A personal loan is a type of installment loan in which money is borrowed in a lump sum and repaid over time in fixed monthly payments.
Borrowers commonly use personal loans to consolidate debt, because a single loan can replace multiple monthly payments and potentially give you a lower interest rate than you pay on high-interest debts like credit cards.
Other than a couple of restrictions, including buying a home or paying for education costs, you can get pretty creative with how you use a personal loan. It could give you a leg up to start a business if you can’t get approved for a dedicated business loan. Plus, a personal loan can give you a lifeline if your financial situation changes unexpectedly or help you shoulder big expenses without the high interest of credit cards.
Personal loans offered by online lenders and traditional financial institutions share a lot of standard features. They tend to come in amounts between $5,000 to $40,000, with interest rates between 5% and 36%, and repayment periods between two and seven years (though there are outliers for all of these parameters). Most lenders offer a discounted interest rate if you sign up for automatic payments, typically 0.25 or 0.5 percentage points.
Typically, you need good to excellent credit — a score of at least 670 — but you can find lenders, especially through online platforms, that cater to borrowers with lower scores. A few lenders offer perks, like repayment benefits or a free FICO score,
