Looking to invest in real estate? It can be challenging to secure a traditional loan without the right credit score.
One alternative is turning to hard money lenders.
We offer a few of the best hard money loans for bad credit in the guide below.
1. Park Place Finance
Park Place Finance is a stellar hard money loan lender to work with if you have a low credit score and need a viable hard money financing option for your real estate investing endeavors.
Park Place Finance lends in 44 states. This means that there’s a good chance you’ll be able to secure funding from them.
They’re known for their fast closing (three to five days), dedicated account executives who work with you during and beyond the loan application process, and for being a direct lender with in-house capital.
Speaking to their hard money lending offerings, Park Place Finance has:
- Bridge Loans: Park Place Finance’s bridge loans will help you cover up to 75% of the purchase price. They offer 6, 12, and 18-month terms.
- Debt Service Coverage Ratio (DSCR) Loans: You can get 30-year fixed-rate DSCR loans with Park Place Finance.
- Fix & Flip Loans: A fix & flip loan will help you fund up to 90% of your purchase and 100% of your renovation costs. You can purchase and rehab, or refinance and rehab with this hard money loan program.
- Ground Up Construction Loans: A ground up construction loan can offer up to 85% loan-to-cost for small builders looking to construct new properties.
- Multi-Family Hard Money Loans: Can’t go to traditional lenders? Get up to 75% of your multi-family real estate purchase costs covered and up to 100% rehab costs covered with Park Place Finance’s multi-family hard money loans.
Park Place Finance does list minimum credit requirements for each hard money loan type. However, they also state that they work with investors who have a credit score as low as 600.
It’s worth noting here that you’re not likely to find a hard money lender who will go below a 600 credit score. Most hard money lenders will demand a score of 600 or above.
Some hard money lenders may have higher credit score requirements when they conduct a credit check. Still, traditional lenders expect much higher credit scores.
There’s only one exception on this list where your credit score won’t matter.
2. Easy Street Capital
If you’re weighing your options when it comes to private money lenders, you’ll definitely want to consider Easy Street Capital.
Easy Street Capital lends to investors across 48 states.
But how do hard money loans work with Easy Street Capital?
They offer three hard money loan programs: EasyFix, EasyRent, and EasyBuild.
EasyFix is designed for flippers. This bridge/fix & flip hard money loan offers up to 75% LTV and 93% LTC. Easy Street Capital offers terms of anywhere from 6 to 18 months (they offer extensions), and they can close in as little as 48 hours.
The EasyFix program has a minimum credit score of 600.
The EasyRent program is for aspiring landlords. They offer up to 80% LTV with rates as low as 5.75%. Unlike other lenders, they don’t state that they may be flexible with the credit score requirements.
You’ll also need at least a 640 credit score as a borrower for EasyRent from this private lender.
The EasyBuild hard money loan program is for new construction. It covers up to 70% LTV and up to 85% LTC. It has rates as low as 10.25%. It’s important to note that this one may be out of reach. They require a 680 credit score for the EasyBuild program.
3. Jet Lending
Most hard money lenders offer a handful of hard money loan programs that you can leverage in your real estate investment strategy. If you’re looking for more options to circumvent traditional lenders, you might want to consider Jet Lending.
Jet Lending offers loan programs across all 50 states, which means that you’re guaranteed to find something for your real estate investment project.
They offer short-term and long-term hard money loan programs. These include:
- Buy Fix & Sell Loans
- Buy Fix & Rent Loans
- Short-Term & Long-Term Rental Loan Programs
- Commercial Property Loans
- Transactional Funding
- Large Balance Commercial Broker Loans
- Land Loan Programs
- New Construction Loans
Terms will vary greatly depending on where you’re located, as will the loan amount. For example, if you’re in Texas, you might be able to get hard money loans 100 financing with a Buy Fix & Rent loan.
The FICO credit score you’ll need to qualify for these business loans will vary too.
A short term loan is the easiest to secure with a poor credit score. You’ll likely need a minimum of 620 to qualify for short-term hard money loans with Jet Lending.
Meanwhile, you might need a credit score of 680 or above to qualify for long-term loans from them.
At that point, you might be better off looking at traditional loans as a borrower if they need a 680 for a credit check. You can even get better terms by working on your credit score and credit history and boosting your credit.
4. Express Capital Financing
Express Capital Financing was named Forbes Best Hard Money Lender in 2024 and 2025, making it a solid option when you need hard money loans.
Express Capital Financing is known for its high application approval rate. They’re also known for their loan transparency, superior customer support, and quick and reliable funding.
Put simply, if you want a loan from them, you won’t have to jump through hoops or deal with a lot of guesswork.
They offer quite a few hard money loan options. These include:
- Fix & Flip Loans
- DSCR Loans
- DSCR Portfolio Loans
- Multi-Family & Mixed-Use Bridge Loan Programs
- Ground Up Construction Loans
- And even commercial hard money loans (mortgages), both full-doc and light-doc
As with many of the other hard money lenders on this list, Express Capital Lending offers hard money loans nationwide. You can secure lending from them in 47 states.
The only note with Express Capital Lending is that they don’t list exactly what their credit requirements are.
Some of their hard money loan programs have it. Others don’t. More than that, they don’t require their applicants to have excellent credit in order to secure a hard money loan.
However, if you do apply for a hard money loan with bad credit, they may require you to have more experience in order to ensure that their investment is secure. A low credit score might disqualify you if you don’t fit their eligibility standards.
This is one of the hard money lenders that you’ll want to reach out to directly. This will help you better understand their requirements and ensure that they’re the right hard money lender for you.
If they’re not a good fit, you can choose another private money lender from here.
5. The Hard Money Co.
The Hard Money Co. is not a hard money lender that shows up on a lot of lists for hard money lenders to turn to when you have bad credit.
However, we thought it was one worth mentioning despite not being a traditional lender featured on hard money guides.
What do you receive with The Hard Money Co.? The Hard Money Co.’s short-term loans can support you by:
- Helping you invest in residential and commercial assets
- Closing in 7 to 10 days
- Receiving up to 65% after repair value and 6-month loan terms (fewer loan term options)
- Getting a low down payment of 10% on your hard money business loan (however, expect a hard money loan rate of around 15%)
They offer private lending across the country throughout most states.
While their terms and loan amount are less desirable than other options on this list, we mentioned them because they do not conduct a credit check for loan approval.
Almost all hard money lenders will check your credit when you apply for a loan. The Hard Money Co. does not. They don’t check credit at all when you apply for a hard money loan. Instead, they’ll look at other factors that they’ll use to determine eligibility.
This makes them one of the only hard money lenders where your credit will not matter. If you are an aspiring borrower with poor credit and limited credit history (or credit history filled with issues that led to poor credit), The Hard Money Co. might be the right lender for you.
While you’ll want to weigh using these private lenders carefully, consider them for this feature alone.
Even if you default, you won’t find your loans appearing on your credit reports, as they don’t report to the personal credit bureaus.
Get More Financing with Credit Suite
Trying to fund your real estate investing activity with hard money loans is challenging.
You have to worry about your personal credit score, deal with terms that may not be the best, and try to shop around for limited options from a handful of hard money lenders for a loan amount that might not suffice.
Credit Suite can provide you with the support you need to access conventional loan opportunities.
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Our comprehensive program is one of the only solutions out there that guides you through the business credit-building process to help you access real funding quickly.
If your business credit is holding you back from your true potential, get started with Credit Suite today to get more financing for your real estate business.
