Loan for Bad Credit in Canada: What Bad Credit Personal Loans Cost From $100 to $10000
The short answer
- What it is: a loan for bad credit is a personal installment loan of $100 to $10000, repaid in equal payments over 3 to 60 months, from a licensed lender that decides on your income rather than your score alone.
- Cost, capped by law: no personal loan in Canada may charge more than 35% APR. At that ceiling, $1000 over 12 months costs $200 in interest and $3000 over 24 months costs $1213.
- Who gets approved: scores from about 500 up are reviewed when steady employment income shows in your bank account. No lender can promise a yes before it has checked.
- Time: about 15 minutes from form to signature, a soft check that does not touch your score, and funds by direct deposit, often the next business day.
A loan for bad credit in Canada is a personal loan of $100 to $10000 that a licensed lender approves on the income it can verify, even when your credit score sits below the 660 most banks ask for. It is repaid in fixed monthly payments and can never cost more than 35% APR. WizardLoans is a free matching service: one form, several licensed lenders, a soft check, and every offer’s APR, payment and total cost in writing before you accept.
See Your Bad Credit Loan Options: Soft Check Only, No Impact to Your Score
Table of Contents
- Apply: about 5 minutes
- Can you get a loan for bad credit in Canada?
- What do bad credit personal loans cost from $100 to $10000?
- Payment calculator for a loan for bad credit
- How much income do you need?
- How much personal loan can you get?
- What do lenders look at besides your score?
- Where can you get bad credit personal loans?
- How do you compare two bad credit loan offers?
- How do you apply without hurting your score?
- Does the kind of bad credit you have matter?
- Which offers should you walk away from?
- Can a loan for bad credit rebuild your score?
- Bad credit personal loans across Canada
- Frequently Asked Questions
Apply for a loan for bad credit: about 5 minutes, a soft check to start
This is the same application as our apply page: the amount from $100 to $10000, your employer, pay dates and monthly costs, then a 60-second read-only bank check. Matching uses a soft check that does not change your score; lenders answer with a written offer showing the APR, the payment and the total cost, and nothing is pulled hard until you accept one.
Can you get a loan for bad credit in Canada?
Yes. Online installment lenders approve a loan for bad credit every business day in Canada, because they decide on income and affordability, not on the score a bank uses to say no. Equifax describes scores from 660 to 900 as good to excellent and anything below 560 as poor. Banks rarely lend unsecured money below 660; the lenders WizardLoans compares review files from about 500 up.
| Score (300 to 900) | How Equifax describes it | What it usually means for a personal loan |
|---|---|---|
| 760 to 900 | Excellent | Bank and credit union loans at their lowest rates |
| 725 to 759 | Very good | Bank loans, priced a little higher |
| 660 to 724 | Good | The usual bank cut-off; online lenders price well under the ceiling |
| 560 to 659 | Below good | Banks often ask for security or a cosigner; online lenders approve on steady income |
| 300 to 559 | Poor | Banks decline; online lenders may approve a smaller amount or a longer term |
Score bands are from Equifax Canada. TransUnion uses the same 300 to 900 range. Your score is the bank’s shortcut. An online lender replaces it with three months of your bank history, so the question becomes whether the payment fits your pay.
What do bad credit personal loans cost from $100 to $10000?
Bad credit personal loans cost at most 35% APR in Canada, which works out to $52 in interest on $500 over 6 months, $200 on $1000 over 12 months, $1213 on $3000 over 24 months and $11294 on $10000 over 60 months. The table runs the whole WizardLoans range at that ceiling, amortized to the cent, so you can see the worst legal case before you apply.
| Loan at the 35% APR ceiling | Term | Monthly payment | Total interest | Total repaid | Take-home pay the payment fits (15% line) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $500 | 6 months | $92.04 | $52 | $552 | $614 a month |
| $1000 | 12 months | $99.96 | $200 | $1200 | $666 a month |
| $2000 | 18 months | $144.39 | $599 | $2599 | $963 a month |
| $3000 | 24 months | $175.56 | $1213 | $4213 | $1170 a month |
| $5000 | 36 months | $226.18 | $3142 | $8142 | $1508 a month |
| $7500 | 48 months | $292.28 | $6530 | $14030 | $1949 a month |
| $10000 | 60 months | $354.90 | $11294 | $21294 | $2366 a month |
Every figure is illustrative: equal monthly payments on a declining balance, no fees. Your lender’s written offer shows your exact APR, payment and total cost of borrowing before you sign. The 35% ceiling is section 347 of the Criminal Code, in force since January 1, 2025, and it counts mandatory fees. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada lists what that disclosure must show.
The ceiling is not your price forever. The same $3000 over 24 months costs $1213 at 35%, $1026 at 30%, $843 at 25% and $664 at 20%. Each five points of APR you earn back is worth about $180 on this one loan, and more on larger amounts. Our low-interest personal loans page runs every rate for stronger files, and the $5000 loan with bad credit page works the most common amount term by term.
Compare Bad Credit Loan Offers: Free, Soft Check Only
Payment calculator for a loan for bad credit
Enter the amount, the APR on your offer, the term and your monthly take-home pay, and the calculator shows the payment, the total interest and the share of your pay the payment takes. The APR field stops at 35% because no legal offer in Canada goes higher.
$3000 at 35% APR over 24 months: $175.56 a month, $1213 in interest, $4213 repaid in total. The payment is 6.3% of a $2800 take-home, which is inside the 15% line most lenders want to see.
Illustrative only: equal monthly payments on a declining balance, no fees. Your lender’s written disclosure shows the exact figures.
How much income do you need?
You need enough steady employment income that the new payment stays under about 15% of your monthly take-home pay and all your debt payments together stay under about 40% of your gross income. For $1000 over 12 months at the ceiling, that means about $666 a month of take-home pay; for $10000 over 60 months, about $2366.
Lenders in the WizardLoans network want full-time or part-time employment income paid into a Canadian bank account. They read it through IBV, a read-only bank verification link that shows deposits for the last few months and cannot move money. Pay that lands on a regular date each cycle reads stronger than irregular deposits of the same total.
The 40% line catches more applicants than the 15% line does. Someone taking home $3000 a month with a $450 car payment and $300 in card minimums already carries $750 of debt. On a gross income near $3900, that leaves room for about $810 more before the 40% line, so a $226 payment on $5000 over 36 months fits, while a $499.81 payment on $5000 over 12 months may not. The next section turns those ratios into amounts.
How much personal loan can you get?
Most first approvals on a loan for bad credit land between $500 and $5000, and the exact figure comes from what your income can carry after your existing payments, not from the top of a lender's range. Four things set it: your pay deposits, the debt you already carry, your credit report and the term you choose. Lenders weigh them together, and the same file can come back with different amounts from different lenders, which is why one soft-check comparison beats guessing at one lender's ceiling.
The quickest estimate starts from the 40% line. Take your gross monthly income, multiply by 0.4, subtract rent or mortgage, car payments and card minimums, and what is left is the room for a new payment. The table turns that room into an amount at the 35% ceiling, the worst legal case; a lower APR on your written offer stretches the same payment further.
| Gross monthly income | Room left for a new payment after typical existing debt | What that payment carries at the 35% APR ceiling |
|---|---|---|
| $2000 | About $150 | $1500 over 12 months ($149.94 a month) |
| $3500 | About $300 | $3000 over 12 months ($299.88) or $5000 over 24 months ($292.59) |
| $5000 | About $500 | $10000 over 36 months ($452.36) |
Worked example: on a $3500 gross salary the 40% line is $1400. Rent of $900 and a $200 card minimum leave $300 for a new payment, so $3000 over 12 months fits and $5000 over 12 months ($499.81) does not. Stretching the $5000 to 24 months brings the payment down to $292.59 and lifts the interest from $998 to $2022, so the longer term buys the amount at twice the cost. Every figure here is illustrative, amortized on a declining balance with no fees, and agrees with the cost table above.
How much should you actually borrow?
The cheapest loan is the smallest one that solves the problem. Borrow the repair quote or the bill, not a round number with a cushion: rounding an $1800 need up to $3000 over 24 months at the ceiling adds about $485 in interest on money you never use. Consolidation is the one case where a larger amount can cost less, when one fixed payment replaces payday loans or card balances carrying a higher blended rate; the test is that the new payment and the total interest both beat what you pay today.
How to qualify for a larger amount next time
- Pay down a card balance. Every dollar off a minimum payment frees room under the 40% line.
- Keep every pay deposit in the account the lender reads. IBV counts what it can see; income paid in cash or into a second account does not help your file.
- Make 12 on-time payments on a smaller loan. Lenders in the WizardLoans network write larger amounts to borrowers who have repaid them once.
- Pick the term the payment fits. A payment inside the 15% line on a longer term supports a larger balance than a tight payment on a short one.
- Compare several lenders in one soft check. The highest amount you genuinely qualify for only shows when the offers sit side by side.
Finding out takes minutes, not days: after the form and the read-only bank check, offers show the amount, APR and payment side by side, and nothing is pulled hard until you accept one.
What do lenders look at besides your score?
Lenders approving a loan for bad credit look at your bank history first: regular pay deposits, returned payments, open short-term loans and how much of each paycheque is already spoken for. The score still matters, but mostly to set the rate, not the yes or no.
| What the lender reads | What helps | What hurts |
|---|---|---|
| Pay deposits | Same employer, regular pay dates, three months or more | Gaps, or a job that started last month |
| Returned payments (NSF) | None in the last 90 days | Two or more recent NSF fees |
| Other short-term loans | None open | A loan taken this month or several at once |
| Existing payments | Under 40% of gross income, this loan included | Card minimums plus car payment already near the line |
| Account age | Main account open a year or more | A new account with no history |
| Credit report | Recent payments on time, even if older ones were missed | Collections in the last six months, an active proposal |
Most of that table is fixable in 60 to 90 days. Stop any new short-term borrowing, keep the account above zero so nothing bounces, and apply once three clean statements show. A file that looks shaky in March often gets a lower rate in June with the same score.
Where can you get bad credit personal loans?
Bad credit personal loans in Canada come from five places: online installment lenders, credit unions, secured loans against something you own, a loan with a cosigner, and your own bank if your history with it is good. Each one suits a different file, and the cheapest one you qualify for is the right one.
| Route | Who it suits | Credit check | Cost reality |
|---|---|---|---|
| Online installment lender (what WizardLoans compares) | Scores from about 500 with steady pay deposits | Soft to compare, hard only when you accept | Up to 35% APR; priced on your file |
| Credit union | Members with a few years of history at the branch | Hard | Lower than online lenders when they say yes |
| Secured loan (vehicle or savings) | Anyone with equity to pledge | Hard | Lower rate; you can lose the asset if you miss payments |
| Cosigner loan | Borrowers with a family member who has good credit | Hard, on both people | Bank rates; the cosigner owes the debt if you stop paying |
| Your own bank | Scores near 660 with a long, clean account history | Hard | Lowest rate if approved |
| Payday loan (for comparison) | Amounts under $1500 repaid on your next payday | Usually none | Far more per dollar per month than any installment loan |
Try the cheaper routes first if you have one. A credit union where you have banked for years, or a secured loan if you can afford the risk, will usually beat any online offer. If neither fits, an online installment lender is the route built for your file. Our page on secured vs unsecured loans weighs the trade, and second chance loans covers files that a bank has already declined.
How do you compare two bad credit loan offers?
Compare bad credit loan offers on two numbers: the APR with every fee included and the total you will repay. The rate in the headline is not enough, because a lower rate with a fee can cost more than a higher rate without one. Here are three illustrative offers on the same $3000.
| Offer on $3000 | Headline | Monthly payment | True APR with fees | Total repaid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Offer A | 29.9% APR, 24 months, no fee | $167.58 | 29.9% | $4022.02 |
| Offer B | 23.9% APR, 24 months, $300 fee added to the loan | $174.31 | 34.21% | $4183.44 |
| Offer C | 26.9% APR, 36 months, no fee | $122.31 | 26.9% | $4403.33 |
Offer B has the lowest headline rate and the highest true cost per dollar: the $300 fee lifts its real APR to 34.21%. Offer A costs the least in total. Offer C has the smallest payment and the biggest total: the third year of payments costs $381 more in interest than Offer A. Pick A if the $167.58 payment fits; pick C only if it does not, and pay it down early. Our best personal loans page runs the same test on a $5000 loan.
How do you apply without hurting your score?
You apply for a loan for bad credit without hurting your score by comparing through a soft check first and allowing a hard check only on the one offer you accept. Through WizardLoans the whole sequence takes about 15 minutes of your time.
- Fill in one form (about 5 minutes): amount, purpose, employer, pay dates and monthly costs. Use the numbers from your last pay stub.
- Soft check and matching (a few minutes): we pass your file to licensed lenders that fit it. A soft check is visible only to you and does not change your score.
- IBV (about 60 seconds): the lender sends a secure read-only link to your online banking so it can see your deposits. Nothing can be moved.
- Read the written offer (5 minutes): APR, payment, term, total cost of borrowing and the prepayment line. Run the offer through the calculator above.
- Sign and get paid: you sign online, the lender runs its hard check at that point, and funds arrive by direct deposit, often the next business day.
Applying with five lenders one by one can leave five hard inquiries on your file, and Equifax keeps each one for three years. One soft-check comparison avoids that. The online installment loans page explains how the repayment schedule works once you sign.
Start Your Loan for Bad Credit Comparison: About 15 Minutes
Does the kind of bad credit you have matter?
Yes. A few late payments two years ago and a bankruptcy discharged last month both lower a score, but lenders treat them very differently, and each item leaves your report on its own clock. These are the periods Equifax Canada publishes.
| What is on your report | How long Equifax keeps it | What it means for a loan for bad credit |
|---|---|---|
| Late or missed payments | Up to 6 years from the date reported | Little effect once the last 12 months are clean |
| Collection account | 6 years from the first missed payment | Recent collections hurt most; paying one helps even before it drops off |
| Returned cheques and payments (NSF) | 6 years from the date reported | Lenders weigh the NSF fees in your last 90 days of banking more |
| Consumer proposal | 3 years after it is paid off, or 6 years from filing, whichever comes first | Smaller amounts possible while payments are current; larger ones after completion |
| First bankruptcy | 6 years after discharge | Few approvals before discharge; possible once discharged with steady income |
| Hard inquiries | 3 years | Several in a few weeks reads as a borrower being turned down |
Source: Equifax Canada, how long information stays on your report. A thin file with no history at all is a different problem from bad credit: lenders have nothing to price, so steady pay deposits carry the whole application.
Which offers should you walk away from?
Walk away from any lender that asks for money before it pays you, promises approval before it has checked your file, quotes more than 35% APR, or will not show its legal name and a Canadian address. Those four signs cover most of the loan scams aimed at people with low scores.
- A fee before the loan: a licensed lender takes its cost out of the payments, never as an upfront "insurance" or "processing" charge.
- A yes before any check: every real lender verifies income first. A promise that everyone is approved is a sales line, not an offer.
- Payment by gift card, prepaid card or crypto: no lender collects that way.
- No written cost disclosure: the offer must show the APR, the total cost in dollars and the schedule. If one is missing, do not sign.
- An APR over 35%: outside a licensed payday loan, that is a criminal rate anywhere in Canada.
If an offer feels wrong, stop and report it to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre. WizardLoans never charges you a fee, and no lender in our network asks for one before funding.
Can a loan for bad credit rebuild your score?
A loan for bad credit rebuilds your score only if the lender reports to Equifax and TransUnion and every payment lands on time. Payment history is the largest part of a Canadian score, so 12 on-time installments are one of the few things that reliably lift a file out of the 500s. One missed payment sets it back.
Ask before signing whether the lender reports to both bureaus. Set the payment date two days after your payday so the money is always there. Pay a little extra when you can: most lenders in the WizardLoans network allow early payment without penalty, and on $3000 over 24 months at 35%, an extra $50 a month clears the loan in 18 months and saves about $360 in interest. The FCAC's guide to improving your score lists the other habits that count.
Bad credit personal loans across Canada
Bad credit personal loans are available in every province and territory, and the federal 35% APR ceiling applies everywhere. Five provinces add a licence for lenders that charge high-cost rates, so a lender that prices your loan above the threshold must hold that licence where you live.
| Province | Licence for high-cost personal loans | Regulator |
|---|---|---|
| British Columbia | High-cost credit licence, over 32% APR | Consumer Protection BC |
| Alberta | High-cost credit licence, 32% APR or more | Service Alberta |
| Manitoba | High-cost credit licence, over 32% | Consumer Protection Office |
| Quebec | Money lender permit and high-cost credit permit | Office de la protection du consommateur |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | High-cost credit licence since June 1, 2024 | Digital Government and Service NL |
In Ontario, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and the three territories, installment lenders work under the federal ceiling and each province's consumer protection law. Funding arrives by direct deposit wherever you bank in Canada, and the lenders WizardLoans matches you with are licensed where you live. For longer terms on larger amounts, see long term loans, and for the full range of products, personal loans in Canada.
Banks that decline a low score often offer the loan with a second signer instead; our personal loan with a cosigner page sets out what that signer takes on and what it saves.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I get a loan for bad credit with a 500 credit score?
Sometimes. At 500, approval rests on income: three months of steady pay deposits, no recent NSF fees and no open short-term loans. Expect a smaller amount or a longer term than you asked for, priced near the 35% ceiling.
Will comparing offers through WizardLoans lower my score?
No. Comparing uses a soft check, which only you can see. The lender runs a hard check when you accept its offer, and that single inquiry stays on your Equifax report for three years.
What is the smallest and largest loan for bad credit I can get?
Lenders in the WizardLoans network write $100 to $10000. With a low score, first approvals usually land between $500 and $5000, and the amount grows as on-time payments build up.
Do I need a job to qualify?
Yes. Lenders in our network want full-time or part-time employment income deposited to a Canadian bank account, usually for at least three months. IBV confirms those deposits in about 60 seconds.
Can I get a loan for bad credit during a consumer proposal?
Some lenders fund $1000 to $3000 during a proposal once your payments are current, and larger amounts usually wait until it is completed. Talk to your trustee before you borrow.
How soon does the money arrive?
Once you sign, funds go out by direct deposit, often the next business day. The application itself takes about 15 minutes, and the time to funding depends on your lender and your bank.
Can I pay off a bad credit personal loan early?
With most lenders in the WizardLoans network, yes, without penalty. Check the prepayment line in your written offer; an extra $50 a month on $3000 over 24 months at 35% clears it in 18 months and saves about $360.
What should I do if I am declined?
Ask for the reason and fix that one thing, usually recent NSF fees, an open short-term loan or a payment that does not fit your pay. Reapplying after 60 to 90 days of clean banking succeeds far more often than applying elsewhere that afternoon.
Apply Now and Compare Bad Credit Loan Offers: Free, Soft Check Only
About Our Editorial Team
Disclaimer: WizardLoans.ca is a free loan-matching service, not a lender, and does not promise approval. Rates, terms and funding times depend on the lender and your individual profile. Every APR on this page is an illustrative example at or below Canada's 35% federal ceiling; your lender discloses your exact APR and cost of borrowing before you sign. Borrow only what you can comfortably repay.