Best Debt Consolidation Loans in October 2024

If you’re looking for a fast turnaround time, check out Reach Financial. This lender specializes in quick funding for debt consolidation and credit card refinancing. After Reach Financial approves you, your loan may be available to your creditors in as little as 24 hours.

Reach Financial could save you a lot of money if you consolidate and have excellent credit. It has an ultra-low minimum rate. But if your borrowing history is rocky, you may have to pay an origination fee. This is a fee that Reach Financial will deduct from your loan before sending it to you.

Read our expert Reach Financial personal loan review.

Reach Financial doesn’t shed much light into its eligibility requirements. However, you can prequalify online to see how likely it is that it will approve you.

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 add a second person to your loan (also called a joint loan).

Read our expert Upstart personal loan review.

Upstart’s eligibility requirements are transparent. Outside of citizenship, age and credit score requirements, Upstart also requires you to have:

• A job, a job offer with a start date within six months or another source of income
• A maximum debt-to-income ratio (DTI) of 50% (45% in Connecticut, Maryland, New York and Vermont)
• No bankruptcies within the last year
• No current delinquencies
• Fewer than six inquiries on your credit report (not including those for mortgages, auto loans or student loans)

Also, Upstart may cancel your loan if your credit score drops significantly in between the time it approves you and sends your funds.

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 fee 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.

Read our expert Discover Bank personal loan review.

Discover requires the following to qualify for a loan:

• Have a valid U.S. Social Security Number
• Be at least 18 years old
• Have a minimum individual or household annual income of $40,000
• Have a physical address
• Have an active email address and access to a computer or mobile device

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 7.99%.

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.

If you live in Iowa, Vermont, West Virginia or a U.S. territory, you can’t get a Best Egg loan. It doesn’t disclose its other credit-related eligibility requirements (other than what we’ve already discussed).

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, you can’t check rates without a hard credit pull. This is inconvenient since LightStream doesn’t disclose the lowest credit score it accepts.

Read our expert LightStream personal loan review.

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

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. You can consolidate up to $50,000 and if you have excellent credit, you can enjoy a rate under 17.99%.

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.

Read our expert PenFed personal loan review.

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

You don’t need to worry about late payment fees with SoFi. You can also get an APR discount if SoFi pays your creditors directly. If you decide to handle consolidation yourself, it’s likely you’ll get your money the same day you apply.

SoFi debt consolidation loans are competitive, but you need to pay an optional fee for the lowest rates. However, this isn’t an out-of-pocket fee. Instead, SoFi will keep a portion of your loan funds for itself before sending you your loan.

Read our expert SoFi personal loans review.

You must have a credit score of at least 680 to get a SoFi debt consolidation loan. It also requires that you:

• Are a U.S. citizen, eligible permanent resident or non-permanent resident (including DACA recipients and asylum seekers)
• Have a job or job offer with a start date within 90 days, or bring in sufficient income
• Have made your last three payments on time if you have an existing personal loan with SoFi

Prosper, a peer-to-peer lender, connects borrowers with investors. This type of loan tends to be easier to qualify for. Prosper’s 560 minimum credit score requirement means that you might still get a loan if you have bad credit.

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.

Read our expert Prosper personal loan review.

To be eligible for Prosper, you must:

• Be a U.S. resident who is at least 18 years old
• Have a U.S. bank account
• Have a Social Security number
• Not live in Iowa or West Virginia

Achieve offers three interest rate discounts, including one designed specifically for debt consolidation loans. If you let Achieve to 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.

Read our expert Achieve personal loan review.

Other than having a credit score of at least 620, Achieve doesn’t spell out what it takes to get a loan. You can prequalify online to get an idea where you stand.

If you’re in the market for a new bank and a consolidation loan, Upgrade could be for you. Its Rewards Checking Plus checking account (through Cross River Bank) unlocks special benefits on your debt consolidation loan.

As long as you get at least $1,000 in monthly direct deposits, you can get a lower debt consolidation rate. You can also earn up to 2% cash back on everyday purchases using your debit card.

Still, Upgrade makes more sense if you have so-so credit. Its minimum APR is a bit steep. It also charges an origination fee on every loan, no matter your score.

Read our expert Upgrade personal loan review.

You need to have a credit score of at least 580 to get a loan through Upgrade. It also requires you to:

• Be at least 18 (or 19, in some states)
• Be a U.S. citizen, permanent resident or live in the U.S. with a valid visa
• Have a verifiable bank account and email address

Happy Money loans can only be used to consolidate credit card debt. This lending platform works with credit unions to fund 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 17.99%.

For borrowers with fair credit, Happy Money is competitive. At 11.72%, its minimum APR is rather high. If you have excellent credit, you can probably find a cheaper loan somewhere else.

Read our expert Happy Money personal loan review.

If you meet Happy Money’s 640 minimum credit score requirement, it will also review your credit history. You have to have an acceptable debt-to-income ratio, but it doesn’t specify what that ratio is. You also cannot have any current payment delinquencies.