Best Debt Consolidation Loans in May 2024

If time is of the essence, you might want to 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.

Thanks to an ultra-competitive minimum APR, Reach Financial might be better suited to those with excellent credit. 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 full 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.

Wells Fargo Bank customers may need to look no further than their current bank if they need a debt consolidation loan. Many of the U.S.’ largest banks have gotten out of the personal loan business, but not Wells Fargo. Eligible customers could be eligible to consolidate with an APR starting as low as 7.49%.

In 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered Wells Fargo to pay a $3.7 billion cash settlement for legal violations regarding auto loans, mortgages and bank accounts. Wells Fargo states it has put guardrails in place to prevent future issues.

Read our full Wells Fargo personal loan review.

Wells Fargo doesn’t disclose its minimum credit score requirements, but you must be a current customer to borrow.

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 full 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.

A debt consolidation loan can be helpful even if you don’t have tens of thousands of dollars to consolidate. However, not all lenders offer small loans. Some lenders have their minimum loan amount set to $5,000, but you can borrow as little as $1,000 with lending platform Upgrade.

If you have stellar credit, you could get a cheaper loan elsewhere. Although Upgrade is open to borrowers with at least fair credit, its minimum APR isn’t the lowest.

Read our full Upgrade personal loan review.

You need to have a credit score of at least 580 to get a loan from 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

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 may be inconvenient since LightStream doesn’t disclose its minimum credit score requirements.

Read our full LightStream personal loan review.

First, you must have good-to-excellent credit to qualify. LightStream doesn’t specify its exact credit score requirement, but states that 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

*Your loan terms, including APR, may differ based on loan purpose, amount, term length, and your credit profile. Excellent credit is required to qualify for lowest rates. Rate is quoted with AutoPay discount. AutoPay discount is only available prior to loan funding. Rates without AutoPay are 0.50% points higher. Subject to credit approval. Conditions and limitations apply. Advertised rates and terms are subject to change without notice. Payment example: Monthly payments for a $10,000 loan at 5.99% APR with a term of 3 years would result in 36 monthly payments of $304.17. Truist Bank is an Equal Housing Lender. © 2024 Truist Financial Corporation. Truist, LightStream, and the LightStream logo are service marks of Truist Financial Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Lending services provided by Truist Bank.

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 may need to pay an optional fee for the lowest rates.

Read our full 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 is usually 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.

Read our full 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

Best Egg has a relatively low minimum credit score requirement (600). However, you must make at least $100,000 and have a score of 700 or better to get its lowest rates. If you tick those boxes, you could get a debt consolidation loan with an APR as low as 8.99%.

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

Read our full 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).

Achieve offers three interest rate discounts. The first is especially appealing on a debt consolidation loan. If you allow Achieve to use at least 50% of your loan to pay your creditors directly, you could get a lower rate. 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 full 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.

The longer it takes to pay off a personal loan, the more interest you may pay. With Avant, you could get a personal loan with a 12-month term. This short term could save a significant amount of money. If you choose a longer term and pay off your loan early, you won’t be charged a fee (also called a prepayment penalty).

If you don’t qualify for Avant on your own, you can’t add a second person to help you get approved.

Read our full Avant personal loan review.

To get a debt consolidation loan from Avant, you must have a credit score of at least 580. Additionally, you should know that:

• You must put a personal checking or savings account on file
• It may call your employer to confirm details
• You must have a monthly net income of at least $1,200 ($14,400 annually)

Avant is also unavailable in Hawaii, Iowa, Massachusetts, New York, Vermont and West Virginia.

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 full 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.