Best Military Personal Loans in 2025

Navy Federal Credit Union (NFCU) Navy Federal Credit Union (NFCU) is our pick for best military personal loans because it offers competitive rates and discounts exclusively to military members and their relatives. For instance, active-duty and retired military members can get an APR discount as long as they also receive direct deposit.

If you have excellent credit, you may be able to qualify for lower rates with a lender like LightStream. Also note that NFCU doesn’t let you prequalify for a personal loan. You’ll have to agree to a hard credit pull to see if you’re eligible.

NFCU is only available to:

• Active-duty members of the military (regardless of branch)
• Veterans, retirees and annuitants
• Those in the Delayed Entry Program (DEP)
• DoD Officer Candidates and ROTC
• DoD Reservists
• Immediate family of military members, as well as household members

USAA Bank is a good choice for borrowers with military affiliations who want to bank, borrow and get insured all with the same company. As a member of USAA, you’ll get access to special deals and discounts on rental cars, theme park tickets and more. Plus, you can choose between stretching out your payments over several years and paying off your USAA loan in just 12 months.

Look elsewhere if you need a quick loan, since USAA usually takes two business days to send your money.

You must be a USAA member before you can get a personal loan, and USAA has strict eligibility requirements. It only accepts active-duty military members, veterans, precommissioned officers or eligible family members. Veterans must also have an honorable discharge status at the time of separation.

Once you are a member, you can apply for a loan online. Unfortunately, USAA doesn’t have a prequalification process, so you must fill out an application and take a hard credit hit to see if you’re eligible.

Taking out a joint loan with a lender like Achieve can boost your odds of getting a personal loan. Not all lenders allow joint loans, but Achieve does — and it offers discounted interest rates when you add a qualified co-borrower to your application.

Achieve’s credit score requirements are on the low side, so qualifying is possible if you have fair credit. But regardless of your credit score, prepare to pay an origination fee — Achieve charges one on every loan. This is an amount that Achieve deducts from your loan funds before sending them to you.

Other than a credit score of at least [mmps name=’personalloan.31.credit_score’, Achieve typically asks for the following documents and information:

• Proof of income
• Social Security number
• Government-issued ID
• Employment status

Discover offers repayment assistance programs to get you back on track if you’re having trouble making payments on your military loan. For instance, its short-term assistance program will temporarily lower your payments to make them easier to handle. Plus, its U.S.-based loan specialists are available until 11 p.m. EST on weekdays and 6 p.m. EST on weekends if you have questions.

It’s important to contact Discover immediately if you’re struggling to make your payments on time. Otherwise, you could be on the hook for a $39 late payment fee. Borrowers with bad credit are typically not eligible for a Discover loan, and you can’t add a co-borrower, either.

You’ll need to meet these eligibility criteria to get a Discover loan:

• Age: Be at least 18
• Citizenship: Have a Social Security number
• Administrative: Have a physical address, an email address and internet access
• Income: Minimum income of $40,000 (individually or as a household)
• Credit score: 720+

Military members with excellent credit can qualify for some of the lowest rates on the market with LightStream. You can borrow up to $100,000 without paying any upfront fees, making LightStream a good choice for a large expense. What’s more, LightStream may send you $100 if you’re not satisfied with your loan experience.

Note that LightStream only approves borrowers with good to excellent credit, you can’t prequalify to see if you’re eligible.

LightStream doesn’t specify its exact credit score requirements, but you must have good to excellent credit to qualify. Most of the applicants that LightStream approves have the following in common:

• At least five years of on-time payments under a variety of accounts (credit cards, auto loans, etc.)
• Stable income and the ability to handle paying their current debt obligations
• Savings, whether in a bank account, an investment account or a retirement account

SoFi is ideal for military members who need a quick loan, as long as they have good credit or better. Same-day loans aren’t terribly uncommon, but most lenders have a mid-afternoon application cutoff time. Any later than the cutoff, you’ll have to wait until the next day to get your loan. At SoFi, you’ll have until 7 p.m. EST to sign your documents.

SoFi doesn’t charge any required fees, but you can choose to pay an upfront loan processing fee called an origination fee to get a lower interest rate. Also, look elsewhere if you need a small loan, since the smallest loan SoFi offers is $5,000.

You must meet the requirements below in order to get a loan from SoFi:

• Age: Be the age of majority in your state (typically 18)
• Citizenship: Be a U.S. citizen, an eligible permanent resident or a non-permanent resident (a DACA recipient or an asylum-seeker, for instance)
• Employment: Have a job or job offer with a start date within 90 days, or have regular income from another source
• Credit score: 680+

Upstart isn’t military-specific, but this lending platform does serve non-traditional borrowers, including those with lower credit scores. If you need a bad-credit loan, you can qualify with Upstart with a score as low as 300 — one of the lowest thresholds on the market. But watch out for Upstart’s rates. If you have bad credit, you’ll likely pay rates close to 36%.

If you have excellent credit, lenders on the Upstart platform offer some of the most competitive starting interest rates. That said, Upstart may charge you a high upfront loan processing fee called an origination fee.

Upstart has transparent eligibility requirements, including:

• Age: Be 18 or older
• Administrative: Have a U.S. address, personal banking account, email address and Social Security number
• Employment: Have a job or job offer that starts within six months, or have regular income
• Credit-related factors: Debt-to-income (DTI) ratio no higher than 50% (45% in Connecticut, Maryland, New York and Vermont), no bankruptcies within the last year, fewer than six inquiries on your credit report in the last six months and no current delinquencies
• Credit score: 300