Posted by: Adam McCann

Quick Review: USAA personal loans are only available to USAA members, and they’re best suited for people with subpar credit scores. Since the highest interest rate on USAA personal loans is 17.65% and USAA accepts applicants with bad credit, they may be a cheaper option than many other lenders. People with excellent credit may have cheaper choices, however. The lowest USAA loan APR is 9.49%, while some competitors have rates as low as 6%.

People looking to consolidate large amounts of debt may also want to consider USAA, which offers loan amounts as high as $50,000. Whether or not the loan will provide a low enough APR for you to save a significant amount on interest depends on the situation, though.

USAA personal loans provide quick funding. It usually takes 1 business day for a decision and 1 -3 business days to receive funding after approval. You can read more about USAA personal loans below, including how they compare to offers from a few popular competitors.

USAA Personal Loan Terms

APRs	9.49% - 17.65%
Loan lengths	12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72 or 84 months
Loan amounts	$2,500 - $50,000
Approval time	1 business day
Funds delivery time	1 - 3 business days
Late fee	5% of payment amount
Other fees	None
Credit score requirement	Not disclosed
Minimum income requirement	Not disclosed
Other requirements (all must apply)	USAA membership 18+ years old SSN

*According to multiple third-party sources USAA Personal Loan Rates & Fees

USAA personal loan rates have a fairly narrow range: 9.49% to 17.65%. If you have excellent credit, you’re likely to get the lowest rates, while people with less-than-fair credit are likely to get the maximum, according to USAA’s rate estimator. USAA’s interest rates start quite a bit higher than those of many of their competitors, but they also cap out lower, so they’re more useful for people with less-than-excellent credit.

USAA also offers a 0.25% APR discount for people who sign up for automatic payments. USAA personal loan interest rates are fixed, so they won’t change after you lock them in at the beginning.

There is no USAA origination fee, nor is there any fee for paying your loan off ahead of schedule. If you are ever late on a payment, you will owe a late fee of 5% of the payment amount.

USAA Personal Loan Requirements

There are no publicly disclosed USAA personal loan credit score requirements. However, if you call their personal loan department, the disclosure on the phone tells you that only people with “excellent” credit will qualify for the lowest rates. In addition, USAA’s website shows potential rates based on credit profiles, and there is a section for people with less-than-fair credit. So people with bad credit may want to consider applying. USAA does not explicitly state any minimum required income.

Only USAA members can apply for USAA personal loans, same as with all of USAA’s financial products. To join, you’ll have to be an active or former member of the military. Or, you need to have a family member who has served or is a USAA member. U.S. citizens, permanent residents of the U.S. and immigration visa holders can apply, but you will need to have a Social Security number in all cases. Lastly, you need to be at least 18 years old.

Unfortunately, USAA doesn’t let you prequalify for personal loans. The best that they do is allow you to use a calculator to estimate potential rates based on the loan amount, repayment term and your general credit range. USAA allows joint personal loan applications, and you can apply online or by phone (210-531-8722 ext. 78612).

USAA Personal Loan Reviews & Transparency

USAA is highly rated by their members, and their personal loans have brought about very few complaints. However, USAA has failed to keep up with some government standards regarding how they run their banking, which has made its reputation fall with the Better Business Bureau.

• Better Business Bureau: USAA is not BBB accredited, and the bank only gets a C+ rating due to government actions against them. According to the BBB, USAA had to reach a settlement for failing to honor stop-payment requests and failing to complete error investigations. In addition, they had another action taken against them for failing to have an “effective risk management program.” Both of these cases were settled in January 2019.
• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: USAA has around 5,400 complaints filed against them with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Most are about USAA’s other financial services, with only 72 pertaining to personal loans. Some reasons for personal loan complaints include USAA charging late fees when they should not have and people having fraudulent accounts opened in their name.

  USAA’s response to all previous complaints has been “timely,” and the most recent complaint was written in March 2019.

• WalletHub: USAA has an average rating of 4/5 from almost 200 user reviews. WalletHub gives USAA personal loans a score of 3.5/5.

While USAA does openly disclose the terms of their personal loans online, their use of a simple calculator rather than a pre-qualification check makes it more difficult for customers to know the rates they might get. In addition, USAA isn’t clear about their minimum credit score or income requirements.

USAA Personal Loans vs. Popular Competitors

Lender	USAA	Navy Federal Credit Union	Avant
APR	9.49% - 17.65%	8.19% - 18.00%	9.95% - 35.99%
Loan amounts	$2,500 - $50,000	Up to $50,000	$2,000 - $35,000
Loan lengths	12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72 or 84 months	36 - 180 months	24 - 60 months
Credit score required	Not disclosed	Not disclosed	600

Methodology

When coming up with our USAA personal loan rating, WalletHub’s editors considered 23 different metrics within seven major categories: fees, APR, loan amounts, requirements for getting a loan, the process for applying, customer satisfaction and transparency. Not all metrics had the same weight in our rating. Ones that impacted the borrower more, such as APRs, were worth more. Below you can see all the factors considered.

• Fees: We checked what fees there are on USAA personal loans, such as prepayment penalties, origination fees or late fees.
• APR: We checked the lowest and highest APRs on USAA personal loans. And we checked if those APRs are fixed or vary over time.
• Loan amounts: We researched the minimum and maximum loan amounts available. We also checked the number of months available to pay those loans off.
• Requirements: WalletHub’s editors looked for USAA’s credit score and income requirements. We also looked at what they require in terms of citizenship and identification.
• Application process: We looked into how to apply, plus whether joint applications are available. And we found out how long it takes to get a decision and receive the loan money.
• Customer satisfaction: We checked our own user reviews, plus the Better Business Bureau rating and complaints filed with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
• Transparency: Our editors evaluated USAA’s level of clarity on what it takes to get one of their loans and what terms the loans have.

from Wallet HubWallet Hub


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