Where can I get a personal loan with bad credit in South Carolina?

The easiest banks to get a personal loan from are USAA and Wells Fargo. USAA does not disclose a minimum credit score requirement, but their website indicates that they consider people with scores below the fair credit range (below 640). So even people with bad credit may be able to qualify.… read full answer

Wells Fargo normally requires a credit score of 660 for their unsecured personal loans. However, they also offer secured personal loans that are available even with lower scores. Wells Fargo’s secured loans require collateral in the form of money in a Wells Fargo savings account or CD.

Most banks that offer personal loans require a credit score of at least 660. Some require even higher scores, like Citizens Bank (680) and Barclays (700).

Easiest Banks to Get a Personal Loan From:

• USAA: Will lend to people with less than fair credit (scores below 640)
• Wells Fargo: 660 minimum credit score for unsecured; no minimum for secured
• American Express: 660 minimum credit score
• Discover: 660 minimum credit score
• TD Bank: 660 minimum credit score for existing customers (750 for non-TD customers)

These credit score requirements are either official info from the lender or the consensus of third-party sources.

The average person’s credit score is over 660, which puts them in a decent position to qualify for a personal loan from most banks. But if your score is lower, you can apply with USAA or get a secured loan from Wells Fargo.

You might also want to look outside of banks. Some credit unions and online lenders offer better chances of being approved with bad credit. For example, Avant’s minimum score requirement is reportedly 600 and LendingPoint’s is 585.

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.

You can borrow $20,000 with bad credit from Upstart, Peerform and FreedomPlus, among other lenders. The best places to borrow $20,000 with bad credit will require credit scores toward the upper end of the bad credit range. You will also need a relatively high income and little existing debt to get approved for a loan this large with a bad credit score. But people who cannot qualify can consider other options like … read full answersecured personal loans and borrowing from friends and family.

Best Places to Borrow $20,000 With Bad Credit

• Upstart: 620 credit score needed
• Peerform: 600 credit score needed
• FreedomPlus: 620 credit score needed
• LendingPoint: 585 credit score needed
• Upgrade: 620 credit score needed

If you can't qualify for a loan from any of the above lenders, there are other ways to borrow $20,000 with bad credit.

Secured personal loans: These loans offer much better approval odds than regular personal loans, but they require collateral.

Friends and family: These people are less likely to care about your credit score and should give you better terms than a traditional lender.

Pawnshops: You could get a loan of any size depending on the value of the items you bring in. But you risk losing your property if you can't reclaim it in the set timeframe.