CIBC Personal Loan Review 2024: The Best Rates With The Strictest Requirements Of ‘The Big Six’ Banks

CIBC is best for people with good to excellent credit and high income who want to borrow money and repay it on a regular basis over a period of one to five years. CIBC may not be a good choice for people with fair credit or who can’t show a strong regular income.

Loan Amounts & Terms

• Loan Amounts. CIBC offers personal loans with a minimum value of $3,000 and a maximum value of $200,000. You may be approved for a larger loan if it’s secured by your home or another asset.
• Loan Terms. You can choose a payment period of one to five years. CIBC personal loans are open, meaning you can repay your loan in full at any time without penalty.

Loan Costs

• APR. Interest rates depend on your personal profile and are based on CIBC’s Prime rate. Fixed and variable interest rates are available.
• Origination Fees. Undisclosed.
• Late Fees. Undisclosed.
• Prepayment Penalty Fees. CIBC doesn’t charge any prepayment penalty for unsecured personal loans. You can repay your loan in full at any time.

Perks & Features

• Borrow between $3,000 and $200,000 without collateral on approved credit
• Choose from fixed or variable interest options
• Optionally secure your loan against your home or other assets (a secured loan)
• Apply online for faster approval
• Choose biweekly or weekly payments to save on interest
• Use your CIBC personal loan for any purpose

CIBC offers some of the best interest rates and terms on personal loans. As such, it has some of the highest expectations of its borrowers. To qualify for a personal loan from CIBC you’ll need to have good-to-excellent credit and enough income to easily make your loan payments.

Credit Score Requirements

CIBC doesn’t specify a minimum credit score for its loans, but it is known to be an “A” lender that prefers well-qualified clients. For the best results, you’ll want to have a credit score of at least 660 with no missed payments or other blemishes on your credit history.

Income Requirements

To be approved for a personal loan from CIBC, you’ll need to show that you have an income of at least $17,000 and enough income to make the regular payments. While CIBC doesn’t disclose its underwriting formulas, a good rule of thumb is that your total debt payments should be no more than 40% of your monthly income.

Co-signers and Co-applicants

CIBC does allow co-signers and co-applicants for personal loans, but it has sole discretion over whether to approve you even with a qualified co-signer.

Related: 5 Personal Loan Requirements To Know Before Applying

1. Determine your needs. A CIBC personal loan may be right for you if you want to finance a large purchase or consolidate debt, need to borrow between $3,000 and $200,000 and want to repay your loan over a fixed time -period. If you want to finance a home or vehicle purchase or would prefer flexible repayment options, a personal line of credit may be a better choice.
2. Decide how you want to apply. CIBC accepts personal loan applications online, over the phone or at a branch.
3. Decide how much you want to borrow. CIBC offers personal loans between $3,000 and $200,000. You’ll be asked to specify your preferred loan amount on the application.
4. Complete the application. You’ll be asked to provide personal information and your employment details, as well as agree to the terms and conditions of the loan. You may be asked to provide recent pay stubs to verify your income.
5. Pass a credit check. As part of its underwriting process, CIBC will check your credit. The results will affect whether you’re approved, how much you can borrow and what interest rate you’ll be offered.
6. Accept your loan. Once you’re approved, CIBC will give you a formal offer with the amount of the loan, repayment terms, interest rate and other details. If you’re happy with the offer, you can accept the loan.

Time to Receive Funds

CIBC promises an expedited approval process for unsecured loans, which may take as little as a few minutes. Once you’re approved and accept your loan, it will take a few business days to receive your money. CIBC doesn’t promise a set timeline, so plan for the entire process to take at least five business days.

As with most of Canada’s major banks, CIBC has poor online reviews. It holds a score of just 1.4 out of five on TrustPilot, with most reviews venting specifically about poor customer service experiences. Personal loans are less popular than personal lines of credit and auto loans, so there aren’t many reviews available for personal loans online.

Here’s how CIBC stacks up against other popular lenders providing the best personal loans in Canada:

CIBC vs. easyfinancial

easyfinancial is a Canadian company that specializes in personal loans with quick approval. easyfinancal offers loans as small as $500, whereas CIBC loans start at $3,000. However, loans with easyfinancial top out at a maximum of $100,000 compared with CIBC’s $200,000 limit. Because easyfinancial caters to people with poor-to-fair credit, you’re more likely to be approved with this company than with CIBC, but you’re likely to pay a much higher interest rate. Loans with easyfinancial start at 29.99%, which is much higher than most credit cards and multiple times higher than CIBC’s prime rate of 7.20%.

CIBC vs. Fairstone

Fairstone is another personal loan company that allows Canadians to borrow money for almost any reason. The minimum loan size is much smaller than CIBC’s, starting at $500 compared with $3,000. But the limit is $25,000 for unsecured loans and $50,000 for secured loans, whereas CIBC will lend up to $200,000 without collateral. Fairstone’s rates for unsecured loans range from 26.99% to 39.99%, which is substantially higher than the rates you can expect from CIBC, although you’re more likely to be approved if your credit has seen better days.

CIBC vs. TD Bank

Like CIBC, TD is one of Canada’s Big Six Banks and offers a full suite of financial products ranging from bank accounts to GICs, mortgages, investments and personal loans. TD and CIBC offer similar terms, with interest rates starting from the prime rate of 7.20% and no prepayment penalties. CIBC will let you borrow more–up to $200,000 compared with TD’s $50,000 limit–but TD allows you to repay your loan over a period of up to seven years, whereas CIBC limits personal loans to just five years.

Related: TD Bank Personal Loan Review

We reviewed 76 popular lenders based on 17 data points in the categories of loan details, loan costs, eligibility and accessibility, customer experience and the application process. We chose the 11 best lenders based on the weighting assigned to each category:

• Loan details: 20%
• Loan cost: 35%
• Eligibility and accessibility: 20%
• Customer experience: 15%
• Application process: 10%

Within each major category, we also considered several characteristics, including available loan amounts, repayment terms, APR ranges and applicable fees. We also looked at minimum credit score requirements, whether each lender accepts co-signers or joint applications and the geographic availability of the lender. Finally, we evaluated each provider’s customer support tools, borrower perks and features that simplify the borrowing process—like prequalification options and mobile apps.

Where appropriate, we awarded partial points depending on how well a lender met each criterion.