Personal Loans in Nashville, Tennessee

Lender

APR range

Minimum credit requirements

Terms

Fees

15.00%-50.00%

No required score — income, credit score and history, plus collateral may be examined. Not all loans require collateral.

7 to 60 months

Late fee after 10 days

9.95%-30.00%

Credit score and history of payments used to determine rate

Up to 48 months

No fees

5.00% and up

No requirement, score and history used to determine rate, loans over $25K require banking with FTB for at least one year

Up to 72 months

1% origination fee

4.75%-18.00%

Credit score and history of payments used to determine rate

Up to 48 months

No fees

5.99%–35.99%

Minimum 500 FICO

24 to 60 months

Varies

Citizens Savings & Loan Corporation began in 1917 and is one of Tennessee’s oldest consumer finance companies. Though the company does not have locations in Nashville proper, it has offices outside the city and in eastern and central Tennessee as well as north Georgia. Citizens primarily makes secured and unsecured loans to people with less than perfect credit or collateral for personal, family and household purposes. Often, Citizens customers can have cash in hand within hours of submitting their loan application.

The Tennessee Credit Union was founded in 1950 by a small group of volunteers who were committed to provide members with the tools they needed to make sound personal finance decisions. Today, TTCU is still a not-for-profit institution that is run by members. TTCU has 10 branches across middle and eastern Tennessee. Since TTCU is a credit union, you’ll have to qualify to join. Either you or a family member must live in Williamson or Hamblen counties, or be employed by an educational entity in Tennessee, have a family member that is a TTCU member, or be working toward a degree in Tennessee. You must not have an active membership with another credit union within the state. TTCU offers personal loans to buy a car or recreational vehicle, debt consolidation or to pay for such things as weddings, adoptions, medical procedures and more.

LendingTree, the parent company of MagnifyMoney, is an online loan comparison marketplace. After you fill out a form, LendingTree may present you with personal loan offers that suit the personal and financial information you provided, and you can compare the offers then and there, all in one place. Filling out LendingTree’s form to request loan offers results in a soft inquiry on your credit report, meaning it won’t hurt your credit score. If you then apply for a loan, the lender will perform a hard inquiry, which may have a small, negative effect on your credit.

Before you apply for a loan, note that your credit score is very important. The lender that you are borrowing from will look up your score and use that information to determine how much money they are willing to lend you and at what interest rate. Often, your employment status and income will also be considered.

Before you decide who you want to borrow from, you’ll want to do some research because lenders vary widely.

Here are a few tips to make your search for a personal loan go a little more smoothly.

Watch out for fees. Different lenders have different types of fees that they may or may not charge. There could be an origination fee, which is the upfront fee charged for processing your application, and even prepayment penalties if you decide to pay off your loan early. You don’t want to get hit by those if you don’t have to!

Look into loan limits. Not all lenders are willing to lend the same amount, so make sure that you’re able to borrow what you need. You’ll also want to consider the loan terms so you can dial in your monthly payment for a set number of months and stick to it (or pay it off early if you don’t have a prepayment penalty to worry about).

To begin the comparison process, you can go online and enter information such as the amount you want to borrow, the reason for the loan, some personal information and your estimated credit score. From there, lenders will look at that information, and determine the details of your loan. At that point, you’ll be preapproved for your loan and you can continue the loan process directly with the lender.