Citizens Bank Personal Loan Review
Citizens Bank still oversees its existing personal loans, but it stopped offering new personal loans a few years ago. We’ve compiled a few of the top personal loan lenders below to help you find the best alternative to a Citizens Bank loan.
Alternatives to Citizens Bank personal loans
Because Citizens Bank no longer offers personal loans, it’s important to shop around and compare other lenders. Here are several highly-rated personal loan lenders that serve as good alternatives.
| Best Egg | Discover | SoFi | |
|---|---|---|---|
| LendingTree’s Rating | 4.4/5 | 4.0/5 | 4.6/5 |
| Minimum credit score | 580 | 720 | 680 |
| APRs | 6.99% - 35.99% | 7.99% - 24.99% | 8.99% - 29.99% (with discounts) |
| Loan amounts | $2,000 - $50,000 | $2,500 - $40,000 | $5,000 - $100,000 |
| Repayment term | 36 to 60 months | 36 to 84 months | 24 to 84 months |
| Origination fee | 0.99% - 9.99% | None | 0.00% - 7.00% (optional) |
| Funding timeline | Receive funds within one to three business days | Receive funds as soon as one business day | As soon as the same business day |
| Bottom line | Best Egg offers competitive rates and flexible loan amounts, but its limited repayment terms and origination fee may give some consumers pause. | Discover's quick funding and flexible loan terms make this a good contender for good-credit borrowers. However, you’ll need to look elsewhere to borrow more than $40,000. | With its option for same-day funding, high borrowing cap and flexible terms, SoFi is a strong option. However, since its loan amounts start at $5,000, SoFi may not be a fit if you only need to borrow a small amount. |
Best Egg
With amounts ranging from $2,000 – $50,000, Best Egg offers a similar loan range to what Citizens Bank previously offered. While Best Egg’s repayment terms are limited to 36 to 60 months, you can get your money as soon as one business day after loan approval. Best Egg customers may have to pay an origination fee of 0.99% - 9.99%.
Read our Best Egg personal loan review to learn more.
Discover
With Discover, you won’t have to worry about paying the upfront origination fee that lenders often charge. However, Discover charges a $39 late fee, which is higher than many of its competitors charge.
While Discover doesn’t have as flexible of a loan amount range as Citizens Bank once did, this lender does provide repayment terms that stretch out longer than some other lenders (36 to 84 months).
Read our Discover personal loan review to learn more.
SoFi
SoFi only charges personal loan borrowers an optional 0.00% - 7.00% origination fee they can accept in exchange for lower rates. On top of that, SoFi also offers fast funding and large loan amounts. However, Sofi has a higher minimum credit score requirement (680), so those with lower scores may not qualify.
Read our SoFi personal loan review to learn more.
How we rate our lenders
To come up with our star rating for personal loan companies, LendingTree considered 22 data points across three categories:
- Accessibility: We paid attention to whether lenders offered loans to nontraditional borrowers, as well as those without excellent credit scores. We also checked if lenders offered soft-credit pulls, and whether they were transparent about eligibility criteria other than credit scores.
- Rates and terms: We wanted to know if lender rates, terms, amounts and fees were not only transparent, but competitive.
- Repayment experience: We based this category on lenders’ reputations, customer support availability and unique benefits.
The data points reflect every step of the process to shop and apply for, borrow and repay personal loans. A five-star lender, for instance, has flexible eligibility requirements, offers you the chance to prequalify without commitment and supports you in zeroing your balance.
The 22 data points, culled from the lenders themselves, determine the overall rating. We score lenders consistently, sometimes awarding partial points, so that you can make apples-to-apples comparisons when shopping around.
LendingTree isn’t paid for conducting these reviews, and lenders don’t have control over their content. With our reviews and ratings, we aim to give our users the objective and exhaustive information they need to make the best possible decisions.
Frequently asked questions
No. Citizens Bank previously offered personal loans. The company has since ended its personal loan product, though it still services its existing personal loans.
How easy it is to get a personal loan depends on the lender’s personal loan borrowing requirements. Loans from online lenders tend to be easier to qualify for than bank loans.
To pay off your Citizens Bank loan, you’ll need to log-in to your account on the Citizens Bank website. Citizens Bank does not charge a prepayment penalty, so you won’t be charged a fee if you repay your loan early.