How Does LendingTree Get Paid?

SoFi Personal Loan Review

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pros and cons

loan pros and cons before you sign.

Pros

  • Get money as soon as the same day
  • No required fees
  • Two discount opportunities
  • Borrow up to
  • Can’t qualify with bad credit
  • Other lenders offer better rates for excellent credit

requirements

Other than being at least the age of majority in your state of residence, you’ll need to meet several other borrower criteria requirements in order to be eligible for a personal loan.

Minimum credit score
Employment requirementsMust be employed, have an employment offer to start within 90 days or have enough regular income from other sources
Citizenship requirements
  • U.S. citizen
– OR –
  • Permanent resident or nonpermanent resident, including Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program recipients and asylum-seekers
Documents
  • U.S. citizens: Valid government ID like a driver’s license, birth certificate or passport
  • Permanent residents and nonpermanent residents: Paperwork demonstrating up-to-date immigration status, like permanent residency card (green card)

Read more about ’s ID requirements

If you meet the basic requirements listed above, you may need to disclose how you plan to use your personal loan. While does allow borrowers to use its funding for a variety of purposes, there are certain expenses you cannot put the money toward.

loans CAN be used for…

  • Repaying credit card debt
  • Home improvement projects
  • Vacations
  • Engagement and wedding expenses
  • Debt consolidation

loans CANNOT be used for…

  • Real estate
  • Business expenses 
  • Investments
  • Purchases of securities
  • Post-secondary education
  • Short-term bridge financing

If ’s loan options won’t work for your borrowing needs, be sure to shop around for a lender that helps you meet your financial goals and can offer you the best-fitting rates, terms and amounts.

How to get a personal loan with

1. See if you qualify

shows you your potential loan rates, terms and amounts with no impact on your credit when you prequalify. Go to ’s website, click “View your rate,” and answer basic questions about yourself and the money you need. 

2. Compare your offers

will show you loan offers if you qualify. Compare your offers and decide whether the optional origination fee is worth the lower rates. Once you’ve chosen your offer, you’ll likely need to upload documents to prove your identity, income and address.

3. Accept and close on your loan

After you’ve verified your information, will need to pull your credit before it can approve you. Hard credit pulls can cause a small dip to your credit (usually about five points), but your credit will bounce back quickly if you keep making on-time payments. You could get your money as soon as the same day after approval.

How compares to other personal loan companies

Even if you believe stacks up against similar personal loan lenders.

How Does LendingTree Get Paid?
Lender
LendingTree’s rating4.1/5/5
Minimum credit scoreNot specifiedNot specified
APRs[/generic-modal]
(with autopay) (with relationship discount)
Loan amounts
Repayment terms months[/generic-modal] months
Origination feeNoneNone
Funding timelineGet money as soon as the same dayGet money as soon as the same dayGet money as soon as the same day
Bottom line loans are customizable and fast, but LightStream and Wells Fargo offer lower starting rates for excellent credit. also offers no-fee loans and lower starting rates, but it doesn’t let you prequalify. That means your credit will take a hit when you check your rates. offers small, short loans and bigger, longer loans — ideal for customizing your loan. But you’ll need to have a account for at least a year before getting a loan.

How we rated

We evaluate personal loan lenders on more than just interest rates. Our goal is to show how accessible, affordable, transparent and supportive each lender really is.

Our categories

Every lender is scored out of 5 stars, with 5 stars being the highest rating. LendingTree loan experts determine this score using dozens of underlying data points across four weighted categories covering the full borrowing journey.

pl-lender-methodology

We assess how easy it is for people to qualify and apply. This includes state availability, soft-credit prequalification, membership requirements, funding speed and whether borrowers with less-than-excellent credit can get a loan.

We evaluate how affordable the loans are based on minimum and maximum APRs, loan fees and rate discounts. Lenders with unclear or potentially predatory costs receive lower scores.

We consider repayment term flexibility, loan amount ranges and whether options like secured loans, joint loans or direct-to-creditor payments are offered — plus whether the lender clearly communicates these options.

We evaluate borrower experience after funding: customer service access, hardship or forbearance programs, payment flexibility and digital tools like mobile apps or credit monitoring.

Our process

We gather data directly from lenders through their websites, disclosures and direct communication with company representatives. Our editorial team verifies and updates information regularly. We value transparency and award less favorable scores when lenders obscure or omit details.

In some cases, our editors may apply a small adjustment (no more than 4% of the overall score) to account for factors not captured by the methodology. This could include J.D. Power customer satisfaction surveys, recent regulatory actions or features that stand out in ways our rubric doesn’t measure directly.

Our editorial team applies the same scoring model and standards to every lender. Lenders cannot pay to influence our ratings.

Frequently asked questions

Yes, you can pay off a loan early because this lender doesn’t charge prepayment penalties.

means that you won’t qualify with bad credit (a FICO Score below 580), and you may have a hard time qualifying with fair credit (580 – 669 FICO Score). You can boost your odds of getting a loan by applying with a co-borrower.

Checking to see if you qualify with will pull your credit if you follow through with your loan. This is standard practice for all personal loan lenders.

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