 TITLE: What Is an Unsecured Personal Loan? CONTENT: How to Qualify for an Unsecured Personal Loan\n---------------------------------------------\nYour creditworthiness can be particularly important when you're applying for an unsecured personal loan because the lender is offering you the money based solely on your promise to repay the debt.\nGenerally, your application will be evaluated based on:\n*   **Your credit history**: Lenders use your credit reports to learn how long you've been utilizing credit and whether you've paid your bills on time. If you're not sure what your credit history looks like, you can check your Experian credit report for free.\n*   **Your credit scores**: Lenders also consider your credit scores and may have a minimum credit score requirement. If your scores don't fall in the good to excellent ranges, consider trying to improve your credit scores before applying if you don't need a loan right away.\n*   **Your debt-to-income (DTI) ratio**: Your DTI ratio shows how your monthly income compares to your monthly bills. Lenders want to make sure you have enough income to cover your bills and repay the loan. Increasing your income and paying down debts can improve your DTI.\nSome lenders focus on specific types of borrowers, such as those with high incomes and excellent credit or those who've had credit troubles in the past. But even within the same group, each lender may have its own criteria for evaluating an application.\nLenders often publish some of their criteria online and advertise their interest rate range as well as minimum and maximum loan amounts. Comparing lenders and reviewing this information can help you determine which lender might be a good fit.\nSometimes you can apply for a preapproval, which will result in a soft inquiry (the type that doesn't hurt your credit scores) and could give you a sense of whether you'll get approved and your potential rate. But you'll generally still need to submit a complete application, and agree to a hard inquiry, before you receive an official loan offer. END