Discover Personal Loan Experience

[kwinks]

Hi,

Does anyone have experience with getting a personal loan through Discover? I have been shopping around (without hard pulls) for a 28k personal loan to consolidate debt. My journey started back in May 2023 and I have paid off 4 credit cards completely for a total of $15,000! I still have a ways to go but I'm at a point where my credit score is high enough to probably get a lower interest personal loan and pay everything off sooner and with less interest. 

I got a pre-approval through Citi for $20k at 17.99% and another one through Discover for $28k at 16%. I am on track to pay everything off by the end of this year. Anyone have personal experience they'd be willing to share?

I haven't gone through a HP yet so I'm nervous I won't ultimately be approved or the plan will somehow go wrong. 

Thanks everyone!

[reluctantgarden]

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@kwinks wrote:

Hi,

Does anyone have experience with getting a personal loan through Discover? I have been shopping around (without hard pulls) for a 28k personal loan to consolidate debt. My journey started back in May 2023 and I have paid off 4 credit cards completely for a total of $15,000! I still have a ways to go but I'm at a point where my credit score is high enough to probably get a lower interest personal loan and pay everything off sooner and with less interest. 

I got a pre-approval through Citi for $20k at 17.99% and another one through Discover for $28k at 16%. I am on track to pay everything off by the end of this year. Anyone have personal experience they'd be willing to share?

I haven't gone through a HP yet so I'm nervous I won't ultimately be approved or the plan will somehow go wrong. 

Thanks everyone!

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Congrats! I would do a SoFi SP preapproval as well because they generally have lower rates and larger loans than Disco or Citi.

[kwinks]

Thanks for the suggestion! I didn't really want to consider SoFi or Lending Club because I thought they were sly and would ultimately make me be worst off...Do you have experience with SoFi? Is it just a personal loan?

[reluctantgarden]

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@kwinks wrote:

Thanks for the suggestion! I didn't really want to consider SoFi or Lending Club because I thought they were sly and would ultimately make me be worst off...Do you have experience with SoFi? Is it just a personal loan?

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I've had three with SoFi and two with LC (when rates were low I kept refinancing them into even lower rates). Both have good customer service, and lower rates than big banks because their funding is directly from investors who decide what tranche of loans to buy at a particular price. SoFi is more full-service now with checking, savings, and a card, but still has the lowest rates.

[ForwardLooking]

I went the opposite route, did a Discover it card with a 15 month 0% balance transfer and moved a high interest personal loan to it.  I am on month 10 right now and will have it paid off next week well before the 0% term expires.  It was nice not having to pay interest, but it did initially affect my credit score as I had a higher revolving credit balance for a while, but scores came back over time as I paid it down.  I would not discount balance transfer cards, especially since you said you plan on having this all paid off within a year.

[FlaDude]

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@kwinks wrote:

Thanks for the suggestion! I didn't really want to consider SoFi or Lending Club because I thought they were sly and would ultimately make me be worst off...Do you have experience with SoFi? Is it just a personal loan?

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During my journey to pay off 75k in CC debt I used loans from Prosper, Marcus, and Lending Club, along with some 0% balance transfer offers. I had no trouble with any of them. This was a few years ago, but I got interest rates from 6-7.5% on a couple of 10k loans and one 20k loan. Note that they were considered "consumer finance accounts" and can have a small negative score impact.

[kwinks]

Thank you so much for your suggestion!! 

I wanted to give an update since it's helpful for others who might be researching in the future. 

I ended up doing a SP with SoFi and was initially denied but then got an email 2 days later saying I was preapproved so I did another SP and was approved for 22k @10.74% (10.24% with discounts for autopay/direct payment to CC)  the process was super easy and I should be debt free by December!!! Overall saving 1,300 by consolidating CC debt and moving 6k to a 0% interest promo on existing Citibank CC. 

I started my debt free journey in May 2023 and 45k in CC debt 

[ForwardLooking]

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@kwinks wrote:

Thank you so much for your suggestion!! 

I wanted to give an update since it's helpful for others who might be researching in the future. 

I ended up doing a SP with SoFi and was initially denied but then got an email 2 days later saying I was preapproved so I did another SP and was approved for 22k @10.74% (10.24% with discounts for autopay/direct payment to CC)  the process was super easy and I should be debt free by December!!! Overall saving 1,300 by consolidating CC debt and moving 6k to a 0% interest promo on existing Citibank CC. 

I started my debt free journey in May 2023 and 45k in CC debt 

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Sounds like you got a great rate with SoFi and I am glad you were able to take advantage of the 0% balance transfer on your Citibank.  Do everything you can to make sure that you pay off Citibank before that 0% promo expires.  I paid of my 0% discover it promo 5 months early last week and feel like I tackled a huge moutain.  It was an odd feeling for me when I was going over my budget today and realized I have a lot of money I will be putting into savings on payday tomorrow instead of handing it out to creditors.  I can't wait for all of my reports to update next month.  Hang in there! December will be here in no time and you will have something to really celebrate for New Years.

[Tiersha]

What credit score did you have?  What does SP stand for?  And I was denied by Sofi with a cs of 690 last yr, now in 700+ pretty firmyly and still with a good profile.

[FicoMike0]

Sp means soft pull, a soft inquiry.