Best Joint Personal Loans in May 2024

Check your credit scores

Lenders take a holistic approach by evaluating borrowers on a range of metrics, but knowing your credit scores is a good first step. Signing up for a credit monitoring service can help you keep your pulse on your scores and overall credit health.

Prequalify with more than one lender

Prequalification will give you an idea if you and your co-borrower meet a lender’s underwriting guidelines before actually applying for the loan. Prequalification doesn’t affect your credit score, and it’s worth prequalifying with several lenders so you can compare offers and choose the one with the most favorable terms.

Fill out the application and supply necessary documents

Applying for a personal loan is fairly straightforward. Usually, you’ll fill out an application online. For a joint personal loan, you’ll provide your co-borrower’s information as well as your own.

You’ll both also need to provide proof of identity and income by providing copies of certain documents. These could include your driver’s licenses, passports, bank statements, W-2s or offers of employment.

Sign your promissory note and receive your funds

If the lender approves your loan application, you and your co-borrower will sign your promissory note. Think of the promissory note as the contract between you and your lender — it spells out the terms of your loan and is a written promise that you and your co-borrower will repay your loan on time.

Once the lender receives your promissory note, you’ll receive your funds (typically by direct deposit). The time between loan approval and when your loan is released depends on your lender’s funding timeline.

Begin repayment

Repayment typically begins 30 days after your loan is disbursed with payments due monthly. Even if you have a co-borrower, you will only receive one monthly bill.

Before applying for the loan, you should discuss with your co-borrower how you’d like to handle repayment. This may be easier for co-borrowers that share finances — many borrowers opt for automatic payments for an APR discount, and this can be tricky for borrowers who don’t have the same bank account.

We reviewed more than 28 lenders to determine the overall best five joint personal loans. To make our list, lenders must offer joint loans with competitive annual percentage rates (APRs) From there, we prioritize lenders based on the following factors:

• Accessibility: Lenders are ranked higher if their personal loans are available to more people and require fewer conditions. This may include lower credit requirements, wider geographic availability, faster funding and easier and more transparent prequalification and application processes.
• Rates and terms: We prioritize lenders with more competitive fixed rates, fewer fees and greater options for repayment terms, loan amounts and APR discounts.
• Repayment experience: For starters, we consider each lender’s reputation and business practices. We also favor lenders that report to all major credit bureaus, offer reliable customer service and provide any unique perks to customers, like free wealth coaching.

*Pricing Disclosure:
Fixed rates from 8.99% APR to 29.99% APR reflect the 0.25% autopay interest rate discount and a 0.25% direct deposit interest rate discount. SoFi rate ranges are current as of 02/06/2024 and are subject to change without notice. The average of SoFi Personal Loans funded in 2022 was around $30K. Not all applicants qualify for the lowest rate. Lowest rates reserved for the most creditworthy borrowers. Your actual rate will be within the range of rates listed and will depend on the term you select, evaluation of your creditworthiness, income, and a variety of other factors. Loan amounts range from $5,000– $100,000. The APR is the cost of credit as a yearly rate and reflects both your interest rate and an origination fee of 0%-7%, which will be deducted from any loan proceeds you receive. Autopay: The SoFi 0.25% autopay interest rate reduction requires you to agree to make monthly principal and interest payments by an automatic monthly deduction from a savings or checking account. The benefit will discontinue and be lost for periods in which you do not pay by automatic deduction from a savings or checking account. Autopay is not required to receive a loan from SoFi. Direct Deposit Discount: To be eligible to potentially receive an additional (0.25%) interest rate reduction for setting up direct deposit with a SoFi Checking and Savings account offered by SoFi Bank, N.A. or eligible cash management account offered by SoFi Securities, LLC (“Direct Deposit Account”), you must have an open Direct Deposit Account within 30 days of the funding of your Loan. Once eligible, you will receive this discount during periods in which you have enabled payroll direct deposits of at least $1,000/month to a Direct Deposit Account in accordance with SoFi’s reasonable procedures and requirements to be determined at SoFi’s sole discretion. This discount will be lost during periods in which SoFi determines you have turned off direct deposits to your Direct Deposit Account. You are not required to enroll in direct deposits to receive a Loan.