Best Debt Consolidation Loans in September 2025

It can be hard to get a debt consolidation loan when you have bad credit. With a credit score minimum of just 300, online lending platform Upstart has one of the lowest score requirements around. You might even qualify if you have no credit (but you must have a college degree or be currently enrolled).

Still, between possible fees and a high maximum APR, getting a bad credit debt consolidation loan won’t come cheap. You also can’t get a lower rate by adding a second person to your loan (also called a joint loan).

Upstart has transparent eligibility requirements, including:

• Age: Be 18 or older
• Administrative: Have a U.S. address, personal banking account, email address and Social Security number
• Income: Have a valid source of income, including a job, job offer or another regular income source
• Credit-related factors: No bankruptcies within the last three years, reasonable number of recent inquiries on your credit report and no current delinquencies
• Credit score: 300+ (unless you’re an eligible college student or graduate, in which case Upstart could approve you with no credit)

You don’t have to have stellar credit to get a Best Egg loan. Still, you’ll only qualify for its best rates if you make at least $100,000 a year and have a credit score of at least 700. If you tick those boxes, you could get a debt consolidation loan with an APR as low as 6.99%.

Unlike some lenders, Best Egg charges an origination fee on all of its borrowers, not just those with troubled credit.

Read our expert Best Egg personal loan review.

You must meet the requirements below to qualify for a Best Egg loan:

• Citizenship: Be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident living in the U.S.
• Administrative: Have a personal checking account, email address and physical address
• Residency: Not live in the District of Columbia, Iowa, Vermont, West Virginia or U.S. territories
• Credit score: 580+

A debt consolidation loan might save you money on interest, but fees can add up. Luckily, LightStream is a zero-fee company. Also, if another lender offers you a lower APR, LightStream might beat it by .10 percentage points through its Rate Beat Program.

On the downside, LightStream doesn’t disclose its minimum credit score requirements and it doesn’t offer prequalification. You have to take a hard credit hit to check rates and eligibility, which could drop your score by a few points.

First, you must have good-to-excellent credit to qualify. It tends to approve those with:

• At least five years of credit history with a mix of accounts
• Assets such as savings, retirement and investment accounts
• An acceptable debt-to-income ratio
• A positive payment history with no delinquencies

Happy Money loans can only be used for credit card consolidation. This lending platform works with credit unions to fund some of its loans. The upside to this is that, by law, the highest APR a federal credit union can charge is 18.00%. You’ll see that reflected in Happy Money’s low maximum APR of 29.99%.

Happy Money’s funding timeline is pretty slow. It can take 30 days for your debt consolidation loan to post to your credit card accounts. You can opt to get your loan deposited into your account instead, but you’ll still need three to six days to get your money.

Happy Money provides clear eligibility requirements as to how you can qualify for a loan:

• Age: Must be 18 years or older
• Administrative: Must have a valid Social Security number and checking account
• Residency: Not live in Iowa, Massachusetts or Nevada
• Credit score: 640+
• Payment history: Zero current delinquencies on your credit profile

Upgrade stands out as our pick for best debt consolidation loans for a few reasons. For one, it accepts credit scores as low as 580, so you don’t need perfect credit to qualify. Plus, you will get a rate discount if you let Upgrade pay your creditors directly on your behalf.

You also have the option of getting a secured loan by offering your car as collateral. Offering collateral can help you get a lower rate or a bigger loan. It can be risky, though, since Upgrade can repossess your car if you fall too far behind.

Upgrade’s long loan terms (24 to 84 months) can be especially handy on a debt consolidation loan. Choosing a loan with a longer term can lower your monthly payments. In trade, you will pay more interest over time. Still, the extra interest might be worth it if it makes your debt easier to manage.

Consolidating debt can also be a great time to revamp your finances as a whole. If you’re looking for a new bank, Upgrade can help with that, too.

It offers FDIC- and NCUA-insured checking accounts through Cross River Bank and other participating institutions. As long as you get at least $1,000 in direct deposits a month, you could earn benefits like rate discounts on loans and 1%-2% cash back when you use your debit card.

To qualify for a loan through Upgrade, you must meet the requirements below:

• Age: Be at least 18 years old (19 in some states)
• Citizenship: Be a U.S. citizen, permanent resident or live in the U.S. with a valid visa
• Administrative: Have a valid bank account and email address
• Credit score: 580+

Instead of using your debt consolidation loan to pay your creditors one by one, Discover can pay them for you. You can also forget about application fees, origination fees, late fees or prepayment penalties with this lender.

In addition to having a mobile app to manage your loan, Discover accepts loan payments online, over the phone, by mail, via wire transfer or through electronic bill pay. If you run into trouble, loan specialists are available by phone every day of the week.

You’ll need to meet these eligibility criteria to get a Discover loan:

• Age: Be at least 18
• Citizenship: Have a Social Security number
• Administrative: Have a physical address, email address and internet access
• Income: Minimum income of $40,000 (individually or as a household)
• Credit score: 720+

If you’re ready to knock out your debt in as little time as possible, check out PenFed. It offers a 12-month repayment term, which is much shorter than most lenders. The quicker you pay off your loan, the less time interest has to accrue. And in general, debt consolidation loans with shorter terms tend to have lower rates.

Since it’s a credit union, you’ll have to become a PenFed member to borrow. However, PenFed makes this easy. You can apply for your loan and for membership in one fell swoop.

Membership is open to everyone. You can also check your eligibility before joining, with no impact to your credit score.

To qualify for a PenFed loan, you must meet the following requirements:

• Membership requirements: PenFed membership (anyone can join)
• Administrative: Open up PenFed savings account with $5 deposit; may need to submit documents to verify your identity and income

Achieve offers three interest rate discounts, including one designed specifically for debt consolidation loans. If you let Achieve use at least 85% of your loan to pay your creditors directly, you could get a discount of up to 4.50%. You can also get a discount if you take out a joint loan and by having a sufficiently-funded retirement account.

However, if you only have a small amount of debt to consolidate, Achieve might not work — its loans start at $5,000.

Other than a credit score of at least 640, Achieve will typically ask you to provide the following documents and information:

• Proof of income
• Social Security number
• Government-issued ID
• Employment status

Debt consolidation can make it easier to pay off what you owe, but it shouldn’t be the only tool in your kit. SoFi offers no-cost financial planning to its borrowers. Here, a professional can help you with your budget, debt strategies, investments and more. Best of all — no upselling, just advice.

SoFi is also unique in that its origination fee is optional. If you pay it, you could qualify for a lower rate. Be sure to ask for offers that include and don’t include this fee to see which option makes the most sense for you.

You must meet the requirements below in order to get a loan from SoFi:

• Age: Be the age of majority in your state (typically 18)
• Citizenship: Be a U.S. citizen, an eligible permanent resident or a non-permanent resident (a DACA recipient or asylum-seeker, for instance)
• Employment: Have a job or job offer with a start date within 90 days, or have regular income from another source
• Credit score: 680+

Prosper, a peer-to-peer lender, connects borrowers with investors. Peer-to-peer is often easier to qualify for compared to banks and some online loans.

Prosper’s free FICO scores could also motivate you to improve your credit. According to a LendingTree study, improving your credit from fair to very good could save you $22,000 in interest over time.

However, it can take up to 14 days for an investor to pick up your loan. It’s also possible that all available investors pass on your application, even if Prosper has approved you. In that case, Prosper will cancel your loan request.

To get a loan with Prosper, you must meet the following requirements:

• Age: Be 18 or older
• Citizenship: Be a U.S. citizen
• Administrative: Have a U.S. bank account and Social Security number
• Residency: Not live in Iowa or West Virginia
• Credit score: 600+