores. OppLoans has a strong reputation among its clients and can fund personal loans within one business day. We recommend this lender as an alternative to payday loans, but borrowers with decent credit will find lower rates elsewhere on traditional personal loans.

Personal Loans

With a name like Personal Loans, you'd think this referral service would be the best all-around choice for borrowing money. Not so much. You'll be asked to provide extremely detailed personal information, including your SSN and employer's contact information, only to be given a list of lenders you could choose to approach for a loan. Although Personal Loans' reputation has improved over the years, there are still much better options out there for getting the cash you need.

LifeLoans

LifeLoans is just one of several names used by Search ROI LLC: a company that seems to specialize in collecting leads and making money from passing them along to third-party lenders. LifeLoans itself didn't show up on the Better Business Bureau's listings, but many of the affiliated lending referral websites did - and they all got a bottom-of-the-barrel "F" rating. There's literally no reason to choose LifeLoans above the more reputable sources of personal loans in our evaluation.

Leap Credit

Leap Credit offers personal loans of up to approximately $3,500 but is only authorized to operate in 10 states. However, even if you live in one of those locations, you'll probably want to avoid this lender: with interest rates of as much as 800%, hundreds of complaints from consumers, and a customer service team that's practically nonexistent, Leap Credit is one of the last places we would turn to get help in a difficult financial situation.