SoFi Personal Loans Reviews

SoFi provides an impressive catalog of products, but its unsecured personal loan options stand out. They’re built to help people facing unexpected expenses, like a surprise medical bill, or planned expenses, such as a wedding, thanks to a high maximum of up to $100,000 and competitive interest rates.

If you’re looking for a loan that’s less than the $5,000 minimum SoFi requires, you might want to consider a lender that has lower minimums.

SoFi only offers one personal loan product, an unsecured personal loan, with amounts ranging from $5,000 to $100,000. SoFi gives examples of what you can use your personal loan to cover:

• Weddings
• Family planning
• Debt consolidation
• Home improvement projects
• Travel

This is a short list, however. SoFi personal loans have a wide variety of uses and can help cover almost any expense.

One unique feature of SoFi’s personal loans is its unemployment protection. This feature allows you to modify your monthly loan payments if you lose your job through no fault of your own. You can apply for this modification in three-month increments, and the protection runs out after 12 months.

SoFi offers loans with fixed interest rates, with annual percentage rates (APR) ranging from 8.99% to 25.81% APR as of publishing. To get the best possible rate, you can take advantage of two discounts:

• Autopay: This 0.25% rate discount is available only if you authorize SoFi to automatically deduct your loan payment from your bank account.
• Direct deposit: To receive an additional 0.25% rate discount, you must set up a direct deposit from your employer to your SoFi account within 30 days of loan funding. You’ll only receive this discount during payment periods when you receive a direct deposit of at least $1,000 per month.

With a SoFi personal loan, you won’t be charged any fees, including late fees, prepayment penalties or origination fees.

Before you apply for a personal loan through SoFi, review the eligibility requirements to ensure that you meet them. To meet SoFi’s eligibility requirements, borrowers must:

• Be at least 18 years old (or the age of majority in your state)
• Be a U.S. citizen, eligible permanent resident or non-permanent resident alien
• Have a valid identification
• Be employed or have an offer of employment that starts within the next 90 days

Importantly, you also need to ensure you live in a state where SoFi is authorized to lend. SoFi personal loans are only available in the following 30 states and districts:

• Alabama
• California
• Colorado
• Delaware
• Washington D.C.
• Idaho
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Iowa
• Kansas
• Louisiana
• Maine
• Maryland
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• Missouri
• Montana
• Nevada
• North Dakota
• Oklahoma
• Oregon
• Pennsylvania
• Rhode Island
• South Carolina
• South Dakota
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Vermont
• Washington
• Wyoming

Once you’re sure you meet the eligibility and location requirements, applying for a SoFi personal loan only takes three steps:

1. Pre-qualification: SoFi advises that you go through its pre-qualification process. The whole process takes under a minute, and you don’t need to commit.
2. Choose your loan term: Once you’ve pre-qualified, you choose a loan term between two and seven years. At this point, you’ll also complete a loan application in which you’ll need to provide personal and financial information.
3. Receive your loan: Once approved, you can close on your loan by signing all the necessary loan documents. Your money will be wired to your bank account in as little as a day.

When compared with other lenders, SoFi’s personal loans tend to have a slight edge, especially for borrowers in search of a large loan. However, the high minimum loan amount of $5,000 can cause some to turn away.

Here is how SoFi personal loans stack up against Upgrade personal loans:

Although SoFi is a relatively new name in the financial services industry, it is a legitimate lender that’s worth considering when looking for a personal loan. Claiming over 6 million members and more than $73 billion in funded loans, it offers competitive rates and no fees on personal loans, making it a solid choice if you live in one of the 30 states where its loans are available.