Economic conditions have been challenging for a while. And though inflation is cooling and interest rates are poised to drop soon, many consumers are still struggling financially.

For those feeling financially strapped, personal loans can sometimes be worth exploring. 

Not all personal loans are created equal, though — especially if your credits not pristine. Are you considering a personal loan with a few issues on your credit report? Here are the best options for borrowers with fair credit.

Find out how affordable the right personal loan could be now.

Best personal loans for fair credit

If you’re looking for a loan with less-than-perfect credit, here are some of the best personal loans for fair credit, broken down into five categories.

Best overall: Upstart

Online lender Upstart is our pick for best personal loan. The company offers a blend of low, fixed interest rates, fasting funding times and high loan amounts (up to $50,000), and it considers non-credit information when evaluating your application — things like education and employment.

Applying for a loan takes less than five minutes, and most borrowers can get approved instantly. Funds are then issued in 24 hours or less for many applicants. Upstart offers three- and five-year terms.

Learn more about Upstart loans here.

Best for large amounts: PenFed

PenFed is another option if you’re looking for a large loan amount. The credit union offers personal loans with limits up to $50,000 and terms of up to five years. You can use the loan for debt consolidation, home improvements, adoption, weddings and more, and there are no origination, early payoff or balance transfer fees. Funding happens as quickly as the next business day. 

Learn more about your PenFed loan options here.

Best for quick approval: Prosper

Prosper’s a smart option if you’re looking to get your personal loan quickly. You can check your rate online in minutes, customize your term and monthly payment, and then receive funding in as little as one business day. Funds are direct-deposited into your bank account for immediate use. Prosper’s loan terms range from two to five years.

Best for low rates: LightStream

If snagging the lowest interest rate is your goal, look to LightStream. The lender offers the lowest potential APRs of all companies we considered, with rates starting at just 6.99% (with a 0.50% autopay discount included). 

Loans can be used for home improvements, debt consolidation, car purchases or refinancing, boat/RV/aircraft purchases, K-12 education, medical costs, buying a timeshare and more. And if you’re approved, you can even receive your funds the same day. 

Explore your LightStream loan options here.

Best for extended terms: SoFi

For a longer payoff time, consider SoFi. The online bank offers personal loans that range from two years to seven — much longer than the typical five years offered by most lenders. 

The lender also lets you prequalify in 60 seconds, and you can get funding the same day you apply. There are no fees and interest rates are fixed so your rate and payment will never change.

Learn more about SoFi personal loans here.

The bottom line

Make sure you shop around and compare at least a few lenders before getting a personal loan. Look at rates, terms, and repayment options — and consider customer reviews and ratings, too. This will ensure you get the best possible loan for your needs and budget.

The South Carolina Supreme Court on Thursday refused to stop the execution of Freddie Owens who is set to die by lethal injection next week in the state’s first execution in 13 years.

The justices unanimously tossed out two requests from defense lawyers who said a court needed to hear new information about what they called a secret deal that kept a co-defendant off death row or from serving life in prison and about a juror who correctly surmised Owens was wearing a stun belt at his 1999 trial.

That evidence, plus an argument that Owens’ death sentence was too harsh because a jury never conclusively determined he pulled the trigger on the shot that killed a convenience store clerk, didn’t reach the “exceptional circumstances” needed to allow Owens another appeal, the justices wrote in their order.

The bar is usually high to grant new trials after death row inmates use up all their appeals. Owens’ lawyers said past attorneys scrutinized his case carefully, but this only came up in interviews as the potential of his death neared.

The decision keeps on track the planned execution of Owens on Sept. 20 at the Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia.

South Carolina’s last execution was in May 2011. The state didn’t set out to pause executions, but its supply of lethal injection drugs expired and companies refused to sell the state more if the transaction was made public.

It took a decade of wrangling in the Legislature – first adding the firing squad as a method and later passing a shield law – to get capital punishment restarted. That legislation also revived the state’s use of the electric chair.

Earlier this year, attorneys representing a group of South Carolina’s death row inmates argued before the South Carolina Supreme Court that both electrocution and the firing squad as execution methods should constitute cruel and unusual punishment. 

In January, Alabama executed condemned inmate Kenneth Eugene Smith using nitrogen hypoxia, a controversial death penalty method used for the first time in the United States. Before the execution, the U.N. warned the method could “amount to torture” and violate human rights treaties.

Owens sentenced to death for woman’s 1997 murder

Owens, 46, was sentenced to death for killing convenience store clerk Irene Graves in Greenville in 1997. Co-defendant Steven Golden testified Owens shot Graves in the head because she couldn’t get the safe open.

There was surveillance video in the store, but it didn’t show the shooting clearly. Prosecutors never found the weapon used and didn’t present any scientific evidence linking Owens to the killing at his trial, although after Owens’ death sentence was overturned, prosecutors showed the man who killed the clerk was wearing a ski mask while the other man inside for the robbery had a stocking mask. They also linked the ski mask to Owens.

Golden was sentenced to 28 years in prison after pleading guilty to a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter, according to court records.

Golden testified at Owens’ trial that there was no deal to reduce his sentence. In a sworn statement signed Aug. 22, Golden said he cut a side deal with prosecutors, and Owens’ attorneys said that might have changed the minds of jurors who believed his testimony.

The state Supreme Court said in its order that wasn’t compelling enough to stop Owens’ execution, and while they believed the evidence that Owens was the clerk’s killer, even if he didn’t kill her it, wasn’t enough to stop his death.

“He was a major participant in the murder and armed robbery who showed a reckless disregard for human life by knowingly engaging in a criminal activity that carries a grave risk of death,” the justices wrote.

Owens has at least one more chance at stopping his death. Gov. Henry McMaster alone has the power to reduce Owens’ sentence to life in prison.

The governor has said he will follow longtime tradition and not announce his decision until prison officials make a call from the death chamber minutes before the execution. McMaster told reporters he hasn’t decided what to do in Owens’ case but as a former prosecutor, he respects jury verdicts and court decisions.

“When the rule of law has been followed, there really is only one answer,” McMaster said.

Earlier Thursday, opponents of the death penalty gathered outside McMaster’s office to urge him to become the first South Carolina governor since the death penalty was restarted in the U.S. in 1976 to grant clemency.

“There is always hope,” said the Rev. Hillary Taylor, Executive Director of South Carolinians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. “Nobody is beyond redemption. You are more than the worst thing you have done.”

Taylor and others pointed out Owens is Black in a state where a disproportionate number of executed inmates have been Black and was 19 years old when he killed the clerk.

“No one should take a life. Not even the state of South Carolina. Only God can do that,” said the Rev. David Kennedy of the Laurens County chapter of the NAACP.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, there are 35 inmates on death row in South Carolina, and no clemencies have been granted in the state.