Upstart Personal Loans Review

Upstart is an online lending marketplace that partners with banks and credit unions to provide personal loans from $1,000-$50,000. Upstart goes beyond traditional lending metrics to help you find financing that considers many factors, including your education and experience. This means that borrowers with poor, conventional credit scores shouldn't be discouraged from applying. Upstart also boast quick-approval decisions and fast funding, if you are approved. As for downsides, they charge origination fees of up to 12% of the loan value and only provide options for 3 year and 5 year loans.

Loan Options

• The Upstart platform offers personal loans between $1,000 and $50,000. Your loan amount will be determined based on your credit, income, and certain other information provided in your loan application. Not all applicants will qualify for the full amount. Minimum loan amounts vary by state: GA ($3,100), HI ($2,100), MA ($7,000).

• The only available loan terms at Upstart are 3 and 5 years.

• The Upstart platform does not currently support joint loan applications or the inclusion of cosigners.

Interest & Fees

• APR: The Upstart platform offer loans with typical APR rates of 6.2% - 35.99%. The best rates will be reserved for borrowers with excellent credit history.

• Origination Fees: Loans through Upstart will incur an origination fee of between 0% - 12% of the approved loan amount.

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

• Late Payment: 5% of monthly past due amount or $15, whichever is greater. This fee is incurred if you fail to pay the full amount of any monthly payment within 10 calendar days of its due date.

• Unsuccessful payment: You will be charged you $15 if bank transfers (ACH) or checks are returned or fail. This fee may be on top of charges that are imposed by your banking institution.

A full description of the Upstart platform fees can be found here.

Geographical Availability

The Upstart platform accepts personal loan applications from residents all 50 states plus Washington DC.

Loan Eligibility

Unlike many other lenders, Upstart does not impose a minimum credit score on its prospective borrowers (with some state specific exceptions), though they do exclude applicants lacking sufficient credit history to generate a credit score at any of the major credit reporting agencies. However, they require that prospective borrower satisfy some additional criteria to receive a loan through Upstart.

Income Requirements

Prospective borrowers must have a regular, verifiable source of income of $12,000 or more annually. For information on the types of income that Upstart consider, please see this page.

Are they legit?

Founded in 2012, Upstart operates an online lending marketplace that partners with banks and credit unions. It is not a lender but rather a facilitator of loans issued by one of its partner lenders. Upstart handles the customer service, application process and loan management, while the actual funds are provided by the bank. Upstart receives compensation from the issuing bank for facilitating the loan, as well as an ongoing fee for servicing the loan. In Q1 2026, 425,356 loans were originated, totaling $3.4 billion, across their platform. Upstart is listed on the Nasdaq index.

Reviews

At the time of writing, Upstart had approximately 97% 5-star reviews on Trustpilot, among a total of nearly 65,000.

On their B+ BBB profile, they have an average rating of 1.2/5, with just over 300 complaints closed in the last year.

Do They Report to the Credit Bureaus?

Yes. Upstart report monthly loan status and payment history to the three major credit reporting agencies: 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

You can call Upstart at 650-204-1000 (local) or 1-855-438-8778 (toll-free) Monday-Friday between 6AM-5PM PST and at weekends between 7AM-3.30PM PST. Alernatively, you can email support@upstart.com.

What we like?

Unique Underwriting Model: Upstart's use of alternative data means that borrowers with average or poor credit scores may have better chances of approval with them. Although educational information is collected as part of Upstart's rate check process, neither Upstart nor its bank partners have a minimum educational attainment requirement in order to be eligible for a loan. For individuals with good or excellent credit, Upstart's proprietary underwriting model might still score them more favourably than traditional scores, which could translate to better terms compared to the competition.

Check your Rate: Borrowers can check their rate on the Upstart website, without any impact to their credit score. When you check your rate, Upstart check your credit report. This initial (soft) inquiry will not affect your credit score. If you accept your rate and proceed with your application, they will do another (hard) credit inquiry that will impact your credit score. If you take out a loan, repayment information may be reported to the credit bureaus. Even if you have an offer elsewhere, it might be worth seeing if loan via the Upstart platform can beat it.

Fast Process: Upstart boast high levels of automation, with about over 90% of loans moving from application to funding with no human involvement. This should mean a speedy application process that can be completed fully online. If you accept your loan by 5pm EST (not including weekends or holidays), you will receive your funds the next business day, though this may vary due to your banking institution.

What we don't like?

Origination Fees: Loans through Upstart incur origination fees of up to 12% 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 Terms: Upstart offer loans of either 3 years or 5 years duration. Borrowers looking for shorter loans might wish to explore alternative lenders.

No joint/cosigned loans: Upstart does not support loans with multiple applicants, either joint or cosigned applications. A cosigner or joint applicant can sometimes increase your chance of approval or give you better terms, so it might be worth checking out alternative lenders that provide this option.

Poor BBB Customer Reviews: Despite excellent Trustpilot scores, Upstart has a very low customer rating on the Better Business Bureau (BBB), where complaints frequently mention customer service issues, billing disputes and problems during the application process

Summary

With AI-driven underwriting, risk-free prequalification and fast funding, Upstart represents a strong option for most borrowers, especially those with thin credit files or lower credit scores. However, high origination fees and limited repayment term options may push stronger applicants toward more competitive lenders.