Best Emergency Loans in July 2025

You could be eligible for Upstart even if you have bad (or no) credit. This lending platform considers more than just your credit score. Instead, it uses an AI algorithm to predict how likely you are to repay your loan. For most applicants, Upstart also uses AI to verify your identity. This can save you time and hassle since you don’t have to email paperwork like your ID or paystubs.

You’ll have to sacrifice some benefits to take an Upstart loan. It only offers two loan terms: 36 or 60 months. Your loan might also come with an origination fee which will be taken out of your borrowed amount.

It’s easier to qualify for Upstart, but that doesn’t mean it approves everyone. If you don’t have credit, you must have a college degree or be enrolled in a degree program. Upstart’s other eligibility requirements include:

• Age: Be 18 or older
• Administrative: Have a U.S. address, personal banking account, email address and Social Security number
• Employment: Have a job or job offer that starts within six months, or have regular income
• Income: Earn at least $12,000 annually
• Credit-related factors: No bankruptcies within the last year, fewer than six inquiries on your credit report in the last six months 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)

Best Egg’s payment plan options are super customizable. For instance, it offers a payment plan (called Payment Pathways) that lets you save overall interest by helping you pay your loan off faster. With this, your monthly payments are higher at the start of your loan term, and go down gradually as you make payments. Best Egg also has your back if you need extra time. It allows two payment extensions over the life of your loan (many lenders only allow one, or none at all).

Although it can take up to three days to receive your funds, Best Egg claims that around half of their customers receive it the next business day.

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: 700+

If you have a home improvement emergency, consider LightStream.

As long as you apply by 2:30 p.m. ET on a business day, you could get a same-day emergency loan from LightStream. It also offers one of the longest home improvement loan terms on the market — 240 months.

You will need to borrow at least $25,000 to access a 240-month term. That, coupled with LightStream’s high minimum loan amount ($5,000) makes it better for expensive home emergencies. You’ll also have to agree to a hard credit pull since it doesn’t offer prequalification.

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 can handle paying their current debt obligations
  • Savings, whether in a bank account, investment account or retirement account

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You must also have a valid Visa or Mastercard credit card to accept your loan, but only for verification purposes. LightStream will not charge your card.

Emergency loans from Discover can come with three repayment assistance options. If you run into financial hardship, you could defer your payments, temporarily reduce your payments or extend your loan term.

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: 660+

Small loans with low rates can be hard to come by. As long as you need at least $600, it’s worth checking rates with PenFed. By law, federal credit union personal loans can’t carry rates higher than 18.00%, making PenFed ultra competitive.

You have to become a PenFed member to borrow, which might be inconvenient, depending on your emergency. Still, PenFed makes it easy. You can check rates before joining. If you accept your loan, it’ll create a PenFed account for you. But that’s assuming you qualify for a loan. Historically, PenFed only accepts borrowers with at least good credit.

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

• Membership requirements: 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

SoFi isn’t the only lender that offers fast online loans. It does, however, have a much later cut-off time when it comes to signing loan documents. SoFi gives you until 6 p.m. EST to sign and still qualify for a same-day loan. In comparison, you only have until 2:30 p.m. EST with LightStream.

SoFi loans have competitive APRs, but to access the lowest rate, you may need to pay an optional origination fee (0.00% - 7.00%). Be sure to ask for offers that do and don’t include the optional fee to see if paying it works to your advantage.

You must meet the requirements below in order to get an emergency 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+

Avant may be best if you have fair credit and need an emergency loan. Its minimum credit score requirement is just 550, much lower than many lenders. And if you’re new to personal loans, Avant’s customer service department is open seven days a week if you need help. There’s nothing like trying to handle an emergency when you’re not quite sure what you’re doing.

However, with a maximum loan amount of $35,000, Avant may not fit your needs if you’re facing a large emergency.

To get a loan with Avant, you’ll need to meet the following minimum requirements:

• Residency: Not available to residents of Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Vermont, Washington and West Virginia.
• Administrative: Must have a bank account. May need to submit bank statements, pay stubs or tax documents to prove your income. Avant may also call your employer to verify your employment.
• Credit score: 550+