Our Verdict

If you have a low credit score and wouldn’t mind waiting for a few days until you get the cash you require, you can consider PenFed personal loan products. It offers any amount from $600 to $50,000 at 7.74% to 17.99%.
Check below more information about the lender:
PenFed
Corporate Headquarters
Address: 7940 Jones Branch Dr, Tysons, VA 22102, United States
Phone: +1 800-247-5626
Pros
- Allows pre-qualification check
- Welcomes co-signers and joint loans
- Offers varying loan amounts
- Offers perks for borrowers going through financial hardship
- Givers lower loan amounts, even as low as $600.
Cons
- Does not make direct payments to creditors in order to consolidate your debts.
- Reports your payment activities only to Experian, leaving out Equifax and TransUnion.
- Does not offer any rate discount incentive.
Who This Product Is Best For

Opt for PenFed personal loan products if you:
- Want a personal loan from a credit union rather than from traditional banks or online lenders.
- Are ready to become a member of the credit union.
- Have credit score of 650+ and need a lower loan amount.
Who This Product Isn't Right For
You may consider another option if you:
- Have a good to excellent credit score and can qualify for better larger amounts and rates from other lenders.
- Want to finance a huge project and need a large sum.
What This Product Offers

- Debt consolidation. Combine your debts and make a single payment every month with a more flexible term and rate through PenFed personal loan.
- Transportation. Cover your monthly transportation expenses with PenFed personal loan. Or repair—and even refinance—your automobiles with the lender’s transportation loan.
- Medical bills payment. Clear your medical and dental expenses by getting a loan from PenFed.
- Wedding and vacation loans. Finance your wedding and pay your vacation expenses seamlessly with a personal loan from PenFed.
- Home improvement. Want to upgrade your kitchen or do basic home repairs? Consider a PenFed personal loan.
Product Details
Debt consolidation loan
With this product, you can consolidate or refinance an existing loan—plus clear your tax loans. PenFed offers perk features on its debt consolidation loan, saving on internet, for example. You get a fixed rate and bundle your loan into one account where you make a monthly repayment at an enticing interest rate starting at 7.74% and term spanning up to 60 months.
Transportation loan
Repair your car without stress, purchase accessories for your bike, or fund your powersports expenses—all at lower interest rates—with PenFed transportation loan product. If you’re not yet a member of the credit union, create an account and submit your application.
Medical bills payment
Need to fund your vision and dental expenses? Or need cash to augment your health insurance in order to handle emergency and elective surgery costs? If yes, count on PenFed medical loan, especially if you’re a member of the credit union—and it takes a few minutes to sign up online and become a member. Also, use the lender’s medical loan to buy mobility and medical devices.
Wedding and vacation loans
Clear your wedding expenses and purchase every single thing you need to make the holy matrimony a memorable event with PenFed personal loan. The loan application process is straightforward and you get the fund in one to two business days. Alternatively, get this loan to plan for your honeymoon after your wedding or to get necessary home equipment you require for settlement. Also, you can make tax payment, clear pets expenses, or plan your family vacation with the PenFed wedding and vacation loans.
Home improvement
Create the home you desire and make your abode more welcoming with PenFed home improvement loan. Cover your home’s design, repair, or upgrade costs at a mind-blowing rate and term with PenFed product.
Where This Product Stands Out
- Allows pre-qualification before submitting application officially. Check the amount you potentially qualify for and the rate before you officially apply. This will not hurt your credit score.
- Offers different repayment terms and multiple loan amounts. Get anything between $600 and $40,000 and choose the repayment term that’s mostly convenient for you.
- Welcomes co-signers and joint loans. If you want to increase the amount you qualify for, apply with a co-borrower. Consider a co-signer as a plus if you have bad credit and want to boost your chances of getting an approval.
- Processes loan applications and releases funds quickly. Get funding between 48 hours of getting an approval notice for the lender and fulfill your need for the loan.
Where This Product Falls Short
- Doesn’t reports to the three major credit bureaus. PenFed only reports your payment activities to Experian. If you need a loan in the future from another lender who does credit check through Equifax and TransUnion, your credit report may not contain your past on-time payments, thereby hurting your chances of getting the amount you require.
- Offers no rate incentive service. PenFed’s interest rates are fixed and offers no interest cut to reward autopay as most lenders do.
- Doesn’t pay directly to creditors in order to consolidate debts. You pay your creditors yourself to consolidate your debt upon getting the cash from PenFed.
How to Qualify for This Product
Different lenders do have varying qualification requirements. Check below for what to keep in place before you apply for PenFed personal loan products:
- Maintain a credit score of 650 and above.
- Present your name, address, Social Security number, date of birth, and revenue information.
- Keep your credit history in a good standing for at least two years at the time of application.
- Maintain an annual revenue of $55,000 or more.
- Keep your debt-to-income ratio at 40% or less.
How to Apply for This Product
Read to submit your application? Follow the instructions below:
- Check your potential rates and term. Sign up to become a member of the credit union (this takes a few minutes to complete) and then pre-qualify to know the rate and amount to get in advance. Enter the amount you want, the purpose of the loan, and your preferred term in order to pre-qualify.
- Review the amounts, rates, and terms you qualify for. Choose the amount that’s best for you and submit your application. This is when PenFed conducts a hard enquiry which temporarily lowers your credit score.
- Repay the loan. Devise means to make on-time payments. Add the new payment into your monthly budget and set up automatic payments in order to avoid paying late.
Alternatives to This Product
Discover
Discover cherishes excellent credit scores, and gives similar loan amount as PenFed does. But surpasses PenFed in service by offering a 30-day money back guarantee to customers, processing and releasing funds quicker than PenFed, and making direct payments to creditors for debt consolidation.
Achieve
Achieve is your best plug to access a quick personal loan (from $5,000 to $50,000) even with a credit score starting from 600. Also, you enjoy different rate incentives, thereby cutting the amount you spend on interest. Not only that, you can also pre-qualify on Achieve’s website in order to know your potential amount, rate, and term in advance before you submit your application.
Customer Reviews
PenFed attracts excellent rating (4.5/5 stars, based on 1,260 customer reviews) on Trust Pilot. Many customers comments the bank’s speed of service, simpler application process, among others.
Better Business Bureau (BBB) has not yet approved PenFed. The lender receives 1.18/5 stars on BBB based on 224 customer reviews.
Methodology
We reviewed PenFed personal loans based on 20 data points in the categories of loan details, loan costs, eligibility and accessibility, customer experience and the application process. We rated PenFed personal loans based on the weighting assigned to each category:
- Loan cost: 35%
- Loan details: 25%
- Customer experience: 20%
- Eligibility and accessibility: 10%
- Application process: 10%
Within each major category, we also considered several characteristics, including available loan amounts, repayment terms and applicable fees. We also looked at minimum credit score and time in business requirements and the geographic availability of the lender.
Finally, we evaluated PenFed customer support tools, borrower perks and features that simplify the borrowing process—like online applications, prequalification options and mobile apps.
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