Jerry Brown is a freelance personal finance writer and Certified Financial Education Instructor℠ (CFEI®) who lives in New Orleans. He covers a range of personal finance topics, including credit, personal loans, and student loans.
Expertise: Insurance planning, education planning, retirement planning, investment planning, military benefits, behavioral finance
Erin Kinkade, CFP®, ChFC®, works as a financial planner at AAFMAA Wealth Management & Trust. Erin prepares comprehensive financial plans for military veterans and their families.
If you’re married and want to improve your chances of qualifying for a personal loan and securing a lower rate, adding your spouse as a co-borrower on a loan application could be the solution—if you apply with a lender that offers joint personal loans.
However, it’s important to know the potential benefits and risks before moving forward. Also, consider when applying for a joint personal loan does and doesn’t make sense. If you determine a joint personal loan is the right choice, you’ll need to examine your options further.
We researched the best joint personal loans for married couples and other options to help with your search. And we cover the pros and cons of these loans to help you assess whether they’re a good fit for you and your partner.
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Not all lenders offer joint personal loans. If you’re interested in applying for one, find an accommodating lender with loan terms that meet your needs.
Lenders have different criteria for who qualifies for joint personal loans. As with other loans, the higher your credit score, the lower the interest rate the lender will offer.
You don’t need to wait until you apply for a loan to know your credit score. For instance, credit bureau Experian gives you free access to your FICO® Score 8, and Equifax lets you check your VantageScore® 3.0 (both scores updated monthly). Several credit card issuers, including Chase and Discover, also offer free weekly credit scores, and you don’t need to be a customer.
Below are our top picks from partner lenders offering unsecured joint personal loans. Unsecured loans don’t require you to put up collateral (such as your home, investment property, or bank account) to back the loan.
Click the lender’s name in the table for more about its joint personal loans—or keep reading for details about all four.
| Lender | Best for |
| LightStream | Excellent credit |
| Upgrade | Fair credit |
| SoFi | Good credit |
| Achieve | Choosing payment date |
LendEDU rating: 4.8 out of 5
LightStream ranks as our best overall personal loan lender offering joint loans. With low rates and no fees, as well as its Rate Beat program, LightStream is a terrific option for those with excellent or good credit.
When you fill out a LightStream application, you can select “joint application” for the application type to apply with your spouse.
LendEDU rating: 4.9 out of 5
Upgrade is a solid joint loan option for borrowers with bad or fair credit and those who need smaller loans. You can check rates without affecting your credit score, and eligibility is based more on free cash flow than other lenders.
You can add your spouse as a co-applicant while filling out a prequalification application.
LendEDU rating: 5.0 out of 5
SoFi might be a fit for applicants with good to excellent credit who need to take out a large loan. SoFi provides loans up to $100,000, offers competitive rates, and doesn’t charge fees.
Plus, if you make on-time payments for at least nine months and lose your job through no fault of your own, you may qualify for its unemployment protection program.
You can add your spouse as a co-borrower while completing the application process, according to a SoFi representative.
LendEDU rating: 4.8 out of 5
With a minimum credit score requirement as low as 620, Achieve is an accessible option for borrowers with fair credit. Repayment terms range from two to five years, and it offers a competitive starting APR.
Achieve allows you to add your spouse as a co-applicant while filling out its prequalification form.
When you apply for a joint personal loan for married couples, the process is similar to completing an individual application.
The difference is that a lender evaluates your and your spouse’s credit scores, incomes, and debt-to-income ratios. Here’s how a joint loan can affect you and your spouse:
As you can see, joint personal loans follow you through thick and thin, just like marriage itself. You both become liable for the debt; any negative impacts will affect you and your partner equally.
When you apply for a joint personal, most lenders weigh your and your spouse’s credit scores equally. According to the lenders we contacted, they don’t average your credit scores together.
How each credit score affects your rate depends on the lender’s proprietary credit scoring model.
Before you and your spouse take out a joint personal loan, weigh the pros against the cons.
When you apply for a joint personal loan, you take the same steps as you would to apply for a personal loan with a cosigner. However, a crucial difference is that if you take out a joint personal loan for married couples, you and your partner can both access the loan funds.
But if you apply with a cosigner, only the primary borrower can access the loan funds. Below is a table highlighting the main differences between co-borrower and cosigner personal loans.
| Joint | With a cosigner | |
| Who can access the money? | Both 👫 | Primary borrower 🙍 |
| Whose credit information affects eligibility? | Both 👬 | Both 🧑💼🧕 |
| Who carries the debt? | Both 👭 | Primary borrower 🧕 Cosigner is responsible if the primary borrower defaults 🧑💼 |
Whether you should apply for a joint personal loan depends on your and your spouse’s financial situation. Consider the benefits and potential risks we laid out above before applying for a loan.
Here’s when it might and might not be in your best interest.
| Consider a joint personal loan if… | Reconsider applying for a joint loan if… |
| ✅ You are paying for shared expenses, such as a wedding or home renovation | ❌ One partner has a much lower credit score, which could result in a higher interest rate |
| ✅ You want to consolidate high-interest debt with a lower-interest loan | ❌ The relationship is not on solid financial ground |
| ✅ One partner has poor credit or insufficient income to qualify for a loan on their own | ❌ You need to build your credit score (These loans may not help you build your score as much as an individual personal loan) |
Our expert advises: When to consider a joint personal loan
Consider the purpose of the loan. For example, I would recommend that whoever the loan is benefiting take responsibility. If both parties have good credit, it could result in better terms than one borrower due to accounting for both incomes and overall credit reports. However, if one party has bad credit and the other has good credit, I recommend choosing the good-credit borrower to apply for the loan. You can produce a formal or informal written agreement detailing the responsibility of each party to repay the loan regardless of whose name is on it.
If you aren’t sure a joint loan is the best option for you and your partner, consider secured loans or credit cards, individual loans, and credit builder loans.
