What Credit Score Do You Need for a Personal Loan?
The published minimum credit score for every lender we review, what a published floor actually means for approval, and what to do if your score sits below 600 or in the 600-680 range.
If you’re searching for a specific lender’s minimum credit score, or trying to figure out what score you need before you apply anywhere, the honest answer is that it depends which lender you’re asking about — and for most of them, there isn’t a published number at all. Some personal loan lenders draw a hard line and tell you exactly where it is. Most don’t, and instead look at income, banking history, existing debt, and sometimes alternative data bureaus that don’t factor a traditional score the same way.
This guide pulls together the published minimum credit score for every lender reviewed on this site, in one table, so you can see at a glance who publishes a number, who doesn’t, and what each lender says it weighs instead. It’s not a guarantee of approval at any of these lenders — a published minimum is a floor, not a target — but it’s a starting point for figuring out which lenders are even worth checking your rate with.
Published minimums by lender (September 2026)
As of September 2026, here’s what each lender publishes about its minimum credit score, its APR range, and its loan amounts, sorted from the lowest published minimum to lenders that publish none.
| Lender | Published minimum credit score | APR range | Loan amount | Review |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avant | 580 published | 9.95%-35.99% | $2,000-$35,000 | Avant review |
| Prosper | 640 published | 8.99%-35.99% | $2,000-$50,000 | Prosper review |
| Best Egg | None published | 6.99%-35.99% | $2,000-$50,000 | Best Egg review |
| CashNetUSA | None published | 199%-579% | $100-$3,000 | CashNetUSA review |
| Discover | None published | 6.99%-24.99% | $2,500-$40,000 | Discover review |
| Integra Credit | None published | 159%-249% | $500-$3,000 | Integra Credit review |
| LendingClub (Happen Bank) | None published | 5.96%-35.96% | $1,000-$75,000 | LendingClub review |
| LendingPoint | No published cutoff; third-party analyses put the practical floor around 640 | 7.99%-35.99% | $1,000-$36,500 | LendingPoint review |
| LightStream | None published; targets good-to-excellent credit with several years of history | 9.99%-25.44% | $5,000-$100,000 | LightStream review |
| Mariner Finance | None published | 15.99%-35.99% | $1,000-$25,000 | Mariner Finance review |
| NetCredit | None published | 34.99%-99.99% | $1,000-$10,000 | NetCredit review |
| OneMain Financial | None published | 11.99%-35.99% | $1,500-$30,000 | OneMain review |
| OppLoans | None published | 129%-195% | $500-$5,000 | OppLoans review |
| Personify Financial | None published | 36%-179.5% | $500-$15,000 | Personify Financial review |
| Possible Finance | None published | 136%-249% | $50-$600 | Possible Finance review |
| RISE | None published | 60%-299% | $500-$5,000 | RISE review |
| SoFi | None published | 6.49%-35.49% | $5,000-$100,000 | SoFi review |
| Upgrade | None published | 7.74%-35.99% | $1,000-$50,000 | Upgrade review |
| Upstart | No fixed minimum; has approved scores as low as 300 | 6.3%-35.99% | $1,000-$75,000 | Upstart review |
Two lenders in that list are worth a second look, because their published numbers can be easy to misread. LendingPoint doesn’t publish a firm minimum credit score; third-party lender comparisons consistently put the practical floor around 640, so that number is an outside estimate, not one LendingPoint states itself. Upstart has no fixed minimum credit score and says it has approved applicants with scores as low as 300 — that’s the lowest score it reports approving, not a line above which approval is assured.
What a published minimum actually means
A published minimum credit score is a floor, not a target. The two lenders in the table that do publish a hard number both make that point themselves. Avant’s own data puts its typical approved borrower at a FICO score in the 600-700 range with annual income above $50,000, well above its published 580 floor, so a bare-minimum score with thin income is a tougher sell. Prosper states that borrowers must have a credit score of 640 or higher to qualify, and separately that applicants under 600 might not qualify at all — the 640 line is real, but it’s a gate you have to clear before the rest of the application even gets weighed.
Clearing a published minimum, or applying somewhere that publishes none, doesn’t settle the question by itself. Across the lenders in the table, the same handful of factors sits behind the credit score: verifiable income (several lenders specify a monthly or annual floor), your existing debt relative to that income, the state you live in (availability and even loan-amount minimums vary by state), and how large a loan you’re asking for relative to your finances. A lender weighing all of that can decline an applicant who clears the published score, and can approve one who falls just short of it if the rest of the picture is strong enough.
If your score is below 600
Most of the lenders in the table above publish no minimum credit score at all, and several describe what they look at instead of a FICO number. CashNetUSA’s approval leans on your income and banking activity rather than a FICO number. OppLoans runs a soft inquiry on your Experian report and a hard inquiry through Clarity Services, an alternative credit bureau that weighs income and banking history more heavily than a score. Possible Finance says it doesn’t use a FICO score at all, evaluating the linked bank account’s income, cash flow, and transaction history instead. OneMain says it looks at overall credit history and how much income you have left over after monthly expenses, rather than screening on a single number, which makes it more accessible to borrowers who’ve already been turned down by score-driven lenders.
None of that is a promise of approval, and the tradeoff for a lender that doesn’t screen on score alone is usually a higher APR — several of the lenders above run into triple digits. Before applying anywhere in this range, read our guide to bad-credit installment loans for the fee stack, refinancing patterns, and total-cost comparisons worth checking before you sign.
If your score is 600-680
This is the band where the two published-minimum lenders in the table, Avant and Prosper, become realistic options rather than automatic declines, and where LendingPoint’s practical floor around 640 and Upstart’s no-fixed-minimum model both apply. Avant’s own data puts its typical approved borrower’s FICO score in the 600-700 range. Prosper’s 640 published minimum sits at the bottom of this band — it says applicants under 600 might not qualify at all, so a score in the high 500s to low 600s is where its hard cutoff matters most. LendingPoint’s ideal fit is a borrower with credit in the 600s and stable income who has already been declined or quoted a high rate by a bank or credit union. Upstart weighs education, employment history, and income alongside score, so a 600-680 applicant there is evaluated on more than the number alone — and shopping a published-minimum lender against a no-minimum one tends to pay off in this range, since they can land on different rates for the same applicant.
Checking your rate without a hard pull
For an initial rate check, several of the lenders in the table say they use a soft credit pull that doesn’t affect your score, with a hard inquiry only running if you accept an offer and move forward. Avant, Best Egg, LendingClub, LendingPoint, Mariner Finance, OneMain, Personify Financial, Prosper, RISE, Upgrade, and Upstart each say the same — check the specific lender’s page for the exact wording, since a few (Upgrade’s second soft inquiry on acceptance, RISE’s hard pull with Clarity Services once you submit a full application) have their own sequence worth knowing. OppLoans is an exception: an application itself triggers a hard inquiry with Clarity Services alongside the soft Experian pull, so there’s no soft-only rate check there.
Before you apply
A credit score, published or not, is only one input into what a loan actually costs you. Before you apply anywhere on this list, our guide to how installment loan interest actually works explains why the total repayment figure matters more than the monthly payment, and why a longer term isn’t automatically the cheaper choice. If your score is in a range where a small improvement could move you into a better tier, raising a 600 credit score toward 750 covers what tends to move a score and how long it realistically takes.
Once you’ve compared published minimums, APR ranges, and what each lender says it weighs instead of a score, the next step is to check your actual rate rather than guess from a published range — you can start a loan request and see what a specific lender offers based on your full application, not just your credit score.
Frequently Asked Questions
What credit score do I need to get approved for a personal loan?
It depends entirely on the lender. A handful publish a specific number — Avant lists 580, Prosper requires 640 — but most of the lenders reviewed on this site publish no minimum at all and instead weigh income, banking history, and existing debt alongside whatever your credit report shows. A published minimum is a floor to clear, not a promise of approval once you clear it.
Can I get a personal loan with a credit score under 600?
Several reviewed lenders publish no credit-score minimum and say they look past a score at income, banking activity, or alternative-data bureaus instead, which is why borrowers under 600 sometimes qualify there when a score-driven lender would decline them. The tradeoff is usually a higher APR. See our guide to bad-credit installment loans for what to check in the fine print before signing.
Does checking my rate hurt my credit score?
For the lenders that describe it, the initial rate check is a soft credit pull that does not affect your score, and a hard inquiry only runs if you accept a specific offer and move forward with the full application. Confirm this on the lender's own site before you check, since the process varies.
Is a lender's published minimum credit score the score I need to actually get approved?
No — treat it as a floor, not a target. Lenders that publish a number, like Avant's 580, also say their typical approved borrower scores well above it. Income, existing debt relative to that income, the state you live in, and how much you're asking to borrow all factor into the actual decision.
What's the difference between a lender with a published minimum and one with none?
A published minimum, like Prosper's 640, is a hard cutoff: fall short and you won't be considered regardless of income. A lender with no published minimum is evaluating a broader mix of factors and hasn't committed to a specific score as a gatekeeper, which can help a thin or damaged credit file but also means you can't know in advance whether your score alone would have ruled you out elsewhere.
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