Best online loan rate and company to pay off Covid expense credit cards?

December 17, 2020 1:13 AM

I am completely overwhelmed and unable to do the internet research on this. I need to get a loan, in the range of $15,000 to $20,000, to pay off credit cards and pay a lawyer for my disabled friend, and pay off my own credit cards. The interest is killing me. I must maintain good credit for both of us so he can borrow for medical expenses and get into assisted living. Anybody know of a nonpredatory loan company that will give an online loan in that amount for a reasonable interest rate?
posted by KayQuestions to Work & Money (7 answers total)

Credit unions offer personal loans w much lower interest rates than standard loan companies.
posted by erattacorrige at 4:04 AM on December 17, 2020 [5 favorites]

If you have good credit and can pay back within a year or two, consider transferring some of the credit card balance to a no-fee credit card with 0% interest for the first 12-15 months
posted by Theiform at 4:15 AM on December 17, 2020 [5 favorites]

Best answer: I had a great experience with SoFi to consolidate $40k in credit card debt. My rate was 7.5%. They give a 0.25% discount if you setup autopay, so it was actually 7.25%. Not the best, but MUCH better than the credit card rates.
posted by Bucket o' Heads at 4:45 AM on December 17, 2020 [1 favorite]

Definitely check out your local credit union. If you have a CDFI credit union in your area, even better. These ones have a specific mission to give low-income people and communities access to affordable, non-predatory financial services. They may also have financial advising and other programs that can help get you on your feet again. Best of luck to you --
posted by ourobouros at 5:22 AM on December 17, 2020 [5 favorites]

Another vote for a credit union. Either a loan from them, or transfer it all to one of their credit cards.

I recently stumbled across a notebook containing all my calculations from the time we finally decided to get our credit card debt under control. I was shocked by how much interest we had been paying per month. It was something like 25%!! The Credit Union credit card was 0% interest the first 6 months, then 8% afterwards. We finally paid it all off this year, and it's weird to be putting all that money into savings now instead :-)

good luck to you. I hope you manage to get it sorted out.
posted by EllaEm at 11:00 AM on December 17, 2020

Response by poster: Theiform, I have good credit and would transfer the balance to a zero percent credit card, if I could find one that didn’t charge 3% of the balance up front. Know of any?
posted by KayQuestions at 1:57 PM on December 17, 2020

Best answer: You can find credit card comparisons for interest rates etc on nerdwallet.
posted by erattacorrige at 2:16 PM on December 17, 2020 [2 favorites]