Best Bad Credit Home Improvement Loans
If you think you’re ready to tackle a major home improvement project, your first question may be how to pay for it. Whether you need to get a new roof or renovate your whole house, a home improvement loan can help you access the money to make it happen.
But qualifying for home improvement loans with bad credit can be a challenge. That doesn’t mean you’re completely out of luck, though. Here’s what you need to know.
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Homefinity launched in 2018 as the online lending division of Fairway Independent Mortgage. It offers a variety of mortgage products, including conventional mortgages, Federal Housing Administration and Veterans Affairs mortgages, and mortgage refinancing.
North American Savings Bank, or NASB, is a Missouri-based bank and lender founded in 1927 that offers home mortgages nationally. NASB provides a variety of mortgage options, including conventional, Federal Housing Administration and Department of Veterans Affairs loans, and products for borrowers who might otherwise have trouble getting a mortgage.
Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Truist Bank was formed in 2019 after SunTrust and BB&T banks merged. Truist Bank offers a variety of mortgage products, including refinancing and home equity lines of credit.
Chase, one of the world’s largest banks, was founded in 1799 in New York and offers mortgage and refinance loans.
Simmons Bank was founded in Arkansas in 1903 and can now be found across six states. It offers mortgage products such as conventional and jumbo loans, federal-government-backed loans and state-approved down payment assistance programs.
PNC Bank is one of the largest banks in the United States, serving more than 9 million customers in all 50 states. A full-service mortgage lender, PNC offers most mortgage loan product types.
SoFi is an online lender founded in 2011 and headquartered in San Francisco that offers fixed-rate mortgages. Refinance, jumbo and home equity loans are also available.
CMG Financial is a privately held mortgage banking firm operating nationwide with localized support, founded in 1993 and based in San Ramon, California. The lender offers a range of products, including conventional, government and specialty mortgages, like jumbo loans.
Alliant Credit Union is a not-for-profit financial cooperative that serves customers in all 50 states. Alliant offers products such as conventional, jumbo, refinancing and home equity line of credit loans, but specific mortgage products may not be available in certain states.
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If you need money fast, Alliant Credit Union typically makes same-day online personal loans between $1,000 and $50,000. The $14 billion Chicago-based credit union, founded in 1935, is one of the biggest in the nation, with 600,000 members. In addition to personal loans, Alliant offers home and auto loans, credit cards, checking and savings accounts, individual retirement accounts, trust accounts, and insurance policies.
SoFi, short for Social Finance, offers personal loans of up to $100,000 to borrowers with very good to excellent credit. The nationwide lender was founded in 2011 and is known for offering loans with no fees. In addition to personal loans, SoFi offers student loans, auto and student loan refinancing, home loans, and small-business financing.
Upstart is a lending platform that uses artificial intelligence to improve access to affordable credit. Based in California and founded by former Google employees in 2012, Upstart also applies AI to reduce lending risks and costs for its bank partners. The lending intermediary provides unsecured personal loans from $1,000 to $50,000 to borrowers anywhere in the U.S. except West Virginia or Iowa.
PNC Bank can trace its history back to 1852 and the Pittsburgh Trust and Savings Co. Today, PNC Bank is the seventh-largest bank in the U.S., and it features a wide range of consumer and business banking services. Among its suite of products, PNC offers personal, unsecured installment loans up to $35,000. Applicants are considered based on satisfactory credit history, ability to repay and income.
Upgrade offers access to personal loans, the Upgrade card with a personal line of credit, rewards checking, and credit monitoring and educational tools. Founded in 2017 in San Francisco, the firm also has operations offices in Chicago, Phoenix and Montreal.
LendingUSA was founded in 2015 to be a lending solution for merchants. LendingUSA provides point-of-sale customer financing through more than 10,000 merchant partners in various sectors including medical services, pet services, funeral services and consumer services.
Rocket Loans offers personal loans to qualified borrowers in all 50 states. These loans are designed for people with fair to excellent credit who need to borrow up to $45,000 for debt consolidation, home improvements, medical expenses and business or other expenses.
Founded in 2005 and based in San Carlos, California, Oportun originates unsecured personal loans of up to $10,000 in 12 states. Loans are available in 30 additional states through Oportun’s partnership with MetaBank. The lender has no credit history requirement, making the loans an option for consumers with no credit or limited credit. In addition to unsecured personal loans, the lender offers secured personal loans to borrowers in Arizona, California, Florida, New Jersey and Texas.
LendingClub connects borrowers and investors through its online marketplace. LendingClub originated on Facebook and evolved into an extensive peer-to-peer lender, though it no longer offers peer-to-peer loans. Borrowers in all U.S. states can apply for $1,000 to $40,000 loans with LendingClub.
Whenever you borrow money, the lender evaluates your finances to determine the likelihood that you’ll pay back the loan. Your credit score, a numerical representation of your borrowing risk, is a major factor in lending decisions.
Lenders typically require a FICO credit score of at least 620 to qualify for home loans, including home equity loans, but some loan programs can help you borrow with a lower score. A FICO score of 620 falls in the fair range, and a good score is 670 or better.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, “It was possible to get a loan or mortgage with a credit score as low as 500. (Now) most, if not all, lenders have temporarily raised their credit score minimums up into the 600s,” says Eric Jeanette, owner of mortgage loan marketplaces Dream Home Financing and FHA Lenders. “Today, finding any mortgage with bad credit has become very difficult.”
That goes for home improvement loans as well. In fact, three common home improvement loans may not be options if your credit score is too low, says Randall Yates, founder and CEO of The Lenders Network, a loan comparison site for borrowers with credit issues. That includes home equity loans; home equity lines of credit, or HELOCs; and cash-out refinances.
The credit requirements for home equity loans and HELOCs are similar to or even stricter than mortgages. That’s because one of these loans functions as a second mortgage on a property, and borrowers have a higher risk of default.
A cash-out refinance is also risky because you replace your traditional mortgage with a new loan for more than what you currently owe on your home, Yates says.
In general, bad credit home improvement loans are few and far between, including no-credit-check home improvement loans. “All home improvement loans require a credit check and a home appraisal,” Yates says.
If you have bad credit and need a home improvement loan, you might need to look to other financing sources, such as personal loans or government-backed loans.
There are a number of factors to consider when choosing the best bad credit home improvement loan for you.
- HUD backed loans. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development offers renovation loan options that do not require good credit scores. Many HUD 203(k) loans only require a credit score of 500 and can be used for a variety of renovations. Title I loans are insured by HUD, have no credit score requirements and can be unsecured for smaller loans.
- Energy efficiency programs. If you are doing renovations to make your home more energy efficient, like putting in solar panels or insulation, you may be able to qualify for the FHA Energy-Efficient Mortgage program. These loans are federally insured and have a minimum credit score requirement of 500.
- Personal loans. If you cannot qualify for a home improvement loan, you can take out a personal loan. However, Personal loans for bad credit can have interest rates upwards of 30%, may need to be secured and generally have to be repaid within two to five years.
- Credit union loans. If you cannot qualify for a home improvement loan from a bank, you may still be able to qualify for a loan from a credit union. They may have lower interest rates and more flexible terms, but you will be required to be a member of the credit union to qualify.
- Other government programs. There are other government-backed programs for home improvements, such as home loans to low-income rural homeowners and VA grants for disabled veterans and service members.
Find the Mortgage That’s Right for You
Pros
- Get financing. Home improvement loans allow you to get needed funds to renovate your home, which can improve energy efficiency or your property value in the long-term.
- Potentially backed by the government. Many home improvement loans are backed by the federal government. This means that lenders are more willing to loan the money and they often allow for lower credit scores.
- Pay over time. Home improvement loans allow you to pay for renovations over a period of time rather than in a lump sum. Depending on the type of loan, you may have years to pay off your home improvement costs.
Cons
- Pay higher rates. Credit history is often a large factor in determining interest rates, so bad credit home improvement loans typically have higher rates.
- May need collateral. Some home improvement loans require collateral, which means you could risk losing your home if you default.
Make sure your credit score is as high as possible before applying. That means you might want to work on repairing your credit, especially if your project isn’t urgent.
Yates suggests taking time to pay down debt, especially credit cards, to give your score a boost.
If you must borrow money for a home improvement project now, compare loan offers and interest rates from three to four lenders to ensure that you’re getting the best deal. Getting a few different quotes can help you negotiate loan terms, Yates says.
Of course, borrowers with good credit qualify for the best loan terms and lowest interest rates. “In some cases, such as a mortgage loan, good credit can save you tens of thousands of dollars over the course of the loan,” Yates says.
There are several alternatives to getting bad credit home improvement loans.
- Consider cash. If you can afford it, pay the full costs of the home improvements upfront to avoid taking on loans.
- Finance through your contractor. Some contracting companies have their own financing programs for home renovations, but their terms will generally be less favorable than a bank loan.
- Pay with a credit card. You might use a credit card to pay for renovations, especially one that has an introductory 0% APR. Just beware that credit cards typically have much higher interest rates than loans if the balance is not paid off.
U.S. News selects the Best Loan Companies by evaluating affordability, borrower eligibility criteria and customer service. Those with the highest overall scores are considered the best lenders.
To calculate each score, we use data about the lender and its loan offerings, giving greater weight to factors that matter most to borrowers. For mortgage lenders, we take into account each company’s customer service ratings, interest rates, loan product availability, minimum down payment, minimum FICO score and online features.
The weight each scoring factor receives is based on a nationwide survey on what borrowers look for in a lender.
To receive a rating, lenders must offer qualifying loans nationwide and have a good reputation within the industry. Read more about our methodology.
Navy Federal Credit Union serves more than 11 million active-duty and retired military, veteran, and Department of Defense members as well as their families. Founded in 1933 and based in Vienna, Virginia, this not-for-profit credit union offers a range of products, from credit cards to auto loans. Navy Federal is the largest credit union in the U.S., with $160.5 billion in assets and 349 branches worldwide.
Bank of America serves roughly 67 million customers in all 50 states. The lender offers conventional, Federal Housing Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs and jumbo loans as well as home equity lines of credit and mortgage refinancing.
U.S. Bank is a national bank based in Minneapolis that provides various banking products and services as well as a handful of mortgage options. The lender offers conventional loans, Federal Housing Administration loans, Department of Veterans Affairs loans, jumbo loans and more.
Discover is a major credit card issuer, but its financial products and services go beyond that. In addition to credit cards and banking, Discover offers mortgage refinance and home equity loans to qualified borrowers. You can use the money from a home equity loan for many purposes, including making home improvements, consolidating debt or paying for other major expenses.
Spring EQ, founded in 2016, is a Philadelphia-based mortgage lender that specializes in home equity loans and operates in 39 states and Washington, D.C. The technology-based loan originator, which plans to expand into more states, also provides home purchase, rate-and-term refinance, and cash-out refinance loans. Spring EQ’s digital process can streamline borrowing and help people get their money in as little as 11 days.
Flagstar offers banking and loan products to borrowers in all 50 states. Borrowers can obtain mortgage and home equity products including conventional loans, Federal Housing Administration loans, Veterans Affairs loans, U.S. Department of Agriculture loans, adjustable-rate mortgages, and home equity loans and lines of credit.
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