Best Egg Personal Loans: 2022 Review
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Our Take
4.5
The bottom line:
Best Egg personal loans are available to borrowers who want to consolidate debt and secure a loan, but they lack some features offered by other lenders.
Full Review
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Wide range of loan amounts.
- Unsecured and secured loan options.
- Direct payment to creditors.
Cons
- Origination fee.
- No rate discounts.
Compare to Other Lenders
 |  |  |
|---|---|---|
Est. APR5.99-35.99% | Est. APR7.95-35.99% | Est. APR6.99-19.99% |
Loan term2 to 5 years | Loan term3 to 5 years | Loan term3 to 6 years |
Loan amount$2,000-$50,000 | Loan amount$2,000-$40,000 | Loan amount$3,500-$40,000 |
Min. credit score600 | Min. credit score600 | Min. credit score660 |
Compare estimated rates from multiple lenders
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Full Review of Best Egg
Best Egg is an online lender that offers personal loans for borrowers with fair or good credit.
Best Egg personal loan amounts range from $2,000 to $50,000 (though some states have different minimum amounts), and repayment terms are three or five years. Borrowers can use their loan to consolidate debt or refinance credit cards, but you can also use the loan to cover large expenses.
Best Egg personal loans at a glance
Minimum credit score | 600. |
APR | 5.99% - 35.99%. |
Fees |
|
Pre-qualify with soft credit check? | Yes. |
Loan amount | $2,000 - $50,000. |
Repayment terms | 3 or 5 years. |
Time to fund after approval | 1 - 3 business days. |
Loan availability | Loans not available in IA, VT, WV or Washington, D.C. |
More about Best Egg:
Where Best Egg loans stand out
Offers direct payment to creditors on debt consolidation loans: Best Egg sends loan payments directly to creditors on debt consolidation loans for borrowers who opt in. This feature takes the work of paying back individual creditors out of borrowers' hands and eliminates the temptation of spending the money elsewhere.
Wide loan amount range: Borrowers have the option to take out loans from $2,000 to $50,000, which gives you the flexibility to cover smaller expenses or larger costs associated with events like moving, home improvement projects or weddings.
Secured loans: Best Egg offers both unsecured and secured personal loans. The secured loan is similar to a home equity loan, but it uses fixtures permanently attached to your home, like your water heater, ceiling fans or window shutters, as collateral instead of your entire house. Once approved, you can receive funding in one to three days. If a borrower fails to repay the loan, Best Egg can repossess the collateral.
» MORE: Best secured loans
Free credit score access: Personal loan customers can access their credit score through their Best Egg account, which allows borrowers to see how on-time payments benefit their credit scores over time.
» MORE: Best good-credit lenders
Where Best Egg loans fall short
No rate discounts: Unlike other lenders, Best Egg doesn't offer an additional rate discount for setting up autopayments. Other lenders typically discount interest rates by 0.25 to 0.5 percentage point to incentivize borrowers to choose autopayments.
Origination fee: Best Egg charges an origination fee ranging from 0.99% to 5.99%. Not all lenders charge an origination fee, but Best Egg’s fee is low compared with other lenders that charge one.
No mobile app: Best Egg does not offer a mobile app to manage your loan. Many online lenders have mobile apps where borrowers can make payments and track the progress of their loans.
How to qualify for a Best Egg personal loan
Minimum credit score: 600.
Minimum annual income: $3,500.
Minimum debt-to-income ratio: 40%, or 65% including a mortgage.
Employment: Must provide proof of income; part-time employees are eligible.
Must provide valid U.S. address and Social Security number.
Calculate your monthly personal loan payments
How to apply for a Best Egg personal loan
Here are the steps to apply for a Best Egg loan.
Pre-qualify on Best Egg’s website. You’ll be asked how much you want to borrow and what the funds are for, as well as some personal information like your name, birthday and address. Then, the lender will ask for information about your income, employment and whether you own your home before you can preview loan offers. There’s no hard credit pull at this stage.
Preview loan offers and accept the one that fits your budget. Once you’re ready to accept a loan offer, you’ll submit a formal personal loan application. This could require more documents, like W-2s, pay stubs and bank statements to confirm the information you gave during pre-qualification. Best Egg will also do a hard credit check when you apply, so your credit score may temporarily dip.
Make a plan to repay the loan. Best Egg reports payment to all three major credit bureaus, 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.
Compare Best Egg personal loans
Compare Best Egg with other lenders to decide which is right for you. Lenders offer different rates, loan amounts and special features, so it pays to weigh alternatives.
You can pre-qualify on NerdWallet to compare offers from multiple lenders at once.
Best Egg vs. Prosper
Like Best Egg, Prosper personal loans are a fit for borrowers with fair or good credit (630 to 719 FICO). Prosper offers similar loan amounts and repayment term options, but may take longer to fund a loan. Unlike Best Egg, Prosper doesn’t directly pay your other creditors when you get a debt consolidation loan.
» MORE: Read our Prosper review
Best Egg vs. Marcus
A Marcus personal loan is ideal for debt consolidation. Unlike Best Egg, Marcus charges no fees, offers a rate discount for setting up automatic payments and offers nine different repayment term options. Marcus seeks a borrower with slightly better credit than Best Egg.
» MORE: Read our Marcus review
Key terms to know about personal loans
How we rate Best Egg loans
NerdWallet’s editorial team assesses and rates traditional lenders against four categories. The maximum score a lender can earn in each category is five. Here’s how Best Egg scores in each category:
Category | Star rating |
|---|---|
Affordability | 3.1. |
Transparency | 4.0. |
Loan flexibility | 4.0. |
Customer experience | 3.8. |
Ready to apply? Click the button below and head to Best Egg's website to pre-qualify.
on Best Egg's website
Methodology
NerdWallet’s review process evaluates and rates personal loan products from more than 35 financial institutions. We collect over 45 data points from each lender, interview company representatives and compare the lender with others that seek the same customer or offer a similar personal loan product. NerdWallet writers and editors conduct a full fact check and update annually, but also make updates throughout the year as necessary.
Our star ratings award points to lenders that offer consumer-friendly features, including: soft credit checks to pre-qualify, competitive interest rates and no fees, transparency of rates and terms, flexible payment options, fast funding times, accessible customer service, reporting of payments to credit bureaus and financial education. We also consider regulatory actions filed by agencies like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. We weigh these factors based on our assessment of which are the most important to consumers and how meaningfully they impact consumers’ experiences.
This methodology applies only to lenders that cap interest rates at 36%, the maximum rate most financial experts and consumer advocates agree is the acceptable limit for a loan to be affordable. NerdWallet does not receive compensation for our star ratings. Read more about our ratings methodologies for personal loans and our editorial guidelines.
Find the Best Personal Loan
Frequently asked questions
You can pay off a Best Egg loan early with no prepayment penalty.
Best Egg is a reputable online lender that offers personal loans for borrowers with fair or good credit.
Best Egg does not let you add a co-signer to your loan application. Other online lenders offer co-signed personal loans.
