The United Services Automobile Association (USAA) is a financial organization created by service members of the United States military in order to serve other military members and their families with insurance, banking options, and loans. USAA offers a variety of personal loan products beyond home mortgages, auto loans, and business loans, including debt consolidation loans.
In this article, we’re covering personal loans offered by USAA. Personal loans provide flexibility to use the funds for almost any reason, including: home improvements, special life events, cash management, unexpected expenses, or debt consolidation. Below, we’ll explain your options, rates, and how to apply.
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USAA Personal Loans
USAA personal loans provide a quick, easy, and flexible way to access cash when you need it. Personal loans can be used for pretty much anything, including debt consolidation. Some benefits of the USAA personal loan include:
- An easy application process with no application fees.
- Terms available from 12 to 82 months.
- Rates starting at 8.99 percent APR with a discount if you sign up for automatic payments.
- Top-notch customer service.
- Instant approval and funds can be available the next day.
Keep in mind that while USAA loan rates are usually competitive, it’s not impossible to find lenders offering lower rates, especially if you have great credit. Be sure to shop around your options. There is also a minimum loan amount of $2,500 for personal loans through USAA; if you’re looking to borrow less than that, you might be looking for a payday loan instead.
If you’re interested in getting a loan through USAA, use their personal loan calculator, found on the personal loan homepage. With the calculator, you can instantly find out how much you may be able to afford to borrow, and how much your monthly payments will likely be.
USAA offers products you can simply add on to your loan, like debt protection. We’ll cover what this is next.
USAA Debt Protection
Debt protection is another USAA product you can add to your loan. You might consider adding debt protection if you’re worried about the ability to pay off your personal loan because of injury or the loss of a job. It protects your family in either of these cases by cancelling your loan balance in the case of a death, or making your loan payments on your behalf if you become disabled or unemployed. USAA also offers joint death coverage available for one co-applicant of the loan.
The USAA debt protection program costs an additional fee that depends on the plan you choose and your principal loan balance, the fee is simply added to your loan. They offer three plan options: basic, standard, and premium. You can learn more details on the debt protection program FAQs page.
USAA Personal Loan Credit Score Requirements
Most loans require a good FICO credit score to get approved. However, USAA does not publicly share income requirements or minimum credit score requirements to receive one of their personal loans. Your toughest challenge is going to be the membership requirements. To be eligible for most USAA products, you must qualify to be a member. To become a USAA member, you must fit into these categories:
- Active members of the military
- Former military, individuals retired or separated with an honorable discharge
- Cadets and midshipmen
- Family members of the military, including widows and widowers, unremarried former spouses of USAA members and individuals whose parents joined USAA
If you’re a USAA member pursuing a personal loan, you’ll need excellent credit to qualify for the best rates and/or if you want a term of 60 months or more. You can use our credit repair guide to help ensure you get the best terms possible. However, you should be offered some options no matter your credit history.
USAA Debt Consolidation
USAA also offers a debt consolidation tool called “Debt Manager.” With the debt management tool, you can tell USAA about all your debt, receive a personalized payment plan, and track your progress on your way to becoming debt free.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by your debt and considering bankruptcy, this tool could save you. The main appeal of debt consolidation is that you would no longer need to track multiple bills each month. Instead, you’d make one consistent payment every month to one single entity.
Keep in mind that if you are considering debt consolidation, you should first look into the interest rates and principal balances on your current debts and compare that to what your interest rate would be if you consolidated all of it into one loan. You don’t want to end up paying more interest on your debt if you don’t have to.
If debt consolidation is the right choice for you, you can do so with a USAA personal loan. The flexibility with the personal loan allows you to do with the funds whatever you choose, including paying off other debts.
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