Top 9 Personal Loans for 2024: Compare Rates & Offers

Over 24 million Americans will take out an unsecured personal loan this year, and that number is expected to rise in the years to come. So what exactly can you do with a personal loan?

Debt consolidation is one of the most popular uses because many consumers with credit card debt can find a better interest rate with a personal loan.

Many people use personal loans for other expenses as well. They’re usually reserved for expensive items that are difficult, if not impossible, to pay for all at once even if you have a beefed-up savings account.

For example, you might need a new roof or want to update your kitchen before you sell your house. Or perhaps your wedding plans cost more than your current cash flow or you need money to help pay for an adoption.

Personal loans make it easy to finance big-ticket items without draining your savings all at once. And while banks and credit unions have historically been the place to go for personal loans, online lenders now offer easy access to financing, often with lower interest rates.

Compare the Best Personal Loan Lenders and Apply Online

Compare offers from multiple lenders to make sure you’re getting the best personal loan rates. Look at the interest rate and origination fees (plus any other applicable fees) because that will tell you how much your total loan will cost.

Each lender’s annual percentage rate (APR) helps you compare these numbers as a single percentage. Also, make sure you can afford the monthly payments and that you’re comfortable with the length of the repayment period.

Without further ado, we present the nine best personal loans. Because we included lenders focusing on different types of borrowers, we encourage you to read through the list to find the best fit for you.

How We Picked the Best Personal Loans

We reviewed countless lenders to come up with the best places to get a personal loan online.

To make it to our list, each lender had to meet the following five criteria:

1. Diversity in loan options
2. Wide borrower approval rate
3. Dependability & Customer Service (or strong reputation and reviews from borrowers)
4. Competitive loan rates — because regardless of what you’re using the personal loan for, you want it to cost as little as possible
5. Special features, since many online lenders provide convenient benefits and services for borrowers.

Note: Geographic availability was also an important factor we considered.

Because each state has different regulations, many lenders only focus on a few select locations when they first open. Then, as they gain traction, they move into more and more states. We know our readers live all over the country, so we focused on lenders with a large geographic footprint.