How to Pre-Qualify for a Personal Loan

Yes, you can get pre-approved for a personal loan if you're sent a “pre-approved offer” by the lender either by mail or email. Getting a notice that you're pre-approved means you're likely to get a loan if you apply, but keep in mind that approval is never guaranteed.

You can also check to see whether you're “pre-qualified” for a personal loan by entering some basic information into a form on the lender's website. Similarly, you can use WalletHub's free pre-qualification tool to pre-qualify with multiple lenders at once.

You may see the terms “pre-approved” and “pre-qualified” used interchangeably, but they are different. Pre-qualification also lets you estimate your potential interest rates, and you initiate it rather than the lender doing so. Both terms mean you have high approval odds, though.

Getting pre-qualified does not hurt your credit score. A pre-qualification only triggers a soft credit inquiry, so your credit report won't be fully pulled and analyzed, and your credit score will be unaffected.

However, once you apply for a specific credit card or mortgage, you will trigger a hard inquiry. Hard inquiries directly impact your credit score, lowering it by up to 5 - 10 points, but scores usually recover within a few months. Hard inquiries will remain on your credit report for two years, though they can only affect your credit score for up to one year.

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.

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.

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.

You can get LoanMe personal loan pre-approval through WalletHub's free personal loan pre-approval tool. This will allow you to see your odds of approval for a personal loan with LoanMe, as well as your potential interest rates, and the process will have no impact on your credit score.

How to Get LoanMe Personal Loan Pre-approval

• Go to WalletHub's free personal loan pre-approval tool.
• Enter your desired loan amount and select the reason for borrowing.
• Click “Get Started.”
• Select your employment status, then enter your annual income.
• Select whether you rent or own your home and click “Continue.”
• Create a WalletHub account if you haven't already.
• Receive your pre-approval status.

It's important to note that WalletHub's personal loan pre-approval tool doesn't just check for pre-approval with LoanMe. It also checks with multiple other personal loan providers at the same time, so you can see your options.

To check for pre-approval directly with LoanMe, go to its and click on See Loan Options. Then, enter your name, date of birth, phone number, email, and monthly income from employment. After that, click Next, .

Keep in mind that if you are pre-approved for a personal loan, you're not guaranteed to be approved when you submit an application. Your approval odds will be very high, though.

You can get OppLoans personal loan pre-qualification through WalletHub's free personal loan pre-qualification tool. This will allow you to see your odds of approval for a personal loan with OppLoans, as well as your potential interest rates, and the process will have no impact on your credit score.

How to Get OppLoans Personal Loan Pre-qualification

• Go to WalletHub's free personal loan pre-qualification tool.
• Enter your desired loan amount and select the reason for borrowing.
• Click “Get Started.”
• Select your employment status, then enter your annual income.
• Select whether you rent or own your home and click “Continue.”
• Create a WalletHub account if you haven't already.
• Receive your pre-qualification status.

It's important to note that WalletHub's personal loan pre-qualification tool doesn't just check for pre-qualification with OppLoans. It also checks with multiple other personal loan providers at the same time, so you can see your options.

Keep in mind that if you are pre-qualified for a personal loan, you're not guaranteed to be approved when you submit an application. Your approval odds will be very high, though.

Citibank 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 Citibank does not offer personal loan pre-approval, you can try out WalletHub's free pre-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.

You can get OneMain Financial personal loan pre-approval through the OneMain Financial website. OneMain Financial pre-approval allows you to see your odds of approval for a personal loan from OneMain Financial, as well as your potential interest rate, and the process will have no impact on your credit score.

How to Get OneMain Financial Personal Loan Pre-approval

• Go to the OneMain Financial website.
• Click on CHECK FOR OFFERS.
• Enter the loan amount, your name, home address, income and a few more pieces of information for verification.
• Click CONTINUE.

Once you receive your OneMain Financial pre-approval status, you can choose whether or not to actually submit an application. Getting pre-approved does not mean you're guaranteed to be approved if you apply, but your approval odds will be very high.

If you want to consider more options first, you can try out WalletHub's free personal loan pre-approval tool, which checks for pre-approval with multiple personal loan providers at the same time.

You can get pre-approved for a personal loan through Upstart without hurting your credit score on the company's website. Upstart pre-approval allows you to see your odds of approval for a personal loan, as well as your potential rate.

How to Get Pre-Approval for a Personal Loan Through Upstart

1. Go to the Upstart website.
2. Click on CHECK YOUR RATE.
3. Enter the loan amount, loan purpose, your name, date of birth, home address, email address, phone number, and more.
4. Click NEXT and follow the prompts until the end of the form.

Once you receive your Upstart pre-approval status, you can choose whether or not to actually submit an application. Getting pre-approved does not mean you're guaranteed to be approved if you apply, but your approval odds will be very high.

If you want to consider more options first, you can try out WalletHub's free personal loan pre-approval tool, which checks for pre-approval with multiple personal loan providers at the same time.

When you check your rate, Upstart will check your credit report. This initial (soft) inquiry will not affect your credit score. If you accept your rate and proceed with your application, Upstart will do another (hard) credit inquiry that will impact your credit score. If you take out a loan, repayment information will be reported to the credit bureaus.

You can get Integra Credit personal loan pre-approval through the Integra Credit website. Integra Credit pre-approval allows you to see your odds of approval for a personal loan from Integra Credit, as well as your potential interest rate, and the process will have no impact on your credit score.

How to Get Integra Credit Personal Loan Pre-approval

• Go to the Integra Credit website.
• Click on Check Loan Options.
• Enter your name, email, home phone number, cell phone number, loan amount, state, and personal loan invitation code (optional). You will also need to create an account.
• Click Get Started.

Once you receive your Integra Credit pre-approval status, you can choose whether or not to actually submit an application. Getting pre-approved does not mean you're guaranteed to be approved if you apply, but your approval odds will be very high.

If you want to consider more options first, you can try out WalletHub's free personal loan pre-approval tool, which checks for pre-approval with multiple personal loan providers at the same time.