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SoFi Personal Loans Review
SoFi personal loans are some of the best on the market. The company has one of the lowest interest rates on personal loans, and you can save even more with no origination, prepayment or late fees. These loans aren’t for everyone, though. SoFi has a higher credit score and income requirement than many of its competitors, meaning borrowers facing financial hardship likely aren’t eligible.
When reviewing SoFi personal loans, we used our SimpleScore Methodology to rate the company’s rates, loan size, customer satisfaction, support, and fees to compare them withother best personal loan companies on the market.
Best for Good Credit – SoFi
Getting a personal loan from SoFi is like flying first class: it provides the best experience, but not just anyone is invited.
- High borrowing limits
- Competitive interest rates
- No fees
- Unemployment protection
- High credit score requirements
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SoFi personal loans at a glance
| APR | 5.99%–22.56% with autopay |
| Eligibility requirements | 680 credit score, $45,000 annual income |
| Fees | None |
| Best for | High loan amounts |
| Not for | Borrowers with poor credit |
| Standout features | Long loan terms, 0.25% autopay discount |
| Customer service | (855) 456-SOFI (7634) SoFi Lending Corp Personal LoansPO Box 654158Dallas, TX 75265-4158 Tweet @SoFiSupport |
What we like about SoFi
High borrowing limits
SoFi offers just about the highest personal loan amount you can get. While many personal loan lenders max out around $40,000, SoFi offers personal loans up to $100,000. The high limits make this loan a useful tool for anyone who needs to consolidate debt or finance home improvement projects. And the company’s longer loan terms make it easier to pay off this higher amount. SoFi loan terms range anywhere from two to seven years.
Competitive interest rates
SoFi offers competitive interest rates, ranging from 5.99%–22.56% with a 0.25% autopay discount. Those rates are some of the lowest on the market. Keep in mind that, as with any other lender, SoFi’s best rates are reserved for those with excellent credit. While you may be able to get a loan with a 680 credit score, you won’t necessarily have access to the best rates.
No origination, prepayment or late fees
Plenty of personal loan lenders charge origination fees when you first take out a loan. They also may charge prepayment fees if you pay off your loan early or late fees if you miss a payment. SoFi doesn’t charge any fees, meaning you can rest assured that the amount it tells you that you’ll owe is actually what you end up paying.
Unemployment protection
One feature that SoFi offers that you may have a hard time finding elsewhere is its unemployment protection. If you lose your job through no fault of your own, SoFi will suspend your monthly payment and help you find a new job. In a global pandemic, when millions of people have lost their jobs, this perk is even more important than ever.
[ Read: Pros and Cons of Taking Out a Personal Loan ]
Things to consider
Higher credit score requirements
SoFi personal loans have a lot of perks, but these loans also have higher credit score requirements than many competitors. To get a SoFi personal loan, you’ll need a credit score of at least 680. And even if you do meet the minimum credit score requirement, you likely won’t have access to the lenders best rates without an excellent score.
Annual income requirements
SoFi requires that its borrowers have an annual income of at least $45,000. This income level is below the national average salary, meaning it’s likely that most people will qualify. But it does mean that people between jobs or borrowing money because they’re facing financial hardship will likely have to look elsewhere.
SoFi personal loan borrower requirements
- Minimum credit score: 680
- Annual income: $45,000
- At least the age of majority in your state
- Live in a state where SoFi is authorized to lend
[ Read: How Personal Loans Work ]
SoFi personal loans vs. the competition
Marcus scores 5s across the board in SimpleScore, beating SoFi only in customer satisfaction.
Marcus is the personal lending division of Goldman Sachs. The company offers personal loans at competitive interest rates. Marcus is one of the top personal loan lenders and a solid competitor to SoFi. Marcus’ personal loan rates are slightly higher than SoFi’s, but Marcus beats out SoFi in customer satisfaction, earning a 5/5 circles in J.D. Power’s 2019 survey to SoFi’s 3/5. But both lenders charge no fees and have incredibly similar terms.
Read our full Marcus personal loan review.
Consider PNC Bank as a back up to SoFi — if you can’t get your first choice in SoFi, you can fall back on PNC.
If you prefer a lender with physical locations, then PNC might be right for you. The company offers decent interest rates with loan amounts perfect for someone who wants to borrow a small amount. While SoFi’s rates start at 5.99%, PNC has rates as low as 7.24%, but specific rates vary by zip code.
Read our full PNC Bank personal loan review.
If you’re already swiping a card from AmEx, you can get a personal loan, too — but not to pay off that card.
American Express personal loans are available to existing AmEx cardholders, with APRs of 5.91%–19.98% (since August 2020), which is slightly better than SoFi. However, American Express does charge late fees on personal loans and has no added protections for borrowers like SoFi. Furthermore, if you want to consolidate credit card debt with American Express, you can, but not for your AmEx credit cards.
SoFi debt consolidation loan
Borrowers can use SoFi personal loans to consolidate existing debt. SoFi offers specific loans for refinancing and consolidating student loans. But the company’s personal loans are ideal for consolidating large amounts of credit card debt. Borrowers can go from multiple monthly payments to just one, and typically at a significantly lower interest rate — as low as 5.99% for highly creditworthy borrowers.
SoFi doesn’t have any origination fees, meaning your upfront costs will be lower than a balance transfer would be. Borrowers can use personal loans ranging from $5,000 to $100,000 to pay off their debt.
Can I refinance a personal loan with SoFi?
Borrowers may be able to refinance an existing personal loan to get a lower interest rate or to extend their loan term. As long as someone meets the eligibility requirements for a SoFi loan, they can use a personal loan to refinance an existing one.
[ Read: Secured Personal Loans vs. Unsecured Personal Loans ]
Cheaper alternatives to SoFi personal loans
SoFi offers such low interest rates and favorite loan terms that it’s hard to find a cheaper personal loan. LightStream does offer slightly lower interest rates — 2.99% compared to SoFi’s 5.99%. And if you can’t get the lowest rates with SoFi due to a bad credit score, you might try applying with another lender.
SoFi in the news
- In 2020, SoFi applied for a national bank charter. The charter would allow the financial institution to expand its current offerings to include checking and savings accounts, mortgages and more. The move would also make it easier for SoFi to serve customers nationwide, rather than seeking authorization in each individual state. SoFi was granted conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) in November 2020. It still must receive approval from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
- In October 2020, SoFi announced that it would be releasing its first credit card. The card would be first available to current SoFi members, while others can join the waitlist. The card will come with perks such as no annual fee and 2% unlimited cash back if redeemed in other SoFi accounts.
Personal loan FAQ
No. SoFi personal loans are generally reserved for borrowers with good credit. You must have a credit score of 680 to qualify.
SoFi doesn’t charge any prepayment penalties if you pay off your loan early, meaning borrowers can do so without facing fees.
SoFi doesn’t offer same-day personal loans. If you qualify, expect to wait a few days for the money to be deposited into your account.
Too long, didn’t read?
SoFi is one of the top lenders in the personal loan business. It offers perks that are hard to beat, including low interest rates, long loan terms and high borrowing limits. It also has unemployment protection, so you can pause your payments if you lose your job. But those perks come at a trade-off. SoFi requires borrowers to have good credit and a certain level of income to qualify for a personal loan.
Editorial Note: Compensation does not influence our recommendations. However, we may earn a commission on sales from the companies featured in this post. To view a list of partners, click here. Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by our advertisers. Reasonable efforts are made to present accurate info, however all information is presented without warranty. Consult our advertiser’s page for terms & conditions.
We welcome your feedback on this article and would love to hear about your experience with the personal loans we recommend. Contact us at inquiries@thesimpledollar.com with comments or questions.
Keep Reading
Methodology
The SimpleScore is a proprietary scoring metric we use to objectively compare products and services at The Simple Dollar.
For every review, our editorial team:
- Identifies five measurable aspects to compare across each brand
- Determines the rating criteria for each aspect score
- Averages the five aspect scores to produce a single SimpleScore
Here’s a breakdown of the five aspect scores and their rating criteria for our review of the best personal loans of 2020.
Why do some brands have different SimpleScores on different pages?
To ensure the SimpleScore is as helpful and accurate as possible, we developed unique criteria for every category we compare at The Simple Dollar. Since most brands offer a variety of financial solutions, their products and services will score differently depending on what we’re scoring on a given page.
However, it’s also possible for the same product from the same brand to have multiple SimpleScores. For instance, if we compare NetCredit’s personal loans according to our criteria for the best personal loans, it scores a 2.3 out of 5. But when we compare NetCredit according to the criteria for the best bad credit personal loans, it scores considerably higher, since the criteria for the latter review are more lenient (lenders who serve borrowers with bad credit will always offer higher rates, so we needed to adjust our category methodology to account for different industry standards).
Questions about our methodology?
Email Hayley Armstrong at hayley@thesimpledollar.com.
Rates
We looked at the maximum APR for each lender — the lower their maximum rate, the higher their score.
Loan Size
We awarded higher scores to lenders with more generous loan sizes.
Customer Satisfaction
We leveraged the J.D. Power 2019 Personal Loan Satisfaction Study℠ to see how customers rated their experience with each lender. (If a lender wasn’t included in J.D. Power’s study, we skipped this aspect and averaged the four remaining aspect scores.)
Support
We awarded higher scores to lenders with the most channels for customer support.
Fees
We looked at the three most common fees — origination, late payment, and pre-payment — and penalized lenders for each fee charged.
Reviewed by
Courtney Mihocik
Loans EditorCourtney Mihocik is an editor at The Simple Dollar who specializes in personal loans, student loans, auto loans, and debt consolidation loans. She is a former writer and contributing editor to Interest.com, PersonalLoans.org, and elsewhere.
