Upstart Personal Loans
- Best for: Borrowers with a short credit history and steady income
- What Sets It Apart: Underwriting that weighs education and work history alongside credit; loans up to $75,000
- Cost: 6.3% to 35.99% APR; origination fee that can top 10% ($815 on $10,000 in Upstart’s example); no prepayment fee
- Features: $1,000 to $75,000; three- or five-year terms; funds usually sent one to three business days after signing; soft-pull rate check
- Pros: Looks beyond your credit score; large loan amounts; optional car-secured loan for a possibly better rate
- Cons: Fees can top 10%; no autopay discount; no co-signers or joint applications; no direct payment to creditors
Choose an Upstart personal loan if your credit history is thin but your income and job are steady, because its underwriting weighs both alongside your score. If your credit is already strong, check a no-fee lender first, since Upstart’s origination fee can top 10% and comes out of your loan.
Upstart places your loan with one of its 100-plus partner banks and credit unions, and its model judges you on your education, work history, and spending and saving habits as well as your credit. Upstart says the extra data lets it lend to people whose credit history is thin.
Key Features
- Fixed annual percentage rates (APRs) of 6.3% to 35.99%, varying by state, with the lowest rates reserved for the strongest applicants
- Origination fee deducted up front, $815 of a $10,000 loan in Upstart’s own example
- Loans of $1,000 to $75,000 over three or five years, with higher minimums in Georgia, Hawaii, and Massachusetts
- Funds usually sent one to three business days after you sign
- No prepayment fee, though late and returned payments can draw fees
Pros
- Weighs your education and work history alongside your credit
- Checking your rate is a soft credit pull that won’t affect your score
- Loans up to $75,000
- Option to secure the loan with a car you own, which may get you a better rate
Cons
- Origination fees that can top 10% of the loan, and Upstart publishes no fee range
- No autopay discount
- No co-signers or joint applications, so only your own income counts
- No direct payment to your creditors when you consolidate, so you pay off each debt yourself
- Only two term lengths, three or five years
If a short credit history, common early in a career, is what holds your score down, check your Upstart rate and judge the offer by its APR, which already counts the fee. With strong credit, start with a no-fee lender such as LightStream, which approves only good-to-excellent credit.
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