Who will give you a personal loan with bad credit?
You need money. Maybe it's a car repair that can't wait, a medical bill that showed up out of nowhere, or rent that's due before your next paycheck lands. You go to apply for a personal loan — and your credit score is sitting somewhere around 560. Or 590. Or maybe you don't even know what it is, and that's part of the problem.
Here's what most people do next: they Google "personal loans bad credit," click the first thing that pops up, and either get rejected three times in a row (each one quietly dinging their credit further) or they wind up in a 400% APR payday loan that makes the original problem look small.
You don't have to do it that way.
Here's the short version: Yes, you can get a personal loan with bad credit. But the lenders who'll say yes, and the ones you actually want saying yes, are very different. This guide walks you through both.
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First: What Does "Bad Credit" Actually Mean to a Lender?
Your credit score is a three-digit number — most commonly a FICO score — that runs from 300 to 850. Lenders use it as a quick shorthand for how likely you are to repay a debt.
Here's roughly how they break it down:
- Below 580: Poor
- 580–669: Fair
- 670–739: Good
- 740+: Very good to exceptional
"Bad credit" in lender language usually means anything below 620–640, though the cutoff varies. Below that threshold, most traditional banks won't touch you. Not because you're a bad person — but because their risk models aren't built for it.
Think of it this way: a bank giving loans is like a landlord screening tenants. A lower score doesn't mean you can't pay — it means you have a shorter or rougher track record on paper, and they're not set up to make that judgment call. Other lenders are.
Lenders most likely to approve bad credit personal loans
This is where most bad-credit borrowers have the best shot today.
A new generation of fintech lenders — companies like Upstart, Avant, Upgrade, and Universal Credit — use more than just your credit score to make decisions. They factor in your income, employment history, education, and sometimes even your bank account cash flow. That broader picture can work in your favor even when your FICO score doesn't.
Real talk: these loans won't be cheap. APRs for bad-credit borrowers typically run from 20% to 36%, compared to 7–12% for borrowers with excellent credit, according to CFPB data on personal loan pricing. But they're installment loans — fixed payments, fixed terms, no balloon surprises — which makes them far more manageable than the alternatives.
The key advantage? Most of these lenders let you prequalify with a soft credit check, which means you can see your estimated rate and terms without any impact to your score. Use that. Shop around before you commit to anything.
You can compare personal loan lenders side-by-side, including options that work with lower credit scores, to see APR ranges, minimum score requirements, and funding timelines in one place.
Here's what most people miss: credit unions are often the single best option for bad-credit borrowers, and most people never think to try them.
Credit unions are member-owned, nonprofit financial institutions. Because they're not trying to maximize profit for shareholders, they can take on borrowers that big banks turn away — and charge them less for it.
Many credit unions offer small personal loans of $500–$5,000 specifically designed as alternatives to payday loans. Some explicitly market to borrowers with "good credit, bad credit, or no credit." Rates are typically capped well below what online subprime lenders charge, and terms tend to be straightforward.
The catch: you have to be a member. Membership is usually tied to where you live, work, or worship — but it's often easier to qualify than people assume. Many community credit unions have open membership for anyone in a given county or metro area.
If you're not already a member somewhere, it's worth spending 20 minutes looking up local credit unions before you apply anywhere else.
If your credit is genuinely rough — we're talking below 560 — and you're getting turned down across the board, a secured loan changes the equation.
A secured personal loan means you put up collateral: usually your savings account, a certificate of deposit, or in some cases your car title. The lender's risk drops because they have something to take if you stop paying. Your approval odds go up, and your rate usually goes down.
The most common version: a savings-secured loan through a credit union. You pledge your own deposits as collateral and borrow against them at a low fixed rate. It's a useful credit-building tool — you're essentially paying yourself to rebuild your history.
The honest caveat: if you can't repay, you lose the collateral. Only pledge what you can genuinely afford to risk.
Less talked about, but worth knowing about: in many states, there are regional or local installment lenders that specialize in small-dollar loans for bad-credit borrowers — typically $500 to $3,000.
These aren't payday lenders. They offer fixed monthly payments over several months or a year, and the better ones report your payments to the credit bureaus, which means on-time payments help rebuild your score. Rates vary widely, so comparison is essential — but if you need a small amount fast and don't qualify elsewhere, these lenders fill a real gap.
Who Will Almost Certainly Say No
Big national banks — Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo — typically set their personal loan minimums at a 670–700 FICO score and don't make exceptions. They're not set up for it, and frankly they're not interested in the business.
If you're walking into a branch hoping to explain your situation to a loan officer, that's not really how consumer personal loans work anymore. It's largely automated, and the algorithm doesn't hear context.
Go where bad-credit borrowers are actually the intended customer, not the exception.
I've seen this happen over and over: someone with bad credit applies to five lenders at once, gets rejected by most of them, and ends up in a worse position than when they started — more hard inquiries on their credit report, more rejections, and now a payday loan they took out of desperation.
Here's why it happens: when you formally apply for a loan, the lender runs a hard credit inquiry, which temporarily lowers your score by a few points. One inquiry is no big deal. Five in a week is a signal that screams "this person is desperate for money" to any lender looking at your file.
How to avoid it: use soft-pull prequalification before you formally apply anywhere. Most online lenders offer this. You enter your basic information, they check your credit without a hard pull, and you see an estimated rate and approval odds. Only then — when you've found the best option — do you submit a real application.
This one habit alone can save you from a lot of unnecessary damage.
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The "No Credit Check" Trap
When you've been turned down a few times, "guaranteed approval — no credit check!" starts sounding appealing.
Real talk: most of those are payday loans in different packaging. They don't check your credit because they're charging you enough in fees and interest that the risk is already priced in — on your end.
There are legitimate no-credit-check products (some credit union emergency loan programs, for instance) but they're the exception. If a lender is advertising aggressively, charging by-the-day fees, or requiring repayment on your next payday rather than in monthly installments, walk away.
The rule of thumb: if you can't find a clear APR stated upfront, that's a red flag.
How to Improve Your Chances Right Now
You don't have to wait until your score improves to get a better deal. A few things can help immediately:
Lower your debt-to-income ratio (DTI). This is the percentage of your monthly income that goes toward debt payments. Lenders look at this as much as your score. If you can pay down even one credit card before you apply, it helps.
Add a co-signer. If someone with strong credit trusts you enough to co-sign, you'll unlock significantly better rates — and possibly approvals you wouldn't get alone. Be clear with them about the responsibility: if you miss a payment, it hits their credit too.
Ask for a smaller amount. Counterintuitive, but true: a $1,500 loan is easier to approve than a $5,000 loan when your credit is shaky. Borrow what you actually need, not a round number.
Apply conditionally, not desperately. Prequalify at two or three places. Compare offers. Pick the best one. Then apply.
For a deeper look at how to position yourself before you apply — and what lenders are actually looking for — the personal loan guide covers the full picture.
If you're ready to move forward, here's exactly what to do:
Start with prequalification on two platforms that use soft credit pulls. Look specifically for lenders that advertise to fair or bad credit borrowers and that offer installment loans (not payday-style products). Check the APR range, the monthly payment, and the total cost. If the total cost of the loan is more than 50% above the principal you're borrowing, keep looking.
If you're not sure which lenders to start with, compare your options here — it's filtered by credit profile so you're not wasting time on lenders who won't work with your score.
The right loan is out there. It just might not be at the first place you look.
