Wells Fargo personal loans review: High maximum loan amounts, but restrictions if you’re not already a customer

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Loan amounts and interest rates

Wells Fargo personal loan amounts range from $3,000 to $100,000 and can be paid back over one to seven years, depending on what terms you and the lender agree to.

Wells Fargo has a slightly lower minimum APR than comparable lenders. You can get a rate of 5.74% with Wells Fargo, while the lowest APR you can receive with Discover and Marcus by Goldman Sachs is 6.99%. You’ll need to have good credit to qualify for the lowest rates, though. 

Your maximum rate with Wells Fargo is 19.99%. If your finances aren’t in great shape and you’re worried you’ll get stuck with a higher rate, you might consider a different lender. You can get lower rates with online lenders like Lightstream or SoFi, which offer maximum rates below 19.99%.

Pros and cons      

How Wells Fargo works

Personal Loan offers unsecured personal loans that can be used for many reasons, including debt consolidation, home improvement, and major purchases. To get an unsecured personal loan, you don’t need collateral, like a house or a car.

You can get your money as soon as the next business day with Wells Fargo depending on when your application is approved. Wells Fargo won’t charge you origination fees or prepayment penalties, but the lender may stick you with a $39 charge for late payments. 

While Wells Fargo offers personal loans in all 50 states, it doesn’t have branches in 14 states. States where branches aren’t available are Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, West Virginia, Missouri, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Hawaii.

This may pose a problem, as only current customers qualify to apply for loans through Wells Fargo’s online portal or by phone. If you aren’t a customer, you have to apply by visiting a branch and talking with a banker.

To contact customer support, call the lender Monday through Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 7 p.m. CT, or message the company’s chatbot on its personal loan webpage. Wells Fargo has a well-reviewed app that has received 4.8 out of 5 stars on both Apple store and the Google Play store.

You can receive your money as soon as the next business day after you apply and your loan is approved.

You’ll need to meet the following requirements to apply for a personal loan with Wells Fargo:

• Meet the legal adult age requirement for your state
• Provide a valid Social Security number or Individual Taxpayer Identification number
• Have a physical US address

What credit score do you need?

There is no minimum credit score required to take out a Personal Loan. Instead, the company will make its approval decision based on other financial factors, including your credit history, ability to repay, and other factors indicating your overall financial situation.

Other comparable lenders have no specified minimum, such as Marcus by Goldman Sachs and Discover. However, you’ll probably get a better rate with a higher score.

To get your credit report from one of the three major credit bureaus, use annualcreditreport.com. You can get your report for free once per week through April 20, 2022. While you won’t receive your credit score on this report, you’ll get information about your credit and payment history. While reviewing your credit report, you can spot errors and figure out where you can improve. 

You can obtain your score at no cost on your credit card statement or online account. You can also purchase it from a credit reporting agency.

Your credit score won’t be impacted if you check your rates with Wells Fargo, as the lender will only perform a soft credit inquiry. However, Wells Fargo will generate a hard credit inquiry before your loan is finalized, which will likely negatively impact your credit score. A hard inquiry offers a lender a full view of your credit history, but it might hurt your credit score.

Is Wells Fargo trustworthy?

Personal Loan currently doesn’t have a rating from the Better Business Bureau as the BBB investigates the company’s profile. In the past, the BBB gave Wells Fargo an F in trustworthiness. The BBB measures trustworthiness by evaluating businesses’ responses to consumer complaints, honesty in advertising, and transparency about business practices. 

Wells Fargo has been involved in a few recent controversies. Over the past several years: 

• Wells Fargo is still paying billions in settlements because its employees created fake bank accounts to hit sales goals, which became public knowledge in 2016.
• The company paid the city of Philadelphia $10 million as a result of the city’s claims that Wells Fargo engaged in predatory mortgage lending to racial minorities (2019).
• The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency charged Wells Fargo $1 billion for overcharging and selling extra products to customers with auto and home loans (2018).

If Wells Fargo’s history bothers you, you may want to consider other options on Insider’s list of the best personal loan lenders.

How Wells Fargo compares

Personal Loan rates are similar to those offered by comparable lenders — though rates will depend on your particular profile. Here’s how Wells Fargo compares to the competition:

Min. credit score Unspecified	Min. credit score Unspecified	Min. credit score Unspecified
APR Personal Loan	APR Discover Personal Loan	APR Marcus Personal Loan
Origination fee? No	Origination fee? No	Origination fee? No
Personal Loan	Discover Personal Loans	Marcus Personal Loan

You can borrow up to $100,000 with Wells Fargo, which is a much higher maximum loan amount than Discover’s $35,000. If you need a larger personal loan, Wells Fargo may be a better option. 

Wells Fargo’s repayment terms range from one to seven years, while Discover’s terms range from three to seven years. If you want a shorter term length — and to save money on overall interest in the process — Wells Fargo may be the choice for you. 

A distinguishing feature of Discover is its 30-day money-back guarantee on its personal loans. If you decide within 30 days of receiving your loan that you no longer want it — perhaps you found a better rate elsewhere — you can return the funds via check and won’t be charged any interest. Wells Fargo doesn’t have a similar unique perk. 

Neither Wells Fargo nor Marcus by Goldman Sachs has a minimum credit score requirement, but if you have a lower credit score, your APR may be higher with Wells Fargo than Marcus. The top end of Well’s Fargo’s APR range is roughly 5% higher than Marcus’ range. If your credit is in good shape, you’ll likely pay a slightly lower interest rate with Wells Fargo than with Marcus. 

While neither company will charge you origination fees or prepayment penalties, Wells Fargo might charge a late fee of up to $39. Marcus might be a better option for you if you’re worried about potentially missing a payment. 

Marcus offers a loan term range of three to six years, which is a tighter window than Wells Fargo’s range of one to seven years. If flexibility in repayment terms is important to you, Wells Fargo may be a better choice.  

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