← Guides · Updated June 2026 · 6 min read

What credit score do I need for a personal loan in the UK?

The honest answer is: it depends on the lender, the amount, and which credit agency they use. But there are some useful guidelines — and more importantly, there's a right way to find out your specific chances without damaging your score in the process.

There's no single UK credit score

This trips people up. There are three main credit reference agencies in the UK — Experian, Equifax and TransUnion — and each uses a different scale. A "good" score on one isn't the same number as a "good" score on another. Here's how they compare:

Agency	Scale	Good	Excellent
Experian	0–999	881–960	961–999
Equifax	0–1,000	531–670	811–1,000
TransUnion	0–710	604–627	628–710

What score do most lenders want?

For a mainstream personal loan (say, £5,000–£15,000 at a competitive rate), lenders typically want you to be in the "good" band or above on whichever agency they use. In practice this means:

Rates below 10% APR are generally available to people with good-to-excellent scores
People with fair scores (just below good) can often still borrow, but at higher rates
Poor credit scores don't automatically mean rejection — specialist lenders exist, but rates are much higher (often 30–70% APR)

The right way to find out: use a soft search eligibility checker

Rather than guessing, the smart approach is to use a free eligibility checker. These perform a soft search — invisible to lenders — and show you the real loans you're likely to be approved for, with indicative rates, before you apply for anything.

This is important because each formal application you make leaves a hard search on your file. If you apply to five lenders hoping one says yes, you've left five hard searches — which itself makes lenders more cautious about you.

Check your loan eligibility — soft search, no credit impact

See which loans you're likely to qualify for, with your personalised rate, in minutes.

Check with TotallyMoney →

What if my score is low?

If your score is in the poor or fair range, you have a few options:

Improve your score first — even 3–6 months of good habits can meaningfully move your score. See our guide to improving your credit score.
Look at specialist lenders — lenders like Likely Loans, Bamboo, and 118 118 Money lend to people with lower scores. Rates are higher, but they're transparent about it.
Consider a smaller loan — it's easier to get approved for £2,000 than £10,000, and successfully repaying it builds your score for larger amounts later.
A guarantor loan — a creditworthy friend or family member agrees to cover repayments if you can't. This lets people with poor credit access better rates.

Does checking my eligibility affect my score?

No — eligibility checkers and free credit score services all use soft searches, which are invisible to lenders and have no effect on your score whatsoever. Only a formal credit application (a hard search) shows up to lenders. Always check eligibility first before committing to an application.