In general, the best personal loans to get with a cosigner offer APRs as low as 5.99% and loan amounts as high as $100,000. Many of the best options also don’t charge origination fees, which helps to minimize the cost of the loan.
Best Personal Loans With a Cosigner Comparison
Lender | APR Range | Origination Fee |
TD Bank | 8.99% - 23.99% | None |
Wells Fargo | 7.49% - 23.24% | None |
Achieve Personal Loans | 8.99% - 35.99% | 1.99% to 4.99% |
Pentagon FCU | 7.99% - 17.99% | None |
Tips for Getting a Personal Loan With a Cosigner
Make sure the cosigner’s credit and/or income are significantly better
Personal loan providers weigh the credit and income of cosigners more heavily than those of the primary applicant. Therefore, you’ll save the most money on your loan if your cosigner can qualify for much better terms than you would get personally.
Get pre-qualified
You can use WalletHub’s free personal loan pre-qualification tool to check your approval odds and potential rates with multiple lenders at once, without hurting your credit score. You should also ask your cosigner to check their pre-qualification status to give you a better idea of how much help they can be.
Understand the risks and obligations
If you are the cosigner on a loan, it’s important to make sure the primary applicant is someone you trust to manage the loan responsibly and make their payments on time. After all, if they fail to pay the loan off, you’ll have to do it instead – and any late or missed payments will hurt your credit score, too.
On the other hand, if you’re the one getting a personal loan with the help of a cosigner, it’s even more important to be responsible than it would be if you were the only person on your loan. If you fail to make payments, you’ll hurt the cosigner’s credit, too, and they’ll be on the hook for paying. That could put a heavy strain on your relationship with the cosigner.
Consider alternatives
You don’t necessarily need a cosigner to qualify for a loan, even if you have bad credit. While unsecured loans that cater to bad credit won’t offer great rates, you can get better terms by taking out a secured loan that requires collateral. The most common types of collateral are money in a bank account, a vehicle or real estate, but some lenders may accept other valuables.
Another option is to borrow from a friend or family member, who will likely be less concerned about your credit and more flexible on the loan terms compared to a traditional lender.
Methodology for Selecting the Best Personal Loans With a Cosigner
To identify the best personal loans to apply for with a cosigner, WalletHub’s editors looked at offers from dozens of the largest lenders on the market. We compared these lenders based on six overall categories: APRs, loan sizes, fees, loan requirements, transparency and the application process.
In addition to the best overall personal loans for people with cosigners, which are usually available to people with a credit score of at least 660, WalletHub also picked out the best loans for people with lower credit scores.