Happy Money Personal Loans: 2024 Review - NerdWallet (2024)

Pros

• Option to pre-qualify with a soft credit check.
• Offers direct payment to creditors.
• No late fee.
• Hardship program for borrowers in need.

Cons

• Origination fee.
• No rate discount.
• No co-sign or joint loan option.
• No option to choose initial payment date.

Happy Money loans at a glance

Where Happy Money personal loans stand out and fall short

Do you qualify for a Happy Money personal loan

How to apply for a Happy Money personal loan

How Happy Money personal loans compare

How we rate Happy Money personal loans

• Disclosure from Happy Money

  This offer does not constitute a commitment to lend or an offer to extend credit. Upon submitting a loan application, you may be asked to provide additional documents to verify your identity, income, assets, or financial condition. The rate and terms you may be approved for will be shown to you during the application process. Loans subject to an origination fee, which is deducted from the loan proceeds. Refer to full borrower agreement for all terms, conditions and requirements. Only loans applied for and issued on or after January 10, 2024, are covered under the TruStage™ Payment Guard Insurance Policy. Please refer to the certificate of insurance, provided to you with your loan origination documents, for terms and conditions of the coverage. Some exclusions apply. Claims must be submitted for review and approval to CUMIS Specialty Insurance Company, Inc. TruStage™ Payment Guard Insurance is underwritten by CUMIS Specialty Insurance Company, Inc and not by Happy Money. CUMIS Specialty Insurance Company, our excess and surplus lines carrier, underwrites coverages that are not available in the admitted market. Product and features may vary and not be available in all states. Certain eligibility requirements, conditions, and exclusions may apply. Please refer to the Group Policy for a full explanation of the terms. The insurance offered is not a deposit, and is not federally insured, sold or guaranteed by any financial institution. Corporate Headquarters 5910 Mineral Point Road, Madison, WI 53705.

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• Must be a U.S. citizen, permanent resident or visa holder.

• Must have a valid Social Security number.

• Must be at least 18 years old.

• No bankruptcies filed in the past two years.

• Not a resident of Massachusetts or Nevada.

• Minimum credit score: 640.

  See Also

  Does Happy Money Call Your Employer?

• Minimum credit history: six years and two accounts.

• Maximum debt-to-income ratio: 55%.

• Average credit score: 705.

• Average annual income: $80,000.

• Average loan amount: $20,000.

• Average loan term: 40 months.

• Most common loan purpose: Credit card refinancing and debt consolidation.

• Check your credit. You can get your free credit report on NerdWallet or at AnnualCreditReport.com. Doing so will help you spot and fix any errors before you apply.

• Calculate your monthly payments. Use a personal loan calculator to determine what APR and repayment term you’d need to get a loan with affordable monthly payments.

• Make a plan to repay the loan. Review your budget to see how the loan’s monthly payments impact your cash flow. If you have to cut other expenses in order to repay the loan, it’s better to know that before you borrow.

• Gather your documents. Happy Money requires proof of income, which can be a W-2 or paystub, as well as bank statements and a Social Security number. Having these documents handy can speed up the application process.

1. Pre-qualify on Happy Money’s website. You’ll be asked how much you want to borrow and some personal information like your name, birthdate and address. Then, the lender will ask for information about your income and employment. There’s no hard credit pull at this stage.

2. Preview loan offers and accept the one that fits your budget. Once you accept a loan offer, you’ll submit a formal personal loan application. This could require more documents, like W-2s, pay stubs and bank statements to confirm the information you gave during pre-qualification. Happy Money will also do a hard credit check prior to funding your loan, so your credit score could temporarily dip.

3. Stay on top of your loan payments. Happy Money reports payments to all three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion), so on-time payments will help build your credit score, but missed payments will hurt it. Setting up automatic payments and keeping an eye on your budget are two ways to manage your loan payments.

» MORE: Read our review of Best Egg personal loans

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• Category definitions

  Affordability (25%)

  An affordable loan has low rates and fees compared to other similar loans and may offer rate discounts.

  Customer experience (20%)

  A good customer experience includes allowing borrowers to choose and change their repayment date, a fully online application process, a mobile app to manage the loan and a customer service team with wide availability.

  Underwriting and eligibility (20%)

  The lender reviews borrowers’ credit reports and credit history and tries to understand their ability to repay a loan. It offers loans in most states and doesn’t restrict eligibility by requiring a pre-existing relationship.

  Application process (20%)

  Borrowers can pre-qualify to check their potential rate, loan amount, repayment term and APR without affecting their credit score. They can easily find answers to questions about the personal loan on the lender’s website. The application process is fast enough to allow funding within a couple of days or less.

  Loan flexibility (15%)

  A flexible loan is one that offers a wide range of loan amounts and repayment term options. It includes common features like additional loan types and direct payment to creditors on debt consolidation loans.

  Discretionary

  A lender’s star rating can be reduced if the lender is sued by a state or federal regulator for unfair consumer practices or has been accused by a reputable source of suspicious business practices.

on Happy Money's website