Rocket Loans Personal Loans: 2022 Review
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Our Take
4.5
The bottom line:
Rocket Loans personal loans stand out for fast funding, but they lack some features other lenders offer.
Full Review
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Pros & Cons
Pros
- Option to pre-qualify with a soft credit check.
- Rate discount for autopay.
- Fast funding.
- Wide range of loan amounts.
Cons
- Origination fee.
- No direct payment to creditors with debt consolidation loans.
- No option to choose initial payment date.
- Only two repayment term options.
- No co-sign or joint loan option.
Compare to Other Lenders
 |  |
|---|---|
Est. APR7.99-23.43% | Est. APR8.30-36.00% |
Loan term2 to 7 years | Loan term3 to 5 years |
Loan amount$5,000-$100,000 | Loan amount$1,000-$40,000 |
Min. credit scoreNone | Min. credit score600 |
Compare estimated rates from multiple lenders
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Full Review of Rocket Loans
Compared with other online lenders, Rocket Loans lacks some convenient features, like the ability to choose your payment date and the option to send funds directly to creditors with a debt consolidation loan.
But Rocket Loans’ wide range of loan amounts and same-day funding option for personal loans might be the perfect fit for borrowers with fair credit or better (credit scores above 629).
» MORE: Best online personal loans
Table of Contents
Rocket Loans at a glance
Minimum credit score | 580. |
APR | 7.73% - 29.99%. |
Fees |
|
Loan amount | $2,000 to $45,000. |
Repayment terms | 3 or 5 years. |
Time to fund after approval | Same or next day. |
Loan availability | Loans not available in IA, NV and WV. |
Where Rocket Loans personal loans stand out
Autopay discount. If you set up automatic loan payments from your bank account, you can receive a rate discount of 0.3 percentage points, which is a larger discount than other lenders offer. Choosing autopay ensures on-time payments, and the rate discount lowers interest costs.
Wide range of loan amounts: Rocket Loans offers a wide range of loan amounts, from $2,000 to $45,000, which allows borrowers to cover a variety of expenses like debt consolidation or home improvement projects.
Pre-qualify with a soft check. Before committing to a loan, Rocket Loans allows you to check your rate with a soft credit pull, which doesn’t hurt your credit score. If you accept the offer, Rocket will verify your information with a hard pull, which can temporarily drop your score a few points.
Quick funding. The lender says it can offer same-day funding to borrowers. Approval can take less than five minutes, and borrowers who sign their loan documents before 1 p.m. ET Monday through Friday can receive same-day funding. The exact timing will depend on your bank and how easily the lender can verify your information.
» MORE: Fast personal loans
Where Rocket Loans personal loans fall short
Origination fee: Rocket Loans charges an origination fee ranging from 1% to 6% of the loan amount, which is taken from the loan before the money is sent to you. Though many online lenders charge an origination fee, some of Rocket Loans’ competitors do not.
Inflexible payment start date: Borrowers cannot choose their payment due date when signing the loan agreement. While this can make it harder to align the initial payment date with a pay cycle, the due date can be changed multiple times during the life of the loan.
No secured, co-signed or joint loans: Rocket Loans offers only unsecured personal loans, meaning you cannot secure the loan with collateral (think your car) or add a co-signer or co-borrower to your application. These options, offered by some of the lender’s competitors, can help you qualify for a lower rate or a larger loan.
» MORE: Best co-sign and joint loans
Limited repayment terms: Rocket Loans offers either a three- or five-year repayment term. Borrowers can’t choose a shorter term and pay less interest, or a longer one to lower their monthly payments.
» MORE: Best fair-credit lenders
How to qualify for a Rocket Loans personal loan
Most lenders have basic requirements to apply, and some have financial requirements or recommendations to qualify.
To apply for a Rocket Loans personal loan, you must:
Be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.
Have no bankruptcies in the last two years.
Be at least 18 years old in most states.
Here are the lender’s minimum requirements to qualify for a loan. (Meeting these requirements doesn’t guarantee approval.)
Minimum credit score: 580.
Minimum credit history: Two years and four accounts.
Maximum debt-to-income ratio: 70%.
Minimum annual income: $24,000.
Here are details about Rocket Loans' average borrower, according to the lender:
Average credit score: 750.
Average annual income: $110,000.
Average loan amount: $14,500.
Average loan term: Four years.
Most common loan purposes: Credit card refinancing and debt consolidation.
Before you apply
Check your credit. You can get your free credit report on NerdWallet or at AnnualCreditReport.com. Doing so will help you spot and fix any errors before you apply.
Calculate your monthly payments. Use a personal loan calculator to determine what APR and repayment term you’d need to get a loan with affordable monthly payments.
Make a plan to repay the loan. Review your budget to see how the loan’s monthly payments impact your cash flow. If you have to cut other expenses in order to repay the loan, it’s better to know that before you borrow.
Gather your documents. Rocket Loans requires proof of income, which can be a W-2 or paystub, as well as proof of address and a Social Security number. Having these documents handy can speed the application process.
How to apply for a Rocket Loans personal loan
Here are the steps to apply for a Rocket Loans loan.
Pre-qualify on Rocket Loans’ website. You’ll be asked what the loan is for, your income and employment status, as well as some personal information like your name, address and birthdate. The form will also ask for your Social Security number and email address 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 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. Rocket Loans will also do a hard credit check when you apply, so your credit score could temporarily dip.
Make a plan to repay the loan. Rocket Loans reports payments 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 Rocket Loans to other lenders
Personal loan providers offer different rates, loan amounts and special features, so it pays to weigh your options. The best personal loan is usually the one with the lowest APR.
Rocket Loans vs. SoFi
Rocket Loans and SoFi are both lenders that help borrowers with debt consolidation, but there are differences. Rocket Loans has only two repayment terms and an origination fee that can affect the loan cost and amount.
SoFi does not charge any fees and offers a wide range of repayment terms. To qualify for SoFi, you must have strong credit, while Rocket accepts lower credit scores.
» MORE: Read our review of SoFi
Rocket Loans vs. LendingClub
Like Rocket Loans, LendingClub offers small to large-sized loans, and both lenders charge an origination fee. But LendingClub can directly pay creditors with debt consolidation loans and offers a rate discount if the loan is used to pay off existing debt.
» MORE: Read our review of LendingClub
How we rate Rocket Loans 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 | Star rating |
|---|---|
Affordability | |
Transparency | |
Loan flexibility | |
Customer experience | |
Overall |
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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
If all required loan documents are submitted, Rocket Loans says it can approve a personal loan application in less than five minutes.
You can use a loan from Rocket Loans to refinance a personal loan from a different lender, but Rocket Loans doesn’t refinance its own personal loans.
Rocket Loans says its minimum credit score requirement is 580. The average score for its borrowers is 750.
