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Eleven in the Smarter Loans network, and every one of the eleven considers a score under 560: seven because they consider poor credit as a matter of course, four because they set no minimum score at all. That is eleven of the sixteen personal lenders that serve the province on the personal loans in Ontario page. Amounts run from $15 advances to $35,000 instalment loans, rates from 0% on the smallest advances up to the 35% federal cap, eight of the eleven pay out within 24 hours and all eleven within two days, and income minimums run from $1,000 to $2,000 a month from any regular source.
Your bank deposits. The lenders listed read three months of statements through your online banking login before they read the score: regular income arriving on a predictable day, and an account without returned payments, is what they are looking for. The label you give your income decides which lenders see the application at all, so know whether you are full-time, self-employed, on disability or on benefits and say so. Some lenders use a soft inquiry that does not affect your score and decide on the statements alone.
A rate toward the top of a lender's range, and the federal criminal interest rate caps every consumer loan at 35% APR, so no lender listed can price above it. On $5,000 over 36 months, the difference between 20% and 35% is roughly $1,450 in interest, which is why a loan repaid cleanly for a year and then refinanced at a rate that reflects the new score is the route out. A payday loan is regulated separately by Ontario at $14 per $100, and the payday loans in Ontario page sets those rules out; it is the cheaper product only when repaid in full on the pay date.
Every lender in the network that lends below 560 is on the bad credit loans in Canada page.
Reviewed by Rafael Rositsan, Co-Founder and CEO, Smarter Loans. Last reviewed 24 September 2026. Lender figures are the lenders' published terms as checked August 2026; the cost example is illustrative.
Yes. Eleven lenders in the Smarter Loans network lend below 560 in Ontario, four of them with no minimum score at all, from $15 to $35,000. The decision is made on your bank deposits more than your score, and eight of the eleven pay out within 24 hours.
You pay toward the top of a lender's range, and no lender can price above the federal cap of 35% APR. On $5,000 over 36 months, 35% costs roughly $1,450 more in interest than 20%.
You need at least $1,000 to $2,000 a month depending on the lender, from any regular source that arrives on a fixed date. Regularity matters more than the amount.
Some lenders listed use a soft inquiry that does not affect your score and decide on your bank statements. Apply once through our application rather than to several lenders separately, because a burst of hard inquiries in one week counts against you.
Twelve clean months on a loan that reports to the bureaus, revolving balances brought down, and no new credit in the months before you refinance move the score. A loan taken at 35% and repaid on time is refinanced at a rate that reflects the new score.
