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Wells Fargo Personal Loans Review
When it comes to personal loans, Wells Fargo loans have a lot going for them. Not only do they come with no origination fee and no annual fee, but you get a fixed interest rate and fixed monthly payment for the life of the loan. Beyond the predictability you get with a fixed rate, existing Wells Fargo customers can qualify for a small rate discount if they set up their loan payments on autopay.
Wells Fargo was founded in 1852 during the gold rush era in the Western United States. While the bank’s first real branch opened for business in San Francisco, new offices began to pop up in small towns and mining camps within the next few years. In 1888, Wells Fargo became the country’s first nationwide express company, expanding into 2,500 communities in 25 different states.
Since those early days, Wells Fargo has grown to be one of the most prominent banks in the nation. These days, you can turn to Wells Fargo for nearly all your banking needs from mortgage loans to auto loans, checking and savings accounts, home equity loans, and credit cards.
Wells Fargo is also well known for their personal loans and lines of credit, both of which come with competitive interest rates and low or no fees. If you need to borrow money for nearly any reason and you’re considering a personal loan from Wells Fargo, keep reading to learn about their loan products, how they work, and how they stack up to competitors.
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Wells Fargo Personal Loans: Key Takeaways
- Borrow between $3,000 and $100,000.
- Repay your loan over 12 to 60 months.
- Personal loans come with a fixed interest rate and fixed monthly payments.
- Personal loans come with no origination fee or annual fee, and lines of credit come with a $25 annual fee.
- Receive your loan funds as soon as the next business day.
- Autopay discounts are available for existing customers.
Wells Fargo Personal Loans: Affordable Loans for Borrowers with Good Credit
While Wells Fargo doesn’t disclose their minimum credit score requirements, most of their personal loan customers have a credit score of at least 660. This means you may not be able to qualify for a Wells Fargo personal loan if you have poor credit, but it also means the customers they do service tend to qualify for competitive interest rates.
Speaking of rates, Wells Fargo typically offers personal loans with fixed rates as low as 5.74% and as high as 20.49%. They do say they offer rates as low as 5.74% APR for some borrowers, but these low rates are typically only available to borrowers with excellent credit taking out small loan amounts.
Another huge upside of Wells Fargo is the fact they let consumers borrow up to $100,000 with a personal loan. That’s considerably higher than most personal lenders offer, although Wells Fargo doesn’t offer any specifics on the type of income you need to qualify for that amount.
Wells Fargo: What to Watch Out For
There are a few downsides to Wells Fargo personal loans, the most important of which is that they may not be available to everyone. Beyond their somewhat cryptic credit requirements, you must be an existing Wells Fargo customer to apply for one of their personal loans online or on the phone. If you’re not a customer already, you can only apply for a personal loan by visiting a branch in person.
And while Wells Fargo does offer competitive interest rates, the lowest rates they offer on the bulk of their personal loans aren’t competitive with the top lenders in the personal loan space. Borrowers with excellent credit may qualify for a personal loan with a much lower rate (even as low as 5.49% APR) with lenders like SoFi, Marcus by Goldman Sachs, and Eloan. This is one reason you should shop around among a few lenders before you settle on a personal loan. Even among borrowers with a similar credit rating and income, interest rates can vary widely.
Who Wells Fargo Personal Loans Are Best For:
- Wells Fargo customers who can qualify for the best rates and a rate discount
- Anyone who wants a personal loan with no origination fee or annual fee
- People who need to borrow up to $100,000 without collateral
How to Apply for a Personal Loan from Wells Fargo
If you’re a Wells Fargo customer already, you can apply for a personal loan or line of credit online or on the phone. If you’re not a Wells Fargo customer, you’ll need to apply in person. Either way, plan on gathering the following information before you begin your application:
- Social Security Number
- Date of birth
- Citizenship status
- Marital status
- Email address
- Primary telephone number
- Permanent address
Also plan on including your employment information, your income, and your monthly mortgage or rent payment.
Once your application is reviewed, Wells Fargo has the right to ask for additional information to complete your application. Documentation you may need to supply includes:
- Recent pay stubs, W2s, or tax returns
- Utility bills
- Copy of driver’s license or Social Security card
- Information to payoff current accounts
- IRS Form 4506T (Request for Transcript of Tax Return)
If you’re approved for a personal loan from Wells Fargo, you may be able to receive your loan funds as soon as the next business day.
Too long, didn’t read?
Personal loans can be a smart option if you need to borrow money to consolidate debt or make a large purchase. They tend to come with much lower interest rates than credit cards, and the fact you get a fixed monthly payment and fixed repayment schedule makes them more predictable.
However, you shouldn’t go with the first lender you come across. Because rates are highly variable and some lenders consider different criteria when approving you for a loan, it always makes sense to shop around and compare loan quotes before you move forward.
Wells Fargo is a prominent bank that’s been in business for over a century, but they may or may not offer the lowest rates and fees for the personal loan you want. The only way to find out is to shop around and compare.
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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.
