Best Personal Loans for Excellent Credit in December 2024

Thanks to a generous rate discount, Achieve is worth putting on your radar if you need a debt consolidation loan. You must have Achieve pay your creditors directly and use at least 85% of your loan for consolidation to qualify.

A personal loan with Achieve comes with a competitive APR starting at 8.99%, depending on your credit score, with payback terms of 24 to 60 months. Achieve personal loans also come with an origination fee of 1.99% - 6.99% of the loan amount.

Other than a credit score of at least 620, Achieve will typically ask you to provide the following documents and information:

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

Best Egg offers a secured loan that uses your built-in cabinets, lighting and other permanent fixtures as collateral. Offering collateral can get you a lower rate (since it reduces the risk for the lender), but it means that the lender can repossess your collateral if you fall behind.

However, this loan (called the Secured Loan + Homeowner Discount) requires Best Egg to put a lien on your permanent fixtures. It can’t foreclose on your house like a HELOC, but your house may be hard to sell while the lien on your fixtures is still in place.

Best Egg uses your home’s permanent fixtures as collateral, but it doesn’t need to appraise those fixtures’ value. Instead, Best Egg will review your credit history and home equity to see if you qualify.

You must also 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+

Even people who have high credit scores can find themselves with credit card debt. Happy Money is an online lender that offers personal loans specifically (and only) for credit card refinancing.

You can borrow between $5,000 and $40,000 with a minimum APR of 8.95%. Unfortunately, this lender sometimes charges an origination fee (1.50% - 5.50%).

You might have an excellent credit rating that beats Happy Money’s minimum requirement of 640, but it still requires a good credit history and no current delinquencies.

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

LendingClub’s mobile app puts personal loan management in the palm of your hand. You can make payments, request due date changes and keep tabs on your excellent credit score. And if you’re the type to forget passwords, you can sign in using your fingerprint or by face recognition.

LendingClub might not work if you’re in a hurry. Most online lenders provide near-instant approval decisions but LendingClub can take a few hours. LendingClub doesn’t offer same-day loans, either.

To be eligible for a LendingClub personal loan, you must meet the following requirements:

• Age: Be at least 18 years old
• Citizenship: Be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident
• Administrative: Have a verifiable bank account
• Credit score: 600+

LightStream is an online lender that’s only available to people with good to excellent credit. And having excellent credit has perks.

Take LightStream’s rate matching program, Rate Beat. If a competitor offers you a lower rate, LightStream may beat it by 0.10 percentage points. It also skips origination fees, which can be rare with online lenders.

Unfortunately, LightStream doesn’t let you prequalify for a personal loan. That excellent credit of yours might go down by a few points after shopping LightStream’s rates.

LightStream doesn’t specify its exact credit score requirements, but you must have good to excellent credit to qualify. Most of the applicants that LightStream approves have the following in common:

• At least five years of on-time payments under a variety of accounts (credit cards, auto loans, etc.)
• Stable income and the ability to handle paying their current debt obligations
• Savings, whether in a bank account, investment account or retirement account

Navy Federal Credit Union (NFCU) offers military-centric benefits for its members. From APR discounts to loans designed for new cadets, NFCU may better understand the unique needs of military members.

While you won’t have to pay an origination fee when you take out a Navy Federal personal loan, this lender does not offer soft credit inquiries, so checking your rates may cause your credit score to dip slightly.

NFCU is only available to:

• Active duty members of the military (regardless of branch)
• Veterans, retirees and annuitants
• Those in the Delayed Entry Program (DEP)
• Department of Defense (DoD) Officer Candidates and ROTC
• DoD Reservists
• DoD civilian personnel
• Immediate family of military members, as well as household members

With loans starting from $600, PenFed Credit Union offers some of the smallest loans on this list. NFCU loans are smaller, but not many people qualify because of its military affiliation requirements.

While you won’t have to worry about any origination fees with a PenFed personal loan, this lender does charge a late fee of $29 if you’re more than five days late on your payment. You don’t have to become a PenFed member to apply for the loan but to accept, you have to join.

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

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

Short-term loans can be key to cutting back on how much interest you’ll pay. The less time you spend paying off your loan, the less time there is for interest to generate. Between its competitive rates and minimum six-month loan term, a PNC personal loan can be an inexpensive way to borrow.

However, PNC doesn’t do business nationwide. It might not also be the best choice if you need a quick loan — you may have to wait a few days to find out if PNC will approve you.

PNC Bank considers the following when deciding whether to approve you for a loan:

• Credit history
• How long you’ve been employed
• Citizenship

Learn more about personal loan requirements and how lenders like PNC make approval decisions.

Getting a Rocket Loans personal loan can be a breeze. Some lenders require you to upload (or even fax) documents as part of the application process. Rocket Loans verifies this information electronically. If you finalize your loan by 1 p.m. EST on a business day, you could get your money that same day.

Keep in mind that Rocket Loans may charge you a hefty origination fee if you’re close to its minimum credit score requirement (640+).

To qualify for Rocket Loans, you’ll need to meet the following requirements:

• Citizenship: Must be a U.S. citizen
• Income: Minimum annual income of $24,000
• Residency: Can’t live in Iowa, Nevada or West Virginia
• Credit score: 640+

There are no mandatory fees with SoFi — not even one for paying late. It may, however, offer you a deal. If you pay an optional origination fee, it may give you a lower rate in exchange. Ask for offers that do and don’t include an origination fee to see which path makes sense for you.

Also, SoFi won’t work if you only need a little money. SoFi personal loans start at $5,000.

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+

As one of the largest banking institutions in the U.S., Wells Fargo Bank is among the few lenders on this list with physical locations. Borrowers with excellent credit may be able to borrow up to six figures, and Wells Fargo has some of the lowest rates around.

Unlike some banks (like PNC), Wells Fargo only offers loans to current customers. You can’t just join and borrow right away, either. You must be a member for at least a year to be eligible.

You must be an account holder for at least 12 months before you are eligible for a Wells Fargo personal loan. Wells Fargo Bank doesn’t specify its minimum credit score requirements for its loans, but to open a checking or savings account, you must:

• Apply in person at a Wells Fargo branch if you’re a non-permanent U.S. resident, are under 18 (in most states) or are getting a joint loan
• Have an adult co-owner if you’re under 18
• Provide two forms of ID and proof of address, in some cases
• Make a deposit of at least $25