12 Best Christmas Loans of 2024

We researched the best personal loans you can use to cover Christmas expenses, and our top pick is SoFi, based on its large loan amounts, autopay discounts and long repayment terms, which can give you more flexibility for your holiday shopping. Other top picks include Avant and Upstart.

Even if you’ve saved ahead of time, it can be challenging to make it through the holidays without taking on debt. Fortunately, there are different types of Christmas loans available — many with better rates than your credit card. Depending on which you choose, a Christmas loan can offer flexible loan amounts, competitive interest rates, and long repayment periods.

Compare Christmas loan rates of 2024

Learn More: 

• Best Holiday Loans
• Holiday Loans With No Credit Check
• Best Personal Loans

Best Christmas loans

There are a variety of Christmas loans available with different loan amounts, interest rates, repayment terms, and more. The ones below are personal loans, which are some of our favorites, as they have better rates than credit cards, on average, and can be repaid over one to several years, making them a potentially budget-friendly option. Take a few minutes to prequalify with our partner lenders below and see rates you may be eligible for. (Prequalification won’t hurt your credit, but a formal application could temporarily ding your score by a few points.)

Christmas loans for bad credit

There are some borrowers lenders prefer over others. If you have bad credit, you’re probably in the latter category. Fortunately, there are lenders that specialize in bad-credit loans. Even though you’ll pay a higher interest rate, personal loans for bad credit tend to have much lower rates than no-credit-check loans like payday loans and cash advance apps.

Methodology

Credible evaluated the best personal loan lenders for Christmas loans based on factors such as customer experience, minimum fixed rate, maximum loan amount, credit score and income minimums, funding time, loan terms, fees, discounts, and whether cosigners are accepted. Credible’s team of experts gathered information from each lender’s website, customer service department, directly from our partners, and via email support. Each data point was verified by a third party to make sure it was accurate and up to date.

Personal loans for Christmas

A personal loan is a type of installment loan, meaning you receive a lump sum upfront, and then pay it off over monthly installments. Personal loans usually have fixed, competitive interest rates. And thanks to long repayment periods and no prepayment penalties with many lenders, you can choose to pay off your loan in months or years, whatever works best with your budget.

Of all Christmas loans, we particularly like personal loans for large purchases and expenses. This is because the average interest rate on a two-year personal loan was 12.33% (the most recent data), while the average credit card rate was 21.86%, according to the Federal Reserve.

There is no shortage of personal loan lenders on the market. With good credit, you may qualify for a personal loan through a traditional bank, a credit union, or an online lender. You’ll have fewer options with bad credit, but a spotty credit history doesn’t have to prevent you from getting the funds you need for Christmas. If you can add a cosigner to your application or apply for a secured personal loan, you may have an easier time qualifying. Just remember that a cosigner will be on the hook for payments if you default, and you could lose your collateral if the same happens on a secured loan.

To find the best personal loans for Christmas, prequalify with multiple lenders first, then compare the annual percentage rates (APRs). This will give you an idea of which loan will be the lowest-cost.

0% APR credit cards

When you open a card with a 0% APR introductory offer, you’ll pay 0% for all purchases over the introductory period — often six months to two years. As long as you repay your balance during that time frame, you won’t pay any interest on purchases made during that time.

If you can pay off all or the bulk of the balance within the introductory period, it’s probably the best option to finance Christmas expenses. But if you can’t, you could end up paying a lot more once the APR adjusts (relative to other options). Keep in mind that you’ll need to have good credit to qualify for a 0% APR credit card offer.

Related: Personal Loan vs. 0% APR Credit Card

“Buy now, pay later” Christmas gifts

If you do your Christmas shopping online, chances are you’ll be offered the option to check out with a buy now, pay later (BNPL) service. This type of service allows you to break your purchase up into a series of installments, often paid biweekly.

For example, rather than paying $100 upfront for an item, you might pay $25 at the time of the purchase, and then $25 every two weeks until it’s paid off. If you can pay the balance within one to two months, you often won’t pay interest. Many BNPL companies let you spread payments over a year or longer, but you could pay interest up to around 36%.

If you can comfortably pay off purchases with four biweekly payments, BNPL can be a good way to finance Christmas gifts and expenses. But if you need a longer-term payment plan, compare BNPL to personal loans by prequalifying with a few lenders — this can help you see where you’ll get the better rate.

Tax refund holiday loans

A tax refund loan, also known as a refund anticipation loan, is a loan that’s based on a future tax refund. You can typically borrow this type of loan as early as December for the refund you’ll receive once you’ve filed your taxes.

The loan amount is based on your estimated refund amount. For example, if your expected refund is $2,000, that would be the maximum tax refund loan you’d receive. If your refund happens to be lower than expected, you’ll still be required to repay the entire loan. Additionally, refund anticipation loans charge interest. Some tax software companies offer interest-free refund loans, but you generally can’t get one until you’ve filed your tax return.

Christmas payday loans

A payday loan is a small, short-term loan, generally $500 or less, that must be repaid within a few weeks — usually on your next payday.

Payday loans are easy to qualify for because they don’t require a credit check, but they are also extremely risky. The fees on payday loans can equate to an APR of 400% or more, depending on your state, which can make them difficult to repay. Because of the predatory nature of these loans, they should only be considered as a last resort.

Payday alternative loans

We’ve talked about how payday loans are predatory, high-risk loans that should only be used as a last resort. But if you need a loan that’s easy to qualify for to pay for Christmas presents, consider a payday alternative loan (PAL) instead.

A PAL is a loan that’s offered by credit unions as a more affordable and flexible alternative to payday loans. Most are relatively small loans — generally between $200 and $1,000, though some loans are available up to $2,000. They also have longer repayment terms — up to six months or two years, depending on the type of PAL. And interest rates are capped at 28%.

Some credit unions may require that you’re a member for at least one month before you can be eligible for a PAL, while others may not. If you’re already a credit union member, this won’t limit your eligibility. But if you’re not, either plan ahead or find a credit union you can join that offers PALs to new members.