Does USAA offer credit-builder loans?

Yes, a USAA personal loan does affect your credit score, both when you apply and during the entire time that you are paying the loan off. Initially, a USAA personal loan will affect your credit score in a negative way, but the long-term impact can be very positive, assuming you repay the loan on schedule.… read full answer

How a USAA Personal Loan Affects Your Credit Score

Hard pull: When you apply for a USAA personal loan, USAA will do a hard inquiry into your credit history, which will temporarily drop your credit score by about 5-10 points in most cases.

Increased debt level: Taking out a USAA personal loan will naturally increase the amount of debt that you have. Since your debt level is one of the components of your credit score, you can expect that to have a negative impact initially.

Account diversity: One positive way that getting a USAA personal loan can impact your score right away is by adding more diversity to the types of accounts you have open. Your "credit mix" is one of the components of your credit score, and the more types of accounts you have, the better - as long as you handle them responsibly.

Payments: The biggest factor in how a USAA personal loan affects your credit score is whether you pay on time. If you make on-time payments, your score should steadily increase as a result. If you pay late or fail to make payments altogether, you can expect your credit score to drop.

The bottom line is that while a USAA personal loan does affect your credit score, most of the way that your score changes depends on how responsible you are with the loan. If you%d like to estimate how certain actions might affect your credit score, you can use WalletHub%s free credit score simulator.

USAA does not offer personal loan pre-approval, which means you cannot see your odds of approval and potential interest rates before applying. Most other personal loan providers do offer pre-approval, which can be very helpful for potential applicants.

Even though USAA does not offer personal loan pre-approval, you can try out WalletHub's free … read full answerpre-approval tool, which checks with multiple other personal loan providers at the same time. It may help you find a good offer from a lender you weren't originally considering. This process will have no impact on your credit score.

Yes, USAA does offer debt consolidation loans. You can take out a personal loan from USAA and use it to pay off existing debts, thus consolidating those debts into a single new balance with one monthly payment that you must make to USAA. USAA does not specifically refer to their loans as "debt consolidation loans," so you'll need to take out a general-purpose personal loan.… read full answer

Quick Facts About USAA Debt Consolidation Loans

• APR: 7.24% - 17.65%
• Origination fee: $0
• Loan amount: $2,500 - $20,000
• Payoff period: 12, 24, 36, or 48, 60, 84 months
• Credit score required: Not disclosed

Keep in mind that a debt consolidation loan from USAA will be worthwhile if it saves you money compared to the interest rates you are paying on your existing debts. In addition to the loan's APR, you should also consider any potential fees, as well as the available loan amounts and payoff periods.

Before you apply for a USAA debt consolidation loan, it's a good idea to compare it to WalletHub's editors' picks for the best debt consolidation loans. That way, you'll be able to see how the offer stacks up against loans from leading competitors.