Upgrade Personal Loans Review

Upgrade is an online personal finance company, offering a range of consumer financial products via partner banks. It was founded in 2017, initially offering only unsecured personal loans. It has expanded into credit cards, auto loans and even checking accounts.

Upgrade remains a popular option for people in the market for a personal loan due to their low minimum credit score requirements and good loan flexibility. Well qualified applicants may be turned off by the origination fee, which starts at 1.85% where several competitors charge nothing.

Loan Options

• Upgrade offers unsecured and secured (vehicle as collateral) personal loans between $1,000 and $50,000, with some states carrying higher minimum loan sizes.

• Loan lengths range from 2 to 7 years.

• Upgrade may allow coborrowers on loans, which could improve your chances of approval, as the credit profiles of both applicants are assessed and both are responsible for repaying the loan.

• Loan proceeds can be sent straight to your existing creditors rather than to your own account, which is one of the two conditions attached to their lowest advertised rate.

Interest & Fees

• APR: Upgrade personal loans have fixed rates from 7.74% to 35.99%. The floor is conditional: their disclosure states that the lowest rates require both autopay and paying off a portion of existing debt directly, and that certain discounts may require collateral.

• Origination Fee: Upgrade will charge an origination fee of 1.85%-9.99% of the approved loan amount, which will be automatically deducted from the loan proceeds. It is included in the APR above, so the APR is the figure to compare on.

• Prepayment Penalty: Borrowers do not incur any fees if they wish to pay off their loan early.

• Late Payment: Upgrade charge a late fee of up to $10 if the full payment is not received within 15 calendar days of the due date, assessed once per late payment.

• Unsuccessful payment: Upgrade charge $10 for any failed electronic or check payment. This fee may be on top of charges that are imposed by your banking institution.

• Discounts: Upgrade state that the lowest rates require autopay and paying off a portion of existing debt directly, but do not publish what either is worth. NerdWallet report the autopay discount as 0.5 percentage points and the direct-to-creditor discount as 1 to 4 percentage points. Both are already assumed in the 7.74% floor, so they are the conditions for reaching the bottom of the range rather than reductions below it.

How long to receive funds?

Upgrade state that funds are sent within one business day of clearing the necessary verifications, and that most applications are approved instantly. When the money lands still depends on your own bank.

The exception is the route they discount you for taking. Money sent directly to third party creditors may take up to two weeks to clear, so if you are consolidating, keep paying those balances until you see them settled rather than assuming the transfer has arrived.

Geographical Availability

Upgrade do not publish a state list. NerdWallet report that their personal loans are available in all 50 states but not in Washington DC.

Loan Eligibility

Upgrade publish no minimum credit score, but both NerdWallet and Bankrate put it at 600. Their own stated requirements are that you are a US citizen or permanent resident, or living in the US on a valid visa; at least 18, or 19 in Alabama and certain other states; and able to provide a verifiable bank account and a valid email address.

Income Requirements

Similar to credit score requirements, Upgrade's minimum borrower requirements make no reference to any minimum income.

Are they legit?

Yes. Upgrade is a financial technology company that matches individuals with credit products offered by their partner banks, which now includes personal loans, credit cards and checking accounts. According to their website, in eight years they have made over $50 billion of credit available to more than 8 million customers.

Reviews & News

At the time of writing, Upgrade had approximately 82% 5-star reviews on Trustpilot from a total of just over 59,000, with an average rating of 4.7/5.

On their A+ accredited BBB profile, they have an average rating of 4.32/5 from 925 reviews, alongside 1,209 complaints over three years and 448 closed in the last year. The complaint count is high in absolute terms, but so is the customer base: Upgrade report more than 8 million customers across all their products.

Do They Report to the Credit Bureaus?

Yes, though Upgrade do not set out a credit reporting policy of their own, so the specifics sit in your borrower agreement rather than on their website. NerdWallet report that Upgrade report your payment history to the three main credit bureaus, which are Equifax, Experian and Transunion. Regular on-time payments in your credit file will likely increase your credit score and improve your chances of qualifying for credit in the future. However, failure to satisfy your repayment obligations could damage your credit score, making it more difficult to borrow again.

Get in touch

Upgrade run separate lines by stage. New personal loan applications by phone go to (844) 311-0088, an application already in progress to (855) 466-5995 or support@upgrade.com, and an existing loan to (844) 899-9931 or servicing@upgrade.com. Support hours are 5AM-7PM PT (Monday-Friday) and 6AM-5PM PT (Saturday and Sunday). Online chat is available 24/7 once you log into your account dashboard, and the full directory is on their contact page.

What we like?

Loan flexibility: Upgrade personal loans cater for all types of borrowers. With loans between $1,000 and $50,000, they can be used to overcome short-term emergencies and longer-term projects. Unlike many competitors, Upgrade offer joint applications and loans secured against a vehicle. Each of these options could improve your approval chances or land you a better rate.

Multiple discounts available: Borrowers can reduce their APR by setting up autopay and, in the case of debt consolidation loans, allowing Upgrade to send part of the loan proceeds directly to existing creditors. Securing the loan against a vehicle can also unlock a discount.

Direct creditor payments: Upgrade will send the loan straight to the accounts you are paying off rather than to your own bank account, which removes the step where the money arrives and does not reach the balances. It also carries the larger of their two rate discounts, so on a consolidation loan the discount and the mechanism point the same way.

Check your rate: Borrowers can check their rate on the Upgrade website and app, without any impact to their credit score. Even if you have an offer elsewhere, it might be worth seeing if Upgrade can beat it.

Well-rated app: The free Upgrade app makes it easy to manage your account—you can make payments, receive updates on your loan and even track your credit score. You can also seamlessly browse additional financial products, such as checking accounts and credit cards. The app is available for both Apple and Android.

What we don't like?

Origination fees: Upgrade will charge origination fees of 1.85%-9.99% on the approved loan amount. Origination fees are automatically paid at the time of funding. For example, if you are approved for $10,000 loan with a 5% origination fee, you'll only receive $9,500 in your bank account. Many lenders don't charge origination fees, so you may wish to look elsewhere to avoid them.

Limited discount transparency: Upgrade advertises interest rate discounts for borrowers who enroll in autopay or use their loan for debt consolidation, but does not publish what either is worth anywhere on its own website. The figures above come from a third party, which makes it harder to compare offers against competitors that state their reductions upfront.

Summary

With flexible loan structures, secured loan options and risk-free prequalification, Upgrade is one of the more versatile lenders in the personal loan space. Borrowers should still pay attention to origination fees, which can meaningfully increase the total cost of borrowing.