Chase Personal Loan Alternatives

Discover Personal Loans Review Summary

Discover personal loans require minimum credit score of 660 and allow customers to borrow up to $35,000 at a time. Discover loans are especially good if you want a long repayment period, as Discover's payoff timelines are 36, 48, 60, 72 or 84 months. Plus, Discover's personal loan APRs can be as low as 6.99%, which makes them useful for people who want to consolidate existing debt at a low cost.

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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.

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

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.

Capital One currently does not offer personal loans although personal loans used to be one of their products. Capital One has removed all information about personal loans from their website, but existing customers can still call 1-800-926-1000 to reach Capital One's personal loan customer service department. Although you can't get a personal loan from Capital One, you're certainly not out of options. Tons of other lenders offer personal loans. They fall into three main categories: banks, credit unions and online lenders.

Best Capital One Personal Loan Alternatives

• Best Bank: Wells Fargo
• Best Credit Union: Alliant Credit Union
• Best Online Lender: SoFi
• Other Ways to Borrow From Capital One: Credit cards, Auto loans and Business Loans

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Bank of America does not offer personal loans, but you can still borrow from it through many other financial products. Bank of America still is one of the biggest lenders in the U.S., after all, ranked second in the nation in terms of assets. One reason is that Bank of America offers a variety of credit cards, with worthwhile offers for all types of applicants, from those with bad credit to those with excellent credit.

Although Bank of America personal loans are not available, plenty of other banks, credit unions and online lenders do have good personal loan offers right now. Each category of lender has its own pros and cons, so WalletHub compared over two dozen of the top options to find the best deals.

Best Bank of America Personal Loan Alternatives for 2023

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American Express Personal Loans Review Summary

American Express personal loans are only available to people with an American Express credit card account who have received a pre-approved personal loan offer through Amex's automated system. They also require a credit score of 660 or higher.

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Wells Fargo Personal Loans Review Summary

Wells Fargo personal loans are good for people who are looking for large loan amounts because loans of as much as $100,000 are available, with payoff periods of 12 - 84 months. Applicants can take advantage of interest rates as low as 7.49% in some cases, too.

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To get a personal loan from a bank, first check your credit score, then compare available offers to find the best rates, fees and payoff periods. After that, check for pre-qualification, submit an application either online or in person and wait for a decision. The steps may not sound all that complex, but preparing to get a loan can be time consuming.

How to Get a Personal Loan from a Bank

Check Your Credit

The first step in getting a personal loan from a bank is always to check your credit score and reports because credit history is the biggest deciding factor for approval and most personal loans require a credit score of 660 or higher. There are some major banks that offer secured personal loans for people with bad credit, including Wells Fargo, PNC, Fifth Third Bank and KeyBank. But if your score is on the lower side, you may want to consider credit unions or online lenders instead, as they are more likely to offer personal loans for bad credit.

Choose Between the Available Offers

Next comes the most difficult part of the process, comparison shopping. WalletHub's tool can help you find available loans from banks that cater to your credit level. From there, you can choose which loans are best for you based on their lengths, required payments, interest rates and more.

Check for Pre-qualification

Once you've decided on a few good options, you will want to check if you are pre-qualified for any of them. The bank may have a tool to do this on their website, or you may be able to check in a branch. If you want to get pre-qualified with multiple lenders at once, you can use WalletHub's free pre-qualification tool. Getting pre-qualified means you have very high (but not 100%) chances of being approved. Pre-qualification also has no effect on your credit.

Apply Online or in Person

Eventually, you'll settle on one personal loan. At that point, you can apply either online or at a bank branch. Applying online typically gives you the fastest decision, since it's automated. But applying in-branch may plug you right into an automated system, too. And you'll have the expertise of a banker with you.

Wait to Hear Back

In most cases, it won't take long to receive a decision. You may get one instantly, and typically won't have to wait more than a few business days. Occasionally, it could take up to a few weeks. After you're approved, it will usually take at least one business day for the bank to transfer the funds to you.

There aren't too many differences between how to get a personal loan from a bank and how to get one from other types of lenders. But there are a few. First off, you're more likely to need a credit score of 660 or better to get a loan from a bank, while credit unions and online lenders are more likely to cater to people with subpar credit. In addition, unlike online lenders, banks offer the ability to apply in person. You can have a credit specialist sitting right there with you as you apply.

The best places to get a personal loan are banks, credit unions and online lenders. The best place for you to get your personal loan is whichever lender will approve you for the best package of key terms: loan amount, interest rate, repayment period and fees. You can get a sense of which lender that will be by comparing personal loan offers and checking for pre-qualification, both of which are free and will not affect your credit.

Best Places to Get a Personal Loan in 2023

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The major bank with the lowest interest rate for a personal loan is Barclays, at 5.74%. Other notable banks with low personal loan rates include HSBC (5.99%) and PNC (5.99%). Some smaller banks across the country may also offer personal loans with similarly low rates.

Banks with the Lowest Interest Rates for Personal Loans

• Barclays: 5.74%+ APR
• HSBC: 5.99%+ APR
• PNC: 5.99%+ APR
• American Express: 6.90%+ APR
• Discover: 6.99%+ APR
• Fifth Third Bank: 6.99%+ APR
• Santander Bank: 6.99%+ APR
• TD Bank: 6.99%+ APR

But just because a lender advertises an interest rate below 6% or 7% on personal loans, as many do, does not mean you are guaranteed that minimum rate. In fact, you'll likely need excellent credit (a score of 750+) to qualify for a lender's lowest rate. Personal loan providers usually display their APRs as a range. For example, Barclays has a minimum APR of 5.74%, but their maximum is 20.99%. The exact rate you receive will depend on such things as your income, credit score and current debts.

Of the largest banks in the country that offer personal loans, those listed above have the lowest interest rates. A few other banks with personal loans have slightly higher minimum rates. For example, Wells Fargo's APRs start at 7.24%. Others have minimum APRs that are significantly higher; USAA's personal loan APRs start at 9.49%.

If you use WalletHub's free pre-qualification tool, you can see which major lenders are likely to approve you and what rates you might qualify for.

It's also good to note that banks aren't the only place to get personal loans. Credit unions and online lenders are options, too. Each type of lender has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Chase does not offer debt consolidation loans, or personal loans for any purpose. However, that doesn't mean it's impossible to consolidate debt with Chase. Chase has two debt consolidation options: balance transfer credit cards and home equity lines of credit.

Ways to consolidate debt with Chase:

1. Balance transfer credit card. Chase offers one of the best balance transfer cards on the market, Chase Slate. For a full breakdown, check out WalletHub's complete Chase Slate review. In addition, Chase Freedom and Freedom Unlimited are also good options. The two Freedom cards offer excellent rewards as well.
2. Home equity line of credit. A HELOC works like a credit card in that you can borrow money up to a certain amount (based on the value of your home minus your mortgage balance) whenever you want. But you are never obligated to borrow. A HELOC is secured by your home, so Chase could foreclose on you if you can't pay back the money you borrow. APRs on Chase HELOCs range from 5.75% to 8.39%.

The advantage of using a balance transfer card for debt consolidation with Chase is that you get a 0% APR to start. If your debts are small enough, you may be able to pay them off before the regular APR kicks in. However, depending on what credit limit you get, you may not be able to consolidate all the debts that you'd like to. On Chase Slate, the balance transfers can't exceed your credit limit (minimum of $500) or $15,000, whichever is smaller.

HELOCs have the risk of using your home as collateral, but they offer extremely low interest rates for debt consolidation. Exactly how much you can borrow depends on how much equity you have. Chase provides a calculator on their website to help customers see how much they could save with a HELOC.