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Brian McKay

Co-Founder & Lead Data Architect

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Brian is the Co-Founder of MonitorBankRates.com. For over 18 years, he has utilized his background in enterprise infrastructure to engineer proprietary systems that track rates from over 8,000 financial institutions.

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| August 31, 2026 | 5 min read

Personal Loan Rates Move Up After a Flat Summer

Average personal loan rates rose 0.210 points to 10.920% APR since our August 19 report, their first real move since early July. Signature loan rates eased to 10.952% and now sit almost exactly where personal loan rates do.

For most of the summer, average personal loan rates moved a few hundredths of a point per report and no more. Since our August 19 report they rose 0.210 points to 10.920% APR, the highest reading we've published this summer. Rates on signature loans went the other way, easing 0.144 points to 10.952% as lenders kept unwinding a late-July climb, which leaves signature loans and personal loans priced within 0.032 points of each other. Debt consolidation loan rates fell 0.220 points to 10.528% from a small reporting pool that swings often.

A flat summer ends for personal loan rates

Personal loan rates by category, national average APR since late March

Average APRs from MonitorBankRates.com's nightly collection, the same series this report's figures come from, updated daily.

From early July through August 19, personal loan rates printed 10.682, 10.708, 10.693, 10.724, and 10.710, a total range of about four hundredths of a point. This report prints 10.920%, a 0.210-point rise and the first reading outside that stretch. One honest caveat belongs next to it: more than 200 additional lenders entered this category's reporting pool since August 19, and when a pool grows that much, an average can move without any lender changing an offer. Whether lenders raised rates or the mix of lenders changed, 10.920% is where unsecured borrowing stands in this report.

Signature loans, the other deep-pool category, went the opposite direction. At 10.952%, down 0.144 points, they have unwound most of a late-July climb (11.313% then, 11.096% in mid-August), and they now price within 0.032 points of personal loans; for borrowers, banks quote the two products almost interchangeably. Debt consolidation loan rates fell 0.220 points to 10.528% and moved back below both. That category's average comes from 121 institutions, and it has changed direction in every report this summer; a few lenders joining or leaving moves it more than any market trend does.

Change since August 19, by loan category (percentage points)

This report's averages, August 19 to August 31. Red bars rose; green bars fell.

Personal loan rates compared: August 19 vs. August 31

A September hike would reach these loans last

Futures markets now put odds of a Federal Reserve rate increase at the September 15-16 meeting near 60%, up from about 40% before Chairman Kevin Warsh spoke at Jackson Hole on Friday. If that hike comes, unsecured loans would feel it last and least. No index ties a personal loan offer to the Fed's benchmark the way prime ties a HELOC to it; each lender prices from a borrower's credit profile, the loan term, and its own appetite for risk. The data behind this report makes the point: lenders quote offers from roughly 2% APR for the strongest credit profiles to near 30% for the weakest, while category averages sit within half a point of each other. Whatever the Fed decides in September, your credit history will move your quote more than the committee will.

Borrowing $10,000 at these averages

At this report's 10.920% personal loan average, borrowing $10,000 over 36 months runs about $327 a month with roughly $1,772 in total interest; the 0.210-point rise added about a dollar a month to that loan. Your credit score and the number of lenders you ask will move those figures far more than this report's changes. If the plan is folding several high-rate balances into one fixed payment, run the numbers with our debt consolidation calculator first; consolidation only helps if a new rate beats the blended rate you already pay. Borrowers comparing local lenders can line up Ohio personal loan rates against these national averages, and category history is on our personal loan rate trends page.

The bottom line on personal loans

Personal loan rates posted their largest move of our summer reports, and even that move changes a typical $10,000 loan by about a dollar a month. Signature loans and personal loans now carry nearly identical averages, so borrowers can shop both product names without worrying about which one a bank uses. As ever in unsecured lending, one more quote from a credit union or bank will do more for your rate than anything that changed in this report.