Credible Loans Review for 2024

Credible is an online loan marketplace allowing people to compare different loan types and lenders. Having such a reputable platform is a huge benefit since many loan options are available online, making borrowers unsure of where to start. What’s more, Credible picks up lenders offering the most favorable rates, so continue reading to learn more.

Credible Overview

Established in 2012, Credible has become one of the most trusted online loan marketplaces. By 2020, Credible had mortgage* licenses in 47 US states. In 2021 alone, more than 50,000 borrowers found loans through the service, saving over $92 million in total. 

You can find useful information about mortgage refinancing* and compare multiple lenders’ rates for personal loans, student loan refinancing, and private student loans on the website. Moreover, you can research car and home insurance there.

Credible Loans Details

You can use Credible to get your prequalified rates**  and requirements by multiple lenders if you need clarification on how much you can borrow with a loan. Whatever your financial situation is, you’re likely to find the best match for your budget and needs on this website. 

Credible is paid only when you get a loan from one of its partners.

Loan Types

Credible is a company that connects borrowers with lenders offering various types of loans, including: 

Personal Loans

Personal loans you can can apply for are:

• Debt consolidation loans that help you replace multiple debts with a single loan and get a lower interest rate.
• Credit card consolidation loans, allowing you to repay debt on various credit cards by taking out a single loan.
• Home improvement loans, which you can draw to renovate your home.
• Personal loans for bad credit that cater to people who had trouble paying off their debts in the past.

Student Loans

Credible has student loans you can look into through its platform, including private student loans and student loan refinancing. The former are available to undergraduates, graduates, parents, and medical students, among other prospective borrowers. Student loan refinancing features student loan refinance and consolidation options.

Mortgages

Home loans and mortgage refinancing*, which replaces an existing home loan with another, fall into this category.

Loan Rates

Depending on your credit score and other factors, you can qualify for loans with differing rates and other terms offered by lenders in the network. But thanks to Credible's user-friendly interface, you can evaluate the rates from its lending partners in a matter of minutes. 

What's certain, though, is that whatever your circumstances, your annual percentage rate can go as low as 6.40% (even lower in some cases) and as high as 35.99%, if you’re looking at personal loans. So it’s definitely worth doing the research. Take a look at the following table for a general overview of personal loan and student loan rates:

Note that you can lower rates by signing up for autopay, an automatic payment feature that prevents you from missing payments. Borrowers who sign up for autopay may qualify for an APR as low as 6.99%.

Also, note that student loan refinancing and private student loan rates vary depending on whether you take a loan with a fixed or a variable rate. 

With autopay*, the lowest fixed student loan refinancing APR would be 5.28%. The lowest variable student loan refinancing APR would be 5.28% with this feature. As for private student loans, autopay* can lower your fixed APR rate to 3.69% and variable APR rate to 5.13%.

Loan Terms

The company reviews and updates its database of lenders and their conditions regularly. You can, therefore, rest assured you’ll find the best loan for your needs in minutes. Besides the APR ranges, you can quickly find their partners' loan terms by scanning the page.

For now, note that the loan term ranges for personal loans, student loan refinancing, and private student loans are the following:

The majority of customers mention that the loan term range depends on the lender and the borrower’s eligibility. Our research confirms this. Take the following three lenders’ personal loan terms as an example:

• PenFed Credit Union - 1 to 5 years
• LightStream - 2 to 7 years
• Axos Bank - 3 to 6 years

Student loan refinancing terms for undergraduate and graduate student loan borrowers also come with a range of loan repayment options. The company reviews and chooses its lending partners carefully, and here are the terms offered by some of them:

• ELFI - 5, 7, 10, 15 and 20 years
• Citizens - 5, 7, 10, 15 and 20 years
• MEFA - 7, 10, and 15 years

Loan Amounts

When comparing personal loan rates, you'll find that loan amounts also vary across lenders. Some of Credible’s partners, such as SoFi and LightStream, lend up to $100,000, whereas Happy Money and Discover have a maximum loan amount of $40,000 that you can apply for. LendingPoint is among the lenders that offer lower loan amounts (up to $36,500).

According to available information, these loan amounts apply to borrowers with good credit scores, as well as those with bad credit scores in need of a loan.

Refinancing loan amounts for students vary across private and federal loans and also depend on factors such as whether the borrower is a graduate or undergraduate student. In general, private student loans come with higher loan amounts, but they lack federal protections. 

Certainly, as private student loans go, Credible is among the providers you should check out. 

Credible Fees

The company's fees are 100% transparent, so you don’t need to worry about hidden costs that may catch up with you.

If you apply for student loan refinancing or a private student loan, you won't have to pay any fee because Credible ensures its lending partners charge no application, service, or origination fees to students. Moreover, there’s no prepayment penalty, so you can pay off your debt ahead of schedule.

Personal loans, however, may be subject to certain fees, depending on the provider. 

Most partner lenders don't charge a prepayment penalty. We’ve examined these claims and found them true. However, you may have to pay an origination fee as high as 8% or 8.99% with some partners. Also, some providers charge an unsuccessful payment fee of anywhere between $10 and $30.

Credible Application Process

The Credible platform is great for its quick assessment of a prospective borrower’s loan eligibility. You don't need to check every lender one by one since the online form will let you know your options in no time. 

All you have to do is fill out the form, a process that takes only a couple of minutes. You'll see personalized prequalified rates**  from lending partners whose conditions you meet on your dashboard.

Free Eligibility Check

Another thing that Credible users like is the absence of any related costs for using the platform to check eligibility. The company profits from commissions from loan providers when you close the deal. Credible won’t charge you if you don’t close a loan agreement. 

Rate Check Doesn’t Impact Your Credit Score

Many prospective users hesitate to check loans and compare rates because they fear that doing so may affect their credit scores. This is especially true for people who need to compare loans for bad credit.

If you are one of them, go ahead and check your options because Credible does a soft credit check to provide you with accurate prequalified rates** , which won’t impact your score. A participating partner will perform a hard credit check that will appear on your credit report and affect your score only if you decide to draw a loan. 

Is Using Credible Secure?

Another thing we’d like to underline in our review is that using this platform for comparing lenders and determining monthly payments and interest rates is secured with TLS encryption. 

Unlike many online businesses that require you to disclose personal and other confidential information to get a service, Credible doesn't sell the details you provide to advertisers and data brokers to generate extra profit. It only receives a payment when you accept a loan offer from a participating partner. And the commission it gets comes at no extra cost to you. 

Pros and Cons

Now, let’s recap the advantages and disadvantages before we conclude our review. 

Strengths

The key benefits that users enjoy are:

• Free check of loan rates and other terms
• Comparing rates from different lenders in one place
• Soft credit check to provide personal prequalified rates**  that doesn't affect the credit score
• A straightforward application process that provides borrowers with available options in minutes
• An autopay feature that can lower the APR for personal and student loans and student loan refinancing
• Loan rates and other relevant data (fees, loan amounts, etc.) come from multiple loan lenders in a way that's easy to read and compare
• Partners do not charge origination, service, application, or prepayment fees for student loan refinancing and private student loans

Weaknesses

Some related downsides that aren’t deal breakers for most clients are:

• Credible allows you to compare deals from many lenders, but you might need to do additional research to find the one that’s best for you.
• You’ll get personalized prequalified rates** when you fill out the online form, but these aren’t binding; the loan provider will have the final word about that and whether it will approve your request.
• No mobile app

Bottom Line

Credible is an excellent source of information for anyone who needs a personal loan, student loan refinancing, a private student loan, or a mortgage*. You can quickly review many lenders and find the loan with the best interest rates and conditions. Also, the Credible customer service can help you with anything you might not understand. 

So, check out this user- and budget-friendly service to learn your options since Credible doesn't charge you anything to explore your options. Your personal information is secure with this online loan marketplace, and you won't have to deal with spam emails and aggressive advertisers after applying for a loan.

*“Credible Operations, Inc. NMLS# 1681276, “Credible.” Not available in all states. www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org.”

** Rates for personal loans provided by lenders on the Credible platform range between [X% - X%]. APR with terms from 12 to 84 months. Rates presented include lender discounts for enrolling in autopay and loyalty programs, where applicable. Actual rates may be different from the rates advertised and/or shown and will be based on the lender’s eligibility criteria, which include factors such as credit score, loan amount, loan term, credit usage and history, and vary based on loan purpose. The lowest rates available typically require excellent credit, and for some lenders, may be reserved for specific loan purposes and/or shorter loan terms. The origination fee charged by the lenders on our platform ranges from 0% to 12%. Each lender has their own qualification criteria with respect to their autopay and loyalty discounts (e.g., some lenders require the borrower to elect autopay prior to loan funding in order to qualify for the autopay discount). All rates are determined by the lender and must be agreed upon between the borrower and the borrower’s chosen lender. For a loan of $10,000 with a three year repayment period, an interest rate of 7.99%, a $350 origination fee and an APR of 10.43%, the borrower will receive $9,650 at the time of loan funding and will make 36 monthly payments of $313.32. Assuming all on-time payments, and full performance of all terms and conditions of the loan contract and any discount programs enrolled in included in the APR/interest rate throughout the life of the loan, the borrower will pay a total of $11,279.43. As of March 3, 2022, none of the lenders on our platform require a down payment nor do they charge any prepayment penalties.