Medical Loans

Written by Alex Cook | Edited by Jessica Sain-Baird | Reviewed March 1, 2023

How Does LendingTree Get Paid?

LendingTree is compensated by companies on this site and this compensation may impact how and where offers appear on this site (such as the order). LendingTree does not include all lenders, savings products, or loan options available in the marketplace.

How Does LendingTree Get Paid?

Lender	User ratings	Best for	Annual percentage rate (APR)	Minimum credit score	Loan amounts	Loan terms
		Quick funding timeline	8.99%-35.99%	600	$2,000 to $50,000	36 to 60 months
	(2) User Ratings & Reviews Ratings and reviews are from real consumers who have used the lending partner’s services.	Lower income borrowers	7.99%-24.99%	Not specified	$2,500 to $40,000	36 to 84 months
		Fair credit borrowers	7.99%-35.99%	660	$2,000 to $36,500	24 to 72 months
	User Ratings & Reviews Ratings and reviews are from real consumers who have used the lending partner’s services.	Longest loan terms	8.99%-25.49% (with autopay)	Not specified	$5,000 to $100,000	24 to 144 months
		Good credit borrowers	8.99%-25.81% (with autopay)	680	$5,000 to $100,000	24 to 84 months
		Secured personal loans	8.49%-35.99% (with autopay)	580	$1,000 to $50,000	24 to 84 months
		Poor credit borrowers	6.40%-35.99%	300	$1,000 to $50,000	36 and 60 months

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Best Egg

Best for quick funding timeline

APR range: 8.99%–35.99%
Loan amounts: $2,000 to $50,000
Terms: 36 to 60 months
Origination fee: 0.99% - 8.99%
Credit inquiry: Soft pull
Minimum credit score: 600

What to know

Best Egg is a fintech company that offers secured and unsecured loans through Cross River Bank, an Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC)-insured financial institution. If you meet its credit score requirements, Best Egg offers quick funding —they say half of their customers get money the next day. However, its repayment terms are less flexible than some other lenders.

While Best Egg loans aren’t available in some states, most consumers are able to take out loans from the company. In addition to personal loans, Best Egg also offers credit card products.

Eligibility requirements: In order to qualify for a Best Egg loan, you must have a credit score of at least 600, a sufficient debt-to-income (DTI) ratio and meet income requirements. To receive the lowest advertised APR, you’ll need to meet higher credit score and income requirements.

Discover

Best for lower income borrowers

APR range: 7.99%–24.99%
Loan amounts: $2,500 to $40,000
Terms: 36 to 84 months
Origination fee: None
Credit inquiry: Soft pull
Minimum credit score: Not specified

What to know

Discover is best known as a credit card company, but the lender also offers various financial products, including bank accounts and personal loans. Because Discover doesn’t have public credit floors, you might not know if you’re eligible for a loan unless you start the prequalification process, which only includes a soft credit check.

You can use a Discover personal loan to cover your medical expenses, and Discover could be an affordable option for your needs considering the company charges no origination fee and has a low maximum APR.

Eligibility requirements: Discover only promotes three specific minimum eligibility requirements, although other factors are considered when the lender reviews your application. You must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident who’s 18 years or older and has a minimum household income of at least $25,000.

LendingPoint

Best for fair credit borrowers

APR range: 7.99%–35.99%
Loan amounts: $2,000 to $36,500
Terms: 24 to 72 months
Origination fee: 0.00% - 10.00%
Credit inquiry: Soft pull
Minimum credit score: 660

What to know

LendingPoint offers loans to borrowers with scores as low as 660. The maximum amount you can borrow is lower than other lenders, though, and you could pay a high APR if you don’t have the best credit history.

Fortunately, you’re able to prequalify and see if you can get a LendingPoint loan without taking a hard credit check. If you do get approved for a loan, watch out for origination fees: you may have to pay up to 10.00% of the loan’s value up front, depending on where you live.

Eligibility requirements: In order to get a LendingPoint loan, you must be 18 years or older, have a U.S. ID and Social Security number. You must also have a minimum annual income of $40,000 and a personal bank account. Residents of Nevada and West Virginia are not eligible.

LightStream

Best for longest loan terms

APR range: 8.99%–25.49% (with autopay)
Loan amounts: $5,000 to $100,000
Terms: 24 to 144 months
Origination fee: None
Credit inquiry: Hard pull
Minimum credit score: Not specified

What to know

LightStream has some appealing features: you can agree to longer loan terms (up to 12 years) than most lenders offer, the APR range is relatively low and there are autopay discounts. There are also no origination fees or prepayment penalties. If you’re eligible for a LightStream loan, they’re a great option for borrowers.

Unfortunately, you won’t know whether you’re approved unless you take a hard credit check, which knocks your credit score down a few points. And while the lender doesn’t have a minimum credit score, it “only approves good-to-excellent credit profiles” according to its website — and it notes that a high FICO Score may not be enough for approval.

Eligibility requirements: LightStream doesn’t publicly disclose specific criteria for loan eligibility. They do state they assess whether there is a “very high likelihood” the loan will be repaid in full on time.

SoFi

Best for good credit borrowers

APR range: 8.99%–25.81% (with autopay)
Loan amounts: $5,000 to $100,000
Terms: 24 to 84 months
Origination fee: 0.00% - 6.00%
Credit inquiry: Soft pull
Minimum credit score: 680

What to know

If you have a sufficiently high credit score, SoFi’s medical loans have an appealing combination of affordable APRs, a wide range of repayment terms and a high maximum loan size. You can prequalify without taking a hard credit check to learn what your loan terms would be.

SoFi is an online bank that started in student loans but has since expanded into bank accounts, investing and other forms of loans, including SoFi personal loans. The company generally offers competitive financial products and its personal loans are no exception.

Eligibility requirements: SoFi requires borrowers to fit certain criteria: you must be the age of majority in your state (18 in most states), a U.S. citizen or eligible resident and you must have sufficient income (usually employment, though SoFi does let you borrow if you have a job offer to start within 90 days).

Upgrade

Best for secured personal loans

APR range: 8.49%–35.99% (with autopay)
Loan amounts: $1,000 to $50,000
Terms: 24 to 84 months
Origination fee: 1.85% - 9.99%
Credit inquiry: Soft pull
Minimum credit score: 580

What to know

Upgrade, an online lender, has some unique features relative to other medical lenders. For one, you can use collateral to secure the loan (but you don’t have to), which can help you get a better APR — just make sure that you can make payments, or else you risk losing the collateral. Upgrade loans also have an autopay discount.

Beyond that, Upgrade has a few drawbacks, namely an origination fee that applies to every loan. There’s also a high maximum APR and a higher credit floor than some of the other lenders on this list. Fortunately, Upgrade allows you to prequalify for loans with a soft credit check.

Eligibility requirements: In order to get an Upgrade loan, you must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident who’s at least 18 years of age — and you need a bank account and email address.

Upstart

Best for poor credit borrowers

APR range: 6.40%–35.99%
Loan amounts: $1,000 to $50,000
Terms: 36 and 60 months
Origination fee: 0.00% - 12.00%
Credit inquiry: Soft pull
Minimum credit score: 300

What to know

Upstart is a loan marketplace that can connect you to personal loans for medical expenses. Upstart’s partner banks offer a wide range of potential APRs depending on your credit score and some other factors, including your educational attainment and employment status.

Loans through the marketplace are available only in three- or five-year terms, although you can pay off your loan early anytime without penalty. You can prequalify without taking a hard credit inquiry, but origination fees — which may be higher than some competitors — will eat into the amount of your loan.

Eligibility requirements: Upstart has numerous personal loan requirements, but most are attainable: you must have a mailing address, email account and bank account, as well as a full-time job (or job offer) and meet minimum credit requirements. Upstart loans are not available to residents in Iowa or West Virginia.

Medical loans can be used to pay for virtually any type of procedure or treatment, from emergency room visits to wisdom tooth removal. You could consider opening a personal loan to cover:

Chemotherapy, dialysis and other ongoing medical treatments

Long-term care, such as physical therapy and rehabilitation

Urgent care bills from unexpected medical emergencies

Infertility treatment, in vitro fertilization

Hair loss replacement, hair restoration

Weight loss surgeries, like gastric bypass or bariatric procedures

Dental procedures, veneers or orthodontics

Cosmetic surgery procedures

Negotiate medical bills

It’s good practice to call the billing department to try to negotiate medical bills as soon as you receive them. This is particularly helpful if you don’t have health insurance or if you need to get services from an out-of-network provider. You could even consider negotiating the bills down if you do have insurance but still have an expensive bill.

Review your bill for errors

The clerks at medical billing departments aren’t immune to errors. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services estimated a 6.27% error rate in 2020 for Medicare Fee-For-Service alone.

Before you pay a bill, review it to make sure there aren’t any coding or clerical errors. You might consider a third-party service that will review your bill for errors, such as Compass Healthcare Navigation Solutions or CoPatient, but those services may cost you.

Set up a payment plan

Your hospital’s billing department may be willing to negotiate a no-interest payment plan for your medical debt. These plans may be available without any eligibility requirements, so even if you don’t qualify for bill reduction, you may be able to set up a payment plan.

Open a medical credit card

In lieu of a payment plan, your health care provider may work with a third-party service to offer deferred-interest financing options. For example, some providers utilize CareCredit, which offers no-interest financing as long as you pay off the procedure within a certain time frame.

It’s important to keep in mind that medical credit cards offer deferred interest, not zero interest. If you don’t pay off the medical bill within the promotional period, then you’ll be hit with all of the interest that accrued from the original purchase date.

Use a credit card with a low introductory APR

You may get more favorable terms if you find a 0% introductory APR credit card. If you have good-to-excellent credit, you could even earn cash back or travel miles using a rewards credit card with a promotional, no-interest APR period.

However, this option may not be available to those with low or no credit. Plus, if you don’t pay off the balance within the promotional period, you’ll end up paying interest on your remaining balance.