#Credit Scores

Overview of the best lending sources for people with good credit

The best lending sources for people with good credit

When you have good credit, you have a lot of loan options. That’s particularly true if your credit score is over 700. Even though that may not be considered excellent credit, it’s good enough that the majority of lenders will want to do business with you. But some lenders will be more anxious than others, while others are best avoided.

Loan aggregators

These aren’t direct lenders, but web platforms giving you access to potentially hundreds of different lenders. The big advantage is that they save you from having to shop around with individual lenders. You complete a loan summary request, and lenders will come to you with offers. You can select the one that will work best for you. Here are some of the best.

• Fiona matches you with personalized loan offers starting as low as $1,000 and going all the way up to $250,000. Loan terms range from 6 to 144 months and APRs start at 2.49%. Once you fill out Fiona’s easy form, you’ll receive loan offers in under a minute. 
• Credible comes with a slightly smaller loan range, from $600 to $100,000. You can see all of the lenders available on the platform without even entering any personal information. And if you find a better personal loan rate elsewhere, Credible will give you $200. So it’s definitely worth including this aggregator in your loan search. Terms apply, see Best Rate Guarantee.  
• Monevo pulls loan offers from as many as 30 banks and lenders, without impacting your credit score. Plus, depending on the lender and your loan terms, you could take as long as 12 to 144 months to pay off a loan. This can be a helpful option for people who need to borrow a large amount and keep monthly payments affordable.

To get a sense of what loans you qualify for, check out some lenders below:

Personal loan lenders

If you have good credit, there are plenty of personal loan lenders that may approve your loan. 

• SoFi uses a variety of factors to approve loans, including your financial history, credit score, and monthly income vs. expenses. If you have a good debt-to-income ratio, you could qualify for a better rate than you’d get with a lender that uses credit scores alone. There’s also an autopay discount on your rate. And if you ever lose your job, you can pause your payments and get help from SoFi finding your next gig. 
• Marcus by Goldman Sachs® offers no-fee personal loans from $3,500 to 40,000 with a fixed APR rate for the life of the personal loan so it’s always the same amount you owe each month. And bonus: if you pay your loan on time and in full for 12 consecutive months, Marcus gives you a bonus that you can defer a payment where interest does not accrue during this time – and your loan is simply extended for one extra month.
  
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• OneMain’s online application process is simple and easy, but the lender really stands out by offering (and requiring) an in-person element to the approval process. You must visit a branch and speak to a loan specialist before getting funded. Also, note that OneMain personal loans do require collateral.  
• Best Egg personal loan amounts go from $2,000 to $35,000 and can be used for just about any purpose. In order to qualify for the lowest APR, Best Egg states that you’ll need a 700 credit score and an annual income of at least $100,000. It’s helpful to use these transparent requirements to get an idea of where you stand before even applying.

Peer-to-Peer (P2P) lenders

The loans you get from these sources will often have higher interest rates and fees than what you’ll pay at a bank or credit union. But they still have certain advantages. For example, you can get a personal loan of up to $40,000 for any purpose. In addition, the loans are completely unsecured.

They can be particularly beneficial with large medical debts. But one area of special consideration is business financing. It can be difficult to get a loan for a business of any type. But if you’re trying to launch a new business, it will be virtually impossible to get one from a bank or credit union. Since P2P personal loans are made for any and all purposes, they can be a perfect source for new business financing.

• LendingClub lets you borrow up to $40,000 with a fixed rate and monthly payments. It takes just a few minutes to apply and receive an offer. Then your loan will be posted to have investors fund it and you’ll get money in your bank account within a few days. 
• Prosper lets you apply to borrow between $2,000 and $40,000. In order to qualify, you’ll need at least three existing credit lines on your credit report. However, there is some wiggle room on your actual credit score, with the minimum being 640. Of course, you’ll need a higher score in order to qualify for the best rates and higher loan amounts.

Other types of loans for good credit

Home equity loans

With good credit, these can be excellent loan sources. They include both actual home equity loans, and home equity lines of credit (HELOCs). You’ll generally get better interest rates than other types of loans, since they’re secured by your home. They also provide larger loan amounts than other loan sources.

Here is a great of option to look into:

• Hometap lets you sell off a portion of your home’s future value for cash, essentially making the company a co-investor in your property. Once you’re ready to sell, Hometap will take its share of the proceeds. 

Getting a personal auto loan with good credit

If you have good credit, getting a personal auto loan is almost certain. The only time you might have trouble is if your credit history shows specific problems with a current auto loan, or if your income is insufficient to qualify for the loan.

Apart from those two issues, not only are you likely to be approved, but you’ll probably have plenty of options. Or, you can check out Fiona to help you find the best rates – so it’s really just more of a convenience for folks with good credit.

It’s important to remember that auto lending is not as uniform as other types of lending, particularly mortgages. This is because auto lending is a diverse industry. There are banks, credit unions, and subprime lenders, and each has their own criteria.

If you have good credit, you should be able to get an auto loan from your bank or credit union at a very reasonable rate. At a minimum, get a pre-approval, then make the car dealer beat it with a better offer.

Your credit score still matters with personal auto loans even if you have good credit

Even though you have good credit, your specific credit score will largely determine the interest rate you’ll pay on your auto loan.

Check out our auto loan calculator to get an idea of what kind of personal loan rate you’ll get.

Whatever your credit score is, be sure to shop around. You can often do better with credit unions than banks, and certainly than dealer financing. For example, DCU Credit Union – which lends nationally – is offering auto loans as low as 2.74% APR. The minimum credit score they’ll accept is 650, which is actually a little bit below the 670 to 739 range normally considered to be good credit.

Getting a mortgage with good credit

Most mortgage lenders will give you a loan if your credit score is at least 620, and there are a few that’ll go down to 600 or even 580. The catch is you’ll pay a higher interest rate with a credit score that low. And those are all considered to be fair credit, which is in the 580 to 669 credit score range.

If you’re in the good credit score range – 670 or higher – your likelihood of approval is much greater. And while you may not get the lowest mortgage rates available, the one you will get will be a lot better than if you were in the fair credit score range.

What’s more, if you have good credit, you’re less likely to have to get a cosigner, or to make a large down payment. Your credit will be good enough that it won’t need to be offset by a major compensating factor.

As far as which mortgage lender to use, there are no particular recommendations here. Virtually all mortgage lenders originate loans through either the FHA, VA, Fannie Mae, or Freddie Mac. That means that while there’s some flexibility between lenders, they’re all following essentially the same guidelines.

Once again, you can use our mortgage calculator, you can determine the effect of credit score ranges on your interest rate and monthly payment for a mortgage.

Credit cards for people with good credit

While personal loans may work better for some, using a credit card to pay off your debt could be a better option.

Many balance transfer credit cards offer 0% interest for anywhere between 12-18 months. That gives you a year or more to pay off your debt with ZERO interest. So if you decide to make a big purchase – whatever it is – balance credit cards buy you time and therefore money. Also, if you have debt that you know you can pay off in that amount of time, going with a balance transfer card over a personal loan is usually a better choice.

Here is one of my favorite balance transfer cards to check out: