Does Happy Money allow cosigners on personal loans?

Yes, you can get a personal loan with a credit score of 550. You could consider getting a secured personal loan, applying for an unsecured personal loan with a co-signer, borrowing from family and friends, and checking with local credit unions which usually have a lower requirement over credit score.

It’s very difficult to get an unsecured personal loan with a credit score under 550 on your own, without the help of a co-signer whose credit score is higher. Even the loans with the most lenient approval standards require a credit score of 580. The personal loans with the lowest minimum credit score requirements are from LendingPoint (580+ score required) and Avant (600+).

So pursuing one of these alternative methods can help increase your chances of getting the funding you need.

How to Get Personal Loans for a Credit Score Under 550

Get a secured personal loan

A secured personal loan requires collateral. So you’ll have to put something of value on the line – money in an account or certificate of deposit, for example – that the lender can keep if you default. But your odds of approval will be high, since there’s little risk to the lender.

Apply for an unsecured personal loan with a co-signer

Applying for an unsecured personal loan with a co-signer lets you use someone else’s high credit score to boost your approval chances. The co-signer promises to pay the loan back if you can’t. Only some personal loan providers offer a co-signer option. Some examples are Citizens Bank, PNC and SoFi.

Borrow from family/friends

These people will likely be more sympathetic to your situation and will not care as much what your credit score is. They also won’t be able to do a hard pull of your credit and damage your score further. Depending on the person from whom you borrow, you might get much better terms than you would from a traditional lender.

See if local credit unions will consider you

According to the credit bureau Experian, some credit unions will offer unsecured personal loans even to people with bad credit. That’s due to credit unions having a more personal connection with their customers and being not-for-profit organizations.

One non-loan way to finance purchases with bad credit is through a credit card. However, credit cards for bad credit are not ideal. Secured credit cards require a security deposit that becomes your credit limit, so that essentially means you’re not borrowing (or at least you’re borrowing from yourself). And unsecured cards for bad credit have high rates and fees.

You can see your odds of getting approved for a personal loan without hurting your credit score by using WalletHub’s free pre-qualification tool. But if your expense isn’t especially urgent, it may be worth waiting a few months to improve your credit score.

The minimum credit score for personal loan approval is 580, depending on the lender. That means it is possible to get an unsecured personal loan with a bad credit score, though such a loan will likely have an origination fee.

For your reference, WalletHub researched some of the most popular lenders to find out more about their specific loan requirements.… read full answer

Credit Score for Personal Loan Approval by Lender

*According to multiple third-party sources.

Your credit score is a measure of how risky it is for lenders to let you borrow money. The higher your score is, the better your chances of approval are and the better terms you’re likely to receive. Your credit score comes from a combination of factors that include your payment history, credit utilization, length of credit history, recent inquiries, and diversity of accounts.

But your credit score is far from the only thing that matters when it comes to personal loan approval. Lenders consider many other factors, including your income, existing debts, monthly expenses and more.

The minimum credit score needed for a personal loan with no origination fee and no collateral requirement is 660, which is fair credit. And borrowers will need good credit or excellent credit – a credit score of 700 or higher – to get the best personal loan rates. Personal loans for credit scores under 700 tend to be for relatively low amounts and have high APRs.

If your credit score is below 585, lower in the bad credit range, you still have options. For example, you could opt for a secured loan, where you put up something valuable as collateral. If you fail to pay back the loan, the lender can take the collateral as compensation. Because this greatly reduces the risk for the lender, people with any credit score may be considered for secured loans.

You can check your credit score for free on WalletHub. You’ll also get personalized advice for how to improve your score. The best way to estimate your odds of approval for a personal loan is to check to see if you’re pre-qualified for any offers before submitting an official application.

If you want to get a personal loan with no credit and no cosigner, your options are limited to credit-builder loans, secured personal loans, home equity loans and borrowing from alternative sources like friends and family. Having no credit disqualifies you from getting most unsecured loans, as lenders usually require an established credit score of 600 or higher.… read full answer

You could get around that issue if you had a cosigner, as the lender would use that person’s credit in the decision instead of yours. But without a cosigner, you have to rely on what you do have – income and collateral.

How to get a personal loan with no credit and no cosigner:

Get a secured personal loan. Your credit, or lack thereof, doesn’t matter as much when you put up collateral to secure a loan. The lender can take possession of the collateral if you default, which means they have far less risk in lending to you.

You can find secured personal loans at banks like Wells Fargo, Fifth Third Bank, KeyBank and PNC. You can also ask about them at your local credit unions. There are online lenders that offer secured personal loans, too. But make sure they’re not predatory payday loans or auto title loans that charge excessive fees.

Take out a credit-builder loan. This is a type of loan where the lender sets aside a certain sum of money in a savings account for you. Then, you pay that amount back in monthly installments and receive access to the account with all your money at the end. Plus, the lender reports to the credit bureaus each month, helping you build your credit score.

The only problem is that this process is kind of backward if you need money upfront. So it’s really only intended for building credit rather than getting money. If you’re interested in a credit-builder loan, check your local banks and credit unions.

Use your home equity. Home equity loans are another type of secured loan. But they can be for much larger sums because the amount you can borrow is based on the value of your house minus the amount you have left to pay on the mortgage. So if your house is mostly paid off and is worth a lot of money, you could get a big loan. It’s not common that someone would own a home yet have no credit history, but it is possible.

Borrow from someone you know. A family member or friend isn’t as likely to care if you don’t have credit history. You may be able to convince them to give you a loan. But in order to avoid any relationship problems with that person in the future, you should make sure you have a written agreement and a plan to pay them back.

All in all, it’s not impossible to get a personal loan with no credit and no cosigner, but your options aren’t the greatest either. If you only need a few hundred dollars, you can always apply for a credit card for people with no credit. Then, you’ll have a credit line to draw on whenever you need it, and the ability to carry a balance between months if necessary.