Personify Financial Personal Loans: 2024 Review

Personify Financial is an online lender that offers high-interest installment loans to borrowers with fair and bad credit scores (689 or lower).

Consider a Personify loan as a last-resort option. The lender pairs high rates with long repayment terms that may make its loans difficult to repay or costly in the long term. NerdWallet recommends avoiding loans with rates above 36% unless you’ve ruled out all alternatives.

» COMPARE: Best personal loans for bad credit

Personify rates, fees and terms

Personify Financial’s rates, fees and repayment terms may vary by state. Here’s what the lender offers across all states where it operates.

How to qualify for a Personify Financial personal loan

Personify allows borrowers to pre-qualify for a loan before submitting a formal application. This process lets you preview your potential offer, including loan amount and annual percentage rate (APR), without affecting your credit score. Then, you can pre-qualify with other lenders to compare offers.

Personify relies on bank account and credit information to decide whether you qualify for a loan. Unlike lenders that provide no-credit-check loans, Personify’s formal application process includes a hard credit pull of your TransUnion and Experian credit reports.

The lender says it approves borrowers with good, fair and bad credit, but those with good and fair credit scores (630 to 719) may qualify for lower-interest loans elsewhere.

» MORE: Best personal loans for fair credit

Requirements:

To qualify for a Personify loan, you must:

• Be at least 18 years old.

• Be a U.S. resident.

• Have a valid checking account.

The lender may ask for a photo ID or other documents.

Personify Financial loan pros and cons

A Personify loan is an option for borrowers who don’t qualify for a loan with a lower APR. Carefully consider the pros and cons of Personify's loan before you borrow.

Pros

Borrowers with low credit scores may qualify. Personify says qualifying borrowers can have a minimum credit score of 500, which is lower than most other online lenders. Personify also says it looks at consumers’ whole financial picture, not just credit score, to determine whether an applicant qualifies.

Checks borrowers' credit and ability to repay. Personify does a hard credit check on borrowers before making a loan decision, which provides the lender more detailed information than a soft inquiry. Personify says it reviews data from Experian and TransUnion, as well as alternative credit bureaus. Personify also reviews bank account data to see applicants’ cash flow information and assess their ability to repay a loan.

Credit checks and ability-to-repay reviews can help a lender understand how likely an applicant is to repay a loan and how much they can afford to borrow.

Fast funding. Personify says most borrowers get an approval decision in minutes, and loans are frequently funded the next business day.

Payment date is tied to borrowers’ pay schedule. Personify reviews your bank account to see when you get paid and schedules your loan’s payment date accordingly. Borrowers can request to change a payment date, but the new date depends on their existing repayment schedule. Other lenders may let you hand-pick a repayment date, but scheduling the payment date around your payday may help ensure you make on-time loan payments.

Cons

High interest rates. Most consumer advocates say 36% is the highest APR a loan can have and still be considered affordable. Though Personify’s starting rates are below 36%, the majority of its APR range is above that threshold. The lender says its average loan APR is 77.5%. Even a small loan with a high APR can be difficult to repay.

Interest may add up to more than 50% of the loan amount. Interest costs on a Personify loan may make up more than half the amount you borrowed, depending on the rate and repayment term you get. For example, a $4,000 loan repaid over one year at 99% APR would cost $2,452 in interest.

May charge an origination fee. Personify charges an origination fee of 5% in most states where it provides loans.

Reports payments to two credit bureaus. Personify reports payments to two of the three major credit bureaus. Having your payments reported to two credit bureaus is better than not having them reported, but your lender would ideally report to all three. That way, if you make on-time payments toward your Personify loan and apply for credit elsewhere, the new creditor is guaranteed to see your positive payment history and may give you a better rate.

Lack of flexible features. Personify’s loans don’t come with some of the helpful features that other lenders offer, like a joint or co-signed loan option or 24/7 customer support.

Personify Financial loan example

A $6,000 loan with a 77.5% APR and an 18-month repayment term would carry the following costs:

• Monthly payment: $573.

• Total interest paid: $4,321.

• Total amount repaid: $10,321.

More of your monthly payment would go toward interest than the loan’s principal for the first seven months of repayment.

» MORE: Installment loan calculator

Should you get a Personify Financial loan?

Consider Personify a last resort in an emergency. While you may be able to make the biweekly or monthly payment on a high-interest loan, if the repayment term is too long and the rate too high, your total interest costs could far exceed the amount borrowed.

Personify reports loan payments to two of the three major credit bureaus, so on-time payments can help build credit but missed payments will hurt it.

Depending on your goal, you may have better options. Personify isn’t a good idea if:

• You are trying to build credit: There are faster and cheaper ways to build credit, including a secured credit card or credit-builder loan. If you don’t know your score, you can get it for free on NerdWallet.

• You can get cash elsewhere: Cheaper alternatives are not always fast or convenient, and sometimes they require asking for help. But those alternatives could save you from overpaying in interest and getting caught in a cycle of debt.

How Personify compares

Oportun personal loans have maximum APRs below 36% but are still available to borrowers with little or no credit history. Oportun boasts fast funding and reports on-time payments to the three major credit bureaus.

OppLoans APRs start higher than Personify but are capped a little lower. OppLoans offers smaller loans than Personify, but it does not do a hard credit check.

» MORE: Best installment loans

Alternatives to Personify loans

Before you get a Personify loan

• Exhaust all other options: If rent or bills are coming up, try to buy time from your creditor or work out a payment plan. Also, consider facing the short-term consequences of not paying, like a late fee.

• Compare the cost of taking out the loan to the cost of not taking it out: Calculate the overall cost of not having funds for your purpose, then weigh that against the typical cost of a Personify loan in your state.

If a Personify Financial installment loan is your best option, do what you can to carve out room in your budget to pay it off as quickly as possible. For most people, this loan is too expensive to become a long-term or repeat solution.

How to get a Personify Financial loan

Here are the steps to get a Personify loan:

1. Select “Apply” on Personify’s website.

2. Enter your ZIP code and select the “See My Loan Offers” button.

3. Enter some personal information, including your name, address, email address and phone number.

4. If you qualify, you’ll be shown potential loan offers with amounts, rates and repayment terms and choose one.

5. You’ll be asked to log into your bank account where you receive income and submit the application, which will trigger a hard credit inquiry.

6. Borrowers who are automatically approved will receive an instant decision. Others may be asked to provide more information. Once approved, expect funds to arrive as quickly as the next day.

How we rate Personify

NerdWallet writers rate lenders against a rubric that changes each year based on how personal loan products evolve. Here’s what we prioritized this year: