American Express Personal Loans: 2025 Review

American Express personal loans are available only to preapproved cardholders.

Though American Express lacks some consumer-friendly features, like a mobile app for personal loans or weekend customer service hours, it may be a convenient and inexpensive option for existing cardholders. Qualifying borrowers can use the loan funds in many ways, including consolidating credit card debt. However, borrowers can’t use an American Express loan to pay down an American Express credit card.

» MORE: Compare personal loan rates and lenders

Table of contents

American Express personal loans at a glance

Where American Express personal loans stand out and fall short

How to use American Express personal loans

American Express personal loan customer reviews

Do you qualify for an American Express personal loan

How to apply for an American Express personal loan

Compare American Express to other lenders

How we rate American Express personal loans

American Express personal loans at a glance

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Where American Express personal loans stand out

Low APRs: American Express personal loans have some of the lowest annual percentage rates across personal loans. Since APR represents the cost of borrowing, it's one of the most important features to consider on personal loans.

No origination fee: American Express personal loans do not have an origination fee. These fees are more common among online lenders and typically range from 1% to 10% of the loan amount.

Fast funding: American Express can disburse funds within one business day once you sign the loan documents.

Free credit score access: American Express offers MyCredit Guide, which shows your FICO credit score and Experian credit report for free, alerts you to potential identity theft and provides recommendations about how to help your credit. You can also use the tool to see how paying down debt will affect your score.

Where American Express personal loans fall short

Exclusive to preapproved cardholders: You must be an existing American Express Card member in good standing to apply for a personal loan. The lender often notifies you if you are preapproved for a loan, or you can check by logging in to your American Express account.

No rate discount: American Express doesn’t offer any discounts on the annual percentage rate. Other lenders let borrowers save a fraction of a percentage point off their APR by signing up for automatic payments or authorizing the lender to send funds directly to creditors on debt consolidation loans.

No co-signed, joint or secured loan options: American Express offers only unsecured personal loans to individual borrowers. It doesn’t let you add a co-signer, apply with a co-borrower or secure the loan with collateral to potentially qualify for a lower rate or higher loan amount.

» MORE: Best co-signed personal loans

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How to use American Express personal loans

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American Express personal loan customer reviews

American Express was ranked highest among personal loan lenders in overall customer satisfaction for the second consecutive year in 2024, according to J.D. Power’s annual Consumer Lending Satisfaction Study. The study was conducted with over 4,000 participants who weighed in on various factors such as the experience obtaining a loan and the ease of doing business with the lender.

However, as of September 2024, the lender is rated 1.5 stars out of 5 stars on Trustpilot, a website that collects consumer reviews. Many of the reviews focused on negative experiences with the company’s credit cards but some also mentioned customer service interactions.

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Do you qualify for an American Express personal loan?

To be eligible for an American Express personal loan, you must be a preapproved cardholder. According to the lender, preapproval is based on several factors, including creditworthiness.

American Express’ borrowing requirements

• Minimum credit score: None.

• Must be at least 18 years old.

• Must be a U.S. citizen or resident.

• Must have preapproval and an active American Express card.

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How to apply for an American Express personal loan

Here are the steps to apply for an American Express loan.

1. Check for a preapproval offer. You can see if you’re preapproved by logging in to your American Express account. You’ll be able to view how much you can borrow and your potential interest rate.

2. Submit your application. To accept a preapproved offer, you need to submit a formal personal loan application. You will be asked to enter your desired loan amount and repayment term, as well as some personal and financial information. American Express says it can provide an approval decision within seconds.

3. Stay on top of your loan payments. American Express reports payments to all three major credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, TransUnion), so on-time payments will help build your credit score, but missed payments will hurt it. Setting up automatic payments and keeping an eye on your budget are two ways to manage your loan payments.

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Compare American Express to other lenders

Personal loan lenders offer different rates, loan amounts and special features, so it pays to weigh other options. The best personal loan is usually the one with the lowest APR.

Achieve and Reach offer similar loan amounts and repayment terms to American Express, but they have different rates, fees and loan requirements.

Achieve

» MORE: Read our review of Achieve

Reach

» MORE: Read our review of Reach

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How we rate American Express personal loans

NerdWallet writers rate lenders against a rubric that changes each year based on how personal loan products evolve. Here’s what we prioritized this year:

• Category definitionsCategory definitions

  Affordability (25%)

  An affordable loan has low rates and fees compared to other similar loans and may offer rate discounts.

  Customer experience (20%)

  A good customer experience includes allowing borrowers to choose and change their repayment date, a fully online application process, a mobile app to manage the loan and a customer service team with wide availability.

  Underwriting and eligibility (20%)

  The lender reviews borrowers’ credit reports and credit history and tries to understand their ability to repay a loan. It offers loans in most states and doesn’t restrict eligibility by requiring a pre-existing relationship.

  Application process (20%)

  Borrowers can pre-qualify to check their potential rate, loan amount, repayment term and APR without affecting their credit score. They can easily find answers to questions about the personal loan on the lender’s website. The application process is fast enough to allow funding within a couple of days or less.

  Loan flexibility (15%)

  A flexible loan is one that offers a wide range of loan amounts and repayment term options. It includes common features like additional loan types and direct payment to creditors on debt consolidation loans.

  Discretionary

  A lender’s star rating can be reduced if the lender is sued by a state or federal regulator for unfair consumer practices or has been accused by a reputable source of suspicious business practices.

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