Item: LightStream
Rating: 4.5
Author: Nicole Dow

4.5

NerdWallet Rating

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🏆 2025 Best Personal Loan for Good Credit

4.5

NerdWallet Rating

Est. APR

6.49 - 24.89%

Min. credit score

660

Time to fund

1 day

Loan amount

$5K - $100K

Loan term

2 to 7 years

Disclosures from LightStream

Overview

LightStream offers unsecured personal loans with no fees in a wide range of amounts and repayment terms. The lender also offers joint personal loans for two co-borrowers to cover a shared expense.

Among its many consumer-friendly features, LightStream allows borrowers to choose when they receive their money. The lender can deposit funds into your account as early as the same day or up to 90 days after approval for home improvement loans.

Scheduling a later fund date allows time to plan for your first payment or align your loan with the expenses you need to cover.

What is the
Best-of award?

🏆 2025 Best Personal Loan for Good Credit

🏆 2025 Best Personal Loan for Home Improvement

🏆 2024 Best Personal Loan for Home Improvement

🏆 2023 Best Personal Loan for Home Improvement

🏆 2022 Best Personal Loan for Home Improvement

What the nerds think

“LightStream has many features that make its loans favorable for good- to excellent-credit borrowers, especially those looking to cover major home improvements. You won’t easily find other lenders with personal loan amounts up to $100,000 and repayment terms up to 20 years for unsecured home improvement loans. This lender also shines by offering to beat a competitor’s rate if you’re approved for a lower APR — essentially setting you up to get the best rate available.”

Nicole DowLead Writer & Content Strategist

What LightStream is best for

Home improvement loans

Joint loans

Good-credit loans

$50,000 loans

Detailed breakdown

Affordability

(25%)

5/5

We review lenders’ annual percentage rate offerings and the competitiveness of each lenders’ APR range. We also assess whether a lender charges an origination fee and any opportunity for borrowers to receive a rate discount.

Customer experience

(20%)

4/5

We consider the experience of the consumer trying to manage a personal loan, which means accessibility of customer service representatives, whether borrowers can choose and change their payment due date, and the ability to track their loan on a mobile app.

Underwriting and eligibility

(20%)

4.5/5

We consider the rigorousness of each lender’s underwriting practices and how widely available their loans are. This category includes whether a lender does a hard credit check before providing a loan, the range of credit profiles they accept and how many states their loans are offered in.

Loan flexibility

(20%)

4/5

We assess how flexible lenders can be with borrowers, including whether they offer multiple loan types, personal loan amounts and repayment term options and whether they offer direct payment to creditors on debt consolidation loans.

Application process

(15%)

3.5/5

We consider the lender’s full application process, including a borrower’s ability to preview their loan offer via pre-qualification, whether basic loan information such as APR range and repayment terms are available and easy to find online and how quickly a loan can be funded after approval.

Overall

4.5/5

Read more about our ratings methodologies for personal loans.

Where LightStream personal loans stand out

Competitive APRs: LightStream’s minimum and maximum annual percentage rates are lower than the average rates of the lenders NerdWallet reviews. Lower rates mean you’ll pay less interest over the life of the loan.
Rate discounts: LightStream offers a rate discount of 0.50 percentage points if borrowers set up automatic loan payments. Through the lender’s Rate Beat Program, you could get a 0.10 percentage-point rate discount off a competitor’s lower rate if you can show you are approved by the competitor for an unsecured, fixed-rate loan with the same terms.
No fees: LightStream doesn't charge fees for loan origination, late payments or paying a loan off early. Most lenders charge a late fee, and many online lenders charge origination fees.
Large loans available with long repayment terms: LightStream offers loans from $5,000 to $100,000 — higher than most lenders — with repayment terms ranging from two to 20 years, depending on loan purpose and amount. For most loan purposes, your term is capped at seven years (or six if the loan is under $25,000). Borrowers financing a boat or RV may have terms up to 12 years. Borrowers with home improvement loans may get terms up to 20 years.
Same-day funding: LightStream says it can approve loan applications within five minutes and fund loans as soon as the same day. Borrowers can also request to schedule loan funding within 90 days on home improvement loans or 30 days for all other purposes.

Where LightStream personal loans fall short

Limited ability to pre-qualify: LightStream does not allow applicants to pre-qualify directly from its website, though potential borrowers may be able to check their personalized rates with a soft credit check via partner sites like NerdWallet. LightStream displays example rates, terms and monthly payments on its website if you plug in your desired loan purpose and loan amount, but it doesn’t factor in your individual creditworthiness.
High minimum loan amount: LightStream loans start at $5,000, which may be too high for borrowers looking to fund a small expense.
No direct payment to creditors with debt consolidation loans: Unlike other lenders, LightStream doesn't send payments directly to creditors when you get a debt consolidation loan. Instead, borrowers must allocate their loan funds to pay off creditors on their own.
No mobile app to manage loan: LightStream does not have a branded mobile app to make payments or view your loan balance, which is a convenient feature several lenders have.

How to qualify

LightStream lends to borrowers in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. It typically accepts loan applicants with good-to-excellent credit scores, at least a few years of credit history and a variety of account types on their credit history. However, the lender says a high credit score doesn’t guarantee loan approval, as it examines other factors of creditworthiness.

LightStream’s borrowing requirements

Minimum credit score: 660.
Maximum debt-to-income ratio: 55%.
Must provide a Social Security number.
Must have a valid email address and U.S. bank account.

» MORE: How to get a personal loan

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Compare LightStream to the best 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.

4.5	4.5	5.0	5.0
EST. APR 6.49% - 24.89%	EST. APR 8.74% - 35.49%	EST. APR 7.9% - 35.99%	EST. APR 7.74% - 35.99%
LOAN AMOUNT $5K - $100K	LOAN AMOUNT $5K - $100K	LOAN AMOUNT $1K - $60K	LOAN AMOUNT $1K - $50K
MIN. CREDIT SCORE 660 Check Rates	MIN. CREDIT SCORE None Check Rates	MIN. CREDIT SCORE 600 Check Rates	MIN. CREDIT SCORE 600 Check Rates