 TITLE: What Credit Score Is Needed for a Personal Loan? CONTENT: How to Get a Personal Loan With Bad Credit\n------------------------------------------\nIf your FICO® Score is in the poor range, or even the lower end of the fair range, you may have challenges getting approved for a personal loan, but there are borrowing options available to many borrowers with less-than-ideal credit.\nSome of those options are best avoided, including:\n*   Payday loans and other \"no credit check loans\" that promise cash in a hurry at tremendously high interest rates (300% or even 400% APR).\n*   Car title loans, which often come with high rates as well, and which can lead to the lender seizing your car if you're unable to make a payment.\nBetter alternatives for borrowers with subpar credit include:\n*   Some peer-to-peer (P2P) lenders offer personal loans to applicants with credit scores as low as 580, and a few ignore credit scores altogether, instead using alternative criteria, such as your work and educational history, to gauge creditworthiness.\n*   Credit unions often offer members more lenient borrowing terms than banks and other traditional lenders. You have to have an account at the institution to be a member, and it may have to be open for 30 days before you're eligible for certain loans. In addition to personal loans, some offer loans known as payday alternative loans (PALs) that can get you up to $1,000 quickly and without a credit check, on borrowing terms far more favorable than those of payday lenders. END