Best Personal Loans in Houston, TX

In 2019, SunTrust and BB&T Banks merged to become Truist, a new financial institution. To borrow money, you don't have to be a current Truist customer. Truist has no minimum credit score requirement for personal loans.

Truist Bank provides personal loans with quick funding from $3,500 to $50,000 with payback periods ranging up to 60 months. Truist does not impose origination fees, and it doesn’t have late fees. However, the lender has a very high minimum interest rate of 8.14%.

Truist performs hard credit inquiries, which can affect your credit scores. The lender also has several restrictions on fund usage, so check to make sure you can use the money for your intended purpose.

Upstart is a loan platform powered by artificial intelligence (AI), linking borrowers with lenders. By going beyond credit history and examining various non-traditional credit indicators, Upstart gives borrowers with poor credit access to personal loans. As a result, the platform is a viable choice for those who require personal loans but have bad credit scores.

With Upstart, you can borrow anything from $1,000 to $50,000 with payback terms ranging from 36 to 60 months. Personal loans from Upstart have no restrictions on fund usage. Because of these features, MoneyGeek named Upstart as the best personal loan lender in Houston for borrowers with bad credit.

That said, look out for Upstart’s origination fees, which can reach 8%, and interest rates, which can be as high as 35.99%. The lender also has a 45% debt-to-income limit, so your application will be rejected if you have significant existing debt.

SoFi is an online lending platform that offers unsecured personal loans in Houston. There are loans ranging from $5,000 to $100,000 available with periods ranging from one to five years. SoFi provides loans with reasonable interest rates and no fees for borrowers with a credit score of at least 680.

For borrowers with good credit and a consistent income, a SoFi personal loan is a great option. There are no origination or late fees, and paying off your balance early will not result in a penalty. That said, the company’s $50,000 minimum income requirement will exclude quite a few potential borrowers. It also has a 43% debt-to-income limit, so you may not qualify if you have extensive debt already.

Upgrade, founded in 2017, provides users with a completely online financial experience. While Upgrade may assist borrowers with acceptable credit in obtaining approval, applicants with higher credit ratings are more likely to avoid the company's highest APRs, which can reach nearly 36%.

One of the reasons Upgrade ranked first for debt consolidation is that it directly pays your creditors if you take out a personal loan for this purpose. We also appreciate its soft credit inquiries and lack of income requirements.

However, Upgrade has very high origination fees of 2.9%–8% and also places several restrictions on fund usage, so it won’t be the ideal choice for everyone.

Best Egg has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB), and their BBB page includes many positive client evaluations. Borrowers with a minimum credit score of 700 may apply. Those who qualify can borrow up to $50,000 to cover a wide range of needs, including debt consolidation, credit card refinancing and paying for large purchases.

MoneyGeek has ranked Best Egg the best personal loan lender for home improvement in Houston. However, in addition to its high credit score requirement, Best Egg also requires borrowers to have at least $50,000 in gross annual income. Furthermore, its potentially high origination fees and interest rates could scare off some customers.