Upstart Personal Loans Review

(October 2024)

Upstart Personal Loans Review

In This Article

Our Verdict

www.upstart.com

Consider an Upstart personal loan if you seek a lender that doesn’t consider credit score alone in the determination of loan qualifications.

Upstart is present in 45 States of the United States. (The bank specifically removed residents of West Virginia and Iowa from access to its service.)

Expect fairly nice customer service, as the bank keeps maintaining fair customer satisfaction. Expect to pay quite exorbitant interest rates especially if you have incredibly bad credit.

Here’s other relevant information you need to know:

UPSTART NETWORK INC. Corporate Headquarters

2950 S Delaware St, #300 San Mateo, CA 94403, United States of America

Phone Number: 1(855) 438-8778

www.upstart.com

Pros

  • Availability for customers with low credit history
  • Pre-qualification check with no effect on credit history
  • Free financial education offer
  • Option to change date of payment
  • Fast Fund disbursement
  • No prepayment fees
  • Allowance of loan for education

Cons

  • Origination fee charging
  • No secured loan, only the unsecured $50,000 maximum unsecured loan available
  • Availability of only two repayment term options
  • No mobile app management of loan
  • Relative high APR

Who This Product Is Best For

Try Upstart personal loan if you:

  • Need funds to pay for education expenses.
  • Have not-too-attractive credit history (even less than 300 credit score).
  • Need quick disbursement of fund to meet an urgent expenses
  • Have little knowledge about financial management and does not mind learning about it

Who This Product Isn’t Right For

Think of another personal loan if you:

  • Don’t want to pay origination fee.
  • Prefer a lesser APR.
  • Needs a higher amount of money even if it’s a secured loan
  • Appreciates other repayment options than the one available with Upstart.

What This Product Offers

  • Unsecured Personal loan

Unsecured Personal loan helps you raise funds when you are in dire need without using your personal or immovable property as the collateral for the loan. Be careful that a bank is not placing a lien on your other account while claiming to grant you an unsecured loan.

  • Moving loan

Consider an Upstart Moving loan to fund your relocation and other expenses that relate to traveling.  Do you intend to rent a truck or storage for your cross-country movement? Upstart Moving loan is a strong contender for your consideration.

  • Credit card consolidation loans

Think about an Upstart credit card consolidation loan if you have lots of debt on your credit card and you want to consolidate them into a single loan which you can easily pay monthly. Compare the interest rate on the credit card with the Upstart Moving loan’s interest rate; consider this product only if the interest rate on the credit card is higher.

  • Wedding loans

Do you have a wedding or engagement to plan and the expenses are staring you in the face? Use the Upstart wedding loan to cushion the effect of the pressure while you are paying back every month until you are done with the payment.

Product Details

Unsecured Personal Loan

Consider Upstart unsecured personal loan, if you need a certain amount for an urgent expenses but you don’t want to secure the loan with your property, either movable or real. Know also that Upstart will not place lien on your other account you hold with them in lieu of the loan.

Keep in mind that as different lenders consider different minimum credit scores for their loan, Upstart considers even what you can term as bad credit or no credit at all. Upstart uses a model that looks at your education and employment to determine your eligibility rather than credit scores. However, understand that by qualifying for the Upstart unsecured personal loan, you risk paying higher interest rates. 

Loan amount

$1,000 to  $50,000

APR

6.7%-35.99

Terms

1 year to 5 years

Repayment Term

Monthly

Fees

Varies

Availability

45 states

Funding speed

Within 2 working days

Moving Loan

Seek Upstart Moving loan when you have to relocate or make an important trip. Upon approval, Upstart grants you a loan which you can pay within five years. Do you want to hire movers or even secure moving insurance cover? Upstart Moving loan is a perfect fit for you.

Understand that like the unsecured personal loan, you don’t have to think of collateral for the loan is an unsecured one. The loan amount available for the Upstart moving loan is also within $1000 to $50,000, but you must know that the minimum and the maximum amount available to you depends on the specific minimum loan amount requirement in your state and of course your information using the Upstart model of deciding qualification.

Loan amount

$1,000 to $50,000

APR

6.7% – 35.99%

Terms

3 or 5 years

Repayment schedule

Monthly

Fees

Varies

Availability

45 states

Funding speed

Between 1 to 2 working days

Credit Card Consolidation Loans

Do you have a credit card debt which is due and you are wondering how to pay them off? Consider the option of consolidating your credit card debt with Upstart credit card consolidation loans. Use the Upstart loan to consolidate your loan when you compare the interest rates of the credit cards and they are higher than the interest rates of Upstart credit card consolidation loans.

Keep in mind that although this option has a high potential of helping you manage your debt, be smart with your interest rates calculation to prevent a worse financial situation.

Before you settle for Upstart credit card consolidation loan, consider the wisdom in settling for the within 0%-8% origination fee you have to pay, think of the APR on this loan that can be as high as 35.99% and compare them with your current financial situation.

Loan amount

$1,000 to $50,000

APR

6.7% – 35.99%

Terms

3 or 5 years

Repayment schedule

Monthly

Fees

Varies

Availability

45 states

Funding speed

Between 1 to 2 working days

Wedding Loans

Do you have a wedding to plan and the thought of raising funds in the region of $28,000 within a short period scares you? Approach Upstart for wedding loans.

Don’t worry if your credit score is low, you will still qualify if you have other Upstart models like your educational and employment level intact. However, keep in mind that with the waiver of your low credit score comes a higher APR.

Once Upstart approves your loan, expect your funds disbursement within 24 hours, however, before you commence the process for the loan application, prepare to pay an origination fee that can rise to 10%.

Take the Upstart wedding loans to pay for wedding rings, deposit for venue and even honeymoon, begin to work on monthly repayment until you are done paying off the loan.

Loan amount

$1,000 to $50,000

APR

6.7% – 35.99%

Terms

3 or 5 years

Repayment schedule

Monthly

Fees

Varies

Availability

45 states

Funding speed

Between 1 to 2 working days

 

Where This Product Stands Out

Available For Customers with low credit

Don’t bother about qualifying for Upstart personal loan even if your credit score is low; Upstart uses other models like education and employment to determine your qualifications for personal loan.

Pay attention to the fact that a low credit score, although will not disqualify you, has a tendency to make your loan APR come high.

Allows Usage of Loan for Education Expenses

Think of Upstart if you have tuition to pay or consolidate education loans. Upstart, unlike many other lenders, allows you to deploy the personal loan for education usage. Think about the other means to cover up for the payment of the loan on time because education usage doesn’t directly pay back the loan you deploy it to. 

Allows Change of Payment Date

Don’t fret when circumstances demand that you shift the normal payment date you have in agreement with Upstart; reach out to Upstart to change your payment date to what’s convenient for you.

Where This Product Falls Short

Payment of High Origination Fee

Don’t count on Upstart, if you are not planning to pay an origination fee, take several seats backward if you dread paying a high origination fee.  You will definitely pay an origination fee between 0% and 8% when you take Upstart personal loan; in fact be ready for origination fee that can be up to 10% when you subscribe to certain Upstart personal loan products.

Only Two Repayment Options Available

Look for another lender if the two Upstart repayment options don’t work for you, because you don’t have a third option.

Deal with the fact that you only have to choose from the 3 years repayment option or 5 years repayment option.

High Interest Rate

Know that something must replace the decision to accept borrowers with low credit scores; unfortunately you must brace yourself to pay a high interest rate which can rise to 35.99% if you take up the Upstart personal loan.

Think of other alternative personal loan lenders, especially if your credit score is quite higher.

How to Qualify for This Product

Contact Upstart for more details on its personal loan criteria, but keep in mind that if you live in West Virginia or Iowa, Upstart loan is out of your reach. Take note that apart from your basic information like full address and email, you need to pay specific attention to your;

Credit History

Keep in mind that credit score model is not the primary model of determining loan qualification for Upstart; however a 300 FICO score is what Upstart requires you to have as a minimum requirements to apply for its personal loan.

If you don’t have up to that or you don’t even have at all, by convention you still stand a chance of getting approval although with a relatively high rate.

Employment History

Remember that Upstart places more importance to your employment history and means of repaying the loan than paying attention to credit score. If you are not a new graduate, you must be in a regular job either part or full time for not less than 6 months prior to  the application to get a nod by Upstart.

Don’t think of Upstart personal loan if your annual income is not up to $12′,000

How to Apply for This Product

Make sure to include the following in your paperwork when applying for Upstart personal loan. 

  • Personal bank account
  • Recent personal tax returns
  • Address, social security number, SSN, etc.
  • Employment details
  • Residency information
  • Date of birth
  • Full name, home address, telephone

Alternative to This Product

BestEgg

Consider BestEgg if you have limited  financing needs and you want a loan term that’s more than 3 years but less than 5 years. It has a  loan amount ranging from $2,000 to $50,000.

Lightstream

Choose Lightstream if you need a larger loan with longer terms and more fair APR. Access up to $100,000 in personal loan with up to 7 years repayment maximum of 24.49% interest rate.

Consider your credit score when you are using Lightstream because unlike Upstart, you need a 600+ FICO score to qualify for the loan.

Customer Reviews

Expect nice customer service from Upstart as the customer reviews from about 41,124 customers on TrustPilot shows a 4.9 of 5 which is an excellent rating for any lender.

Although the 1.24 of 5 ratings on BBB shows a very bleak reputation for Upstart, don’t take it to heart because the reviews are from 202 customers which is really incomparable with TrustPilot.

Methodology

We reviewed Upstart Personal loans based on 20 data points in the categories of loan details, loan costs, eligibility and accessibility, customer experience and the application process. We rated Upstart personal  loans based on the weighting assigned to each category:

  • Loan cost: 35%
  • Loan details: 25%
  • Customer experience: 20%
  • Eligibility and accessibility: 10%
  • Application process: 10%

Within each major category, we also considered several characteristics, including available loan amounts, repayment terms and applicable fees. We also looked at minimum credit score and the geographic availability of the lender.

Finally, we evaluated Upstart personal loans, customer support tools, borrower perks and features that simplify the borrowing process—like online applications, prequalification options and mobile apps.

https://youtu.be/xHvDk1GwymI

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