Best Installment Loans in October 2024

Achieve offers installment loans online, with three available discounts. You might get a lower annual percentage rate (APR) by adding a co-borrower with sufficient income. Using at least 50% of your loan for debt consolidation is another discount opportunity. And if you can prove you have sufficient savings in a retirement account, you could get a rate reduction.

Still, Achieve charges a mandatory origination fee. This is an upfront fee that Achieve will deduct from your loan funds. Do the math to make sure that this fee doesn’t negate your APR discount (if you qualify for one).

Read our full Achieve personal loan review.

Other than its minimum credit score (620), Achieve doesn’t disclose many details behind its approval decisions. You can see how likely it is that Achieve will approve you by prequalifying. When you apply, it will run a hard credit check. It may also ask for your:

• Proof of income
• Social Security number
• Proof of identity
• Employment status

You might know Discover for its credit cards, but it also offers unsecured installment loans. Discover loans come with benefits such as repayment assistance, U.S.-based customer service and competitive APRs. Notably, LendingTree users have given Discover a nearly perfect satisfaction score.

But qualifying for a Discover loan can be hard. It doesn’t offer joint loans, and you must have excellent credit.

Read our full Discover personal loan review.

Discover requires a credit score of at least 720. At minimum, Discover applicants must also:

• Have a Social Security number
• Be at least 18
• Bring in at least $40,000 a year, either individually or as a household
• Have a physical address, email address and internet access

Since Happy Money only offers loans for credit card refinancing, it won’t work for everyone. Still, if you’re looking for this type of installment loan, this lender is worth considering. Happy Money is a lending platform that connects borrowers with lenders. Namely, credit unions.

By federal law, credit union loans can have a maximum APR of just 18%. That means the most creditworthy of Happy Money borrowers could get an ultra-competitive rate. But you must have at least fair credit to qualify.

Read our full Happy Money personal loan review.

Happy Money is fairly straightforward about its requirements. First, you must have a credit score of at least 640. It also requires that you have:

• Zero delinquencies on your credit report
• An acceptable debt-to-income (DTI) ratio
• Sufficient credit history with a solid credit mix
• Adequate credit utilization

Happy Money doesn’t specify how many years of credit history it’s looking for. However, you can prequalify without taking a hard credit inquiry.

LightStream (an arm of Truist Bank) offers online loans for borrowers with good to excellent credit. This lender is so confident in its competitive APRs that it has a rate-matching program. If you get a similar loan offer with a lower APR, LightStream could beat it by 0.10 percentage points.

Unfortunately, you cannot prequalify for LightStream. That means you’ll take a hard credit hit to check your eligibility.

Read our full LightStream personal loan review.

Although LightStream doesn’t disclose its minimum credit score requirements, it only works with borrowers with at least good credit. Approved LightStream borrowers have some factors in common, including:

• At least five years of credit history
• Assets, such as a retirement account or liquid assets like a checking or savings account
• An acceptable DTI ratio
• No delinquencies or other negative payment history issues

As a credit union, you can find lower-than-average interest rates with PenFed. It also offers small loans. Most lenders start their loans at $1,000 (or higher). In contrast, PenFed’s smallest installment loan is $600.

However, PenFed loans are only available to members.

Read our full PenFed personal loan review.

You can prequalify before you’re a member, but you’ll need to join to accept your loan. All you have to do to join is open a savings account with a minimum deposit of $5.

PenFed doesn’t shed much light on its loan eligibility criteria. It may ask for bank statements, retirement statements, pay stubs or tax returns to verify your income.

Prosper is a peer-to-peer lender. That means individual investors, rather than financial institutions, fund its loans. Although credit requirements are a bit more lax under this model, it could be days before an investor funds your installment loan.

Still, Prosper may be worth the wait. If you have excellent credit, you could see competitive APRs. Further, fair credit doesn’t automatically pull you out of the running.

Read our full Prosper personal loan review.

Prosper’s minimum credit score requirement is 560. It will also pull your TransUnion report, review your DTI ratio and consider other credit-related factors. Prosper also requires that you:

• Be at least 18
• Have a Social Security number and a verifiable bank account
• Not live in Iowa or West Virginia

If you’re looking for a fast installment loan, SoFi should be on your radar. In 2022, 82% of SoFi applicants who applied before 7 p.m. EST on a weekday received same-day funding. That is, unless they were consolidating debt directly.

SoFi doesn’t charge any required fees. It may offer an optional origination fee in exchange for a lower APR.

Read our full SoFi personal loan review.

SoFi’s minimum credit score is 680, so you’ll need at least good credit. SoFi also requires that you:

• Be the age of majority in your state
• Be a U.S. citizen, an eligible permanent resident or a nonpermanent resident (including DACA recipients and asylum seekers)
• Have a job, a job offer with a start date within 90 days or another form of sufficient income

A secured loan (or a loan that requires collateral) can be easier to get if you have bad credit. With lending platform Upgrade, you can use your car as collateral to boost your chances of loan approval. You could also consider adding a creditworthy co-borrower and taking out a joint loan.

Be sure to keep up with your payments, though. Although Upgrade’s late fee isn’t as high as some, it may charge you $10 if your payment is late by 15 days or more.

Read our full Upgrade personal loan review.

When you apply for an Upgrade installment loan, it will review your credit score, credit usage and payment history. Its minimum credit score requirement is 580. You must also:

• Be the age of majority in your state
• Be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident or live in the U.S. with a valid visa
• Have a verifiable bank account and email address

Getting an installment loan when your credit isn’t great can be tricky. You might have luck with Upstart.

This loan marketplace considers more than just your credit score. In some cases, your education can help you get approved. Also, Upstart sometimes approves borrowers with no credit.

However, if you do have bad credit, you’ll likely pay a high APR, a high origination fee or both.

Read our full Upstart personal loan review.

Upstart has transparent borrower requirements. To be eligible, you must have:

• A 50% DTI ratio (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 within the last six months (not including inquiries for student loans, mortgages or auto loans)

If the credit bureaus report a significant drop in your score after Upstart approves you, the lender may cancel your loan before it’s sent.