In this Review..
Upgrade is an online direct lender established in 2016. The company offers both personal loans and lines of credit called “Upgrade Card”. To date, over 8 million people have applied for an Upgrade personal loan or Upgrade Card.
Upgrade personal loans range from $1,000 – $50,000 with a term of 36 months to 60 months. The lender does not offer variable rate loans, but depending on your creditworthiness, you may qualify for an APR rate between 6.99% – 35.97% .
Upgrade looks for a credit score of at least 620. However, the company may consider other factors to establish your creditworthiness.
One issue to be aware of is the Upgrade fees. While there is no prepayment fee, Upgrade charges an origination fee of 2.9 to 8% on personal loans. There is also a $10 late payment fee, which applies after a 15 day grace period.
Upgrade looks to enhance the borrowers’ lending experience by providing credit tools and education along with competitive loans.
APR
6.99% – 35.97%
Loan Amount
$1,000 – $50,000
Term
36-60 months
Min score
620
Upgrade has a deep executive bench with the goal of providing an online lending platform at a lower cost and with a better customer experience than traditional banks. It combines its products with free credit monitoring, including alerts and even providing education about credit on their platform. Upgrade seeks to help borrowers understand their credit potential and secure cheaper credit, in the long run, using credit monitoring.
Upgrade Loan Pros & Cons
As we know, each lender has its own pros & cons – here are the relevant things we found for potential borrowers:
Pros
- Soft Pull Inquiry – Upgrade allows for an initial soft pull inquiry so the borrower can get an idea of the options for which they may qualify.
- Free Credit Monitoring –You get a free credit summary report from TransUnion. Upgrade will send you credit alerts for any changes in your credit. This can be used to monitor your credit and as a resource to improve your credit.
- Competitive Interest Rates –Interest rates are competitive for borrowers with good credit histories and strong cash flow.
- Quick Turnaround Times and Simple Application Process –Upgrade has a quick and simple application process and the loan is usually funded in about 4 days.
- More than One Loan – The borrower can get multiple loans at a time from Upgrade.
- No Prepayment Penalty –The borrower can pay off their loan early without any fees.
- Experienced Founders –Borrowers may feel uneasy borrowing from a new company but the founders of Upgrade have many years of experience with successful online lending platforms.
- Credit Simulator –This is a useful tool that can show you what actions will affect your credit score.
- Credit Education –You can get informative emails and alerts. There are also many different articles about credit on the Upgrade website.
Cons
- Higher low end rates for those with excellent credit –Borrowers with excellent credit can often find lower rates in the marketplace.
- Origination Fee –Upgrade deducts a one-time origination fee of 1% to 6% of your loan amount directly from your loan funds. This should be considered in the pricing of your loan when you apply.
- Requires Free Cash Flow –Upgrade looks at at your free cash flow — the money you have left at the end of the month, after expenses. You must have at least $1,000 to qualify.
- More Documentation if Self-employed –Borrowers who are self-employed will need to provide much more documentation than regular wage employees.
- Not Available in All States –Upgrade does not operate in Connecticut, Iowa, Colorado, Maryland, Vermont or West Virgin.
- Restrictions for Investments –Upgrade loans cannot be used for investments securities.
- Large Amounts on Short Terms –One great thing about Upgrade is that they offer higher loan amounts than many other one-line lending platforms. But the terms are short and the payments on higher amounts can be expensive.
- New Company –Some borrowers dislike doing business with new companies because they are unproven in the marketplace.
- No Joint Applicants –The application is based on the applicant alone. Upgrade does not allow for joint applicants.
Loan Details
Here are the basic specifications & requirements of Upgrade Personal Loan :
What Can an Upgrade Personal Loan Be Used For?
Upgrade can be used to consolidate debt, build or improve businesses, pay for home improvements or for large purchases. It cannot be used for any post-secondary education expenses, investments, illegal activities, or gambling of any kind.
- Home Improvement
Upgrade home improvement is for home repairs or projects. The advantage of using an Upgrade home improvement loan is the promptness of receiving the funds. Typically, it takes a month or more to get an equity line of credit on your home.
You can use an Upgrade loan to start your home improvement project immediately. Another advantage over a home equity line of credit is that it’s based on the credit worthiness of the borrower, not the equity of a home.
- Large Purchases
You can use an Upgrade personal loan for large purchases such as appliances, automobiles, recreational vehicles, and medical bills.
- Debt Consolidation
Upgrade debt consolidation takes one or more loans and pays them with the new Upgrade loan. Instead of multiple payments to multiple lenders you can create one payment to one lender. The advantage of a debt consolidation loan with Upgrade is that the payment and term are fixed so you know exactly when you’ll be out of debt.
- Improving or Building a Business
Upgrade allows personal loans to be used for business use. Many other lenders only allow this type of loan to be for personal use. The loan can be used to purchase inventory, payroll, or any other general business needs.
Upgrade Reputation
- A+ on BBB: BBB assigns ratings from A+ (highest) to F (lowest). BB ratings are based on information in BBB files with respect to factors such as the business's complaint history with BBB, type of business, time in business, transparent business practices, and more.
- 4.77/5 on BBB customer reviews (+900 reviews): BB customer reviews allow customers to post positive, negative, or neutral reviews about marketplace experiences.
- 4.7/5 on Trustpilot ( +8700 reviews): TrustScore is also an overall measurement of reviewer satisfaction, represented numerically from 1 to 5.
- J.D Power: We considered J.D. Power’s lending consumers satisfaction study. J.D Power offers the most comprehensive and independent study of personal loans consumer satisfaction . The study aims to help consumers and issuers to understand user opinions and ratings of top lenders. It covers terms, benefits, services, communication, transparency and more. Upgrade wasn't rated in the 2020 research.
Application Process
- 1.
The Upgrade application process only takes a few minutes. You will fill out a short form with some basic questions about yourself, including your full name, contact information, date of birth, and income. Create an Upgrade account.
- 2.
You will need to consent to Credit Profile Authorization, allowing Upgrade to check your credit.
- 3.
Then Upgrade does a soft pull to see what loan options they have for you. You can get an idea of how much you’ll be paying for before they do a hard pull inquiry on your credit. You may get a notification that the application has been declined. If you decide to move forward you will need to answer more verification questions, and allow a hard credit pull.
- 4.
If Upgrade approves your credit application you will need to submit supporting documentation verifying your identity and your income. You will also need to provide verifiable banking information in a valid email address. The process is relatively quick in that the average turnaround time for Upgrade is 4 days. Once the information has been verified you will need to sign loan documents.
- 5.
If you are self-employed, Upgrade has a more rigorous verification process than some other lenders may have. They require 2 years of taxes including K -1’s and bank statements. If you are self-employed please review Upgrade’s requirements and how they calculate income.
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This allows us to maintain a full-time, editorial staff and work with finance experts you know and trust. The compensation we receive from advertisers does not influence the recommendations or advice our editorial team provides in our articles or otherwise impacts any of the editorial content on The Smart Investor. While we work hard to provide accurate and up to date information that we think you will find relevant, The Smart Investor does not and cannot guarantee that any information provided is complete and makes no representations or warranties in connection thereto, nor to the accuracy or applicability thereof.
Learn more about how we review products and read our advertiser disclosure for how we make money. All products are presented without warranty.
This website is an independent, advertising-supported comparison service. The product offers that appear on this site are from companies from which this website receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). This website does not include all card companies or all card offers available in the marketplace. This website may use other proprietary factors to impact card offer listings on the website such as consumer selection or the likelihood of the applicant’s credit approval.
This allows us to maintain a full-time, editorial staff and work with finance experts you know and trust. The compensation we receive from advertisers does not influence the recommendations or advice our editorial team provides in our articles or otherwise impacts any of the editorial content on The Smart Investor. While we work hard to provide accurate and up to date information that we think you will find relevant, The Smart Investor does not and cannot guarantee that any information provided is complete and makes no representations or warranties in connection thereto, nor to the accuracy or applicability thereof.
Learn more about how we review products and read our advertiser disclosure for how we make money. All products are presented without warranty.
Alternatives Lenders For Consideration
Here are our 3 choices of lenders which can use as a great alternative to Upgrade personal loan:
- FreedomPlus
This company mostly caters to people with great credit. They offer fixed rate loans to consolidate debt with a two to five year repayment period. The lowest interest rates are typically reserved for borrowers with the best credit scores.
FreedomPlus is one of the few lenders willing to offer joint or co-signed loans to those with poor credit. Approximately 30% of FreedomPlus borrowers have taken advantage of this, as it helps borrowers to access lower interest rates.
For example, if you qualify for a loan at 15% interest, it may reduce to 10% if you use a co signer with good credit.
- SoFi
SoFi has moved away from that business model and moved to a “non-traditional underwriting approach focused on lending to financially responsible individuals. SoFi uses an underwriting model that examines free cash flow, professional history and education in addition to a history of responsible bill payment to evaluate its borrowers.”
SoFi personal loans have no origination or late fees. They also do not have a prepayment penalty so the loan can be paid off early without additional costs. SoFi gives borrowers flexibility in payments and allow you to change payment due dates and do not charge late fees.
- LendingPoint
Lending Point is based in Kennesaw, Georgia. This online lender offers a competitive option for those with fair credit.
Lending Point personal loans have a relatively high interest rate of 15.49% to 35.99%. You can borrow $2,000 to $25,000 with a term of 24 to 48 months.
Where Lending Point stands apart from many lenders is that you can qualify for a loan if your credit score is 585 or above. The company will also consider other factors to establish your eligibility including:
- Income
- Financial history
- Job history
- Overall credit behavior.
Lending Point does not have prepayment fees, but there is a potentially costly origination fee. This can be zero to 6% depending on your location. There is also a $30 late payment fee, applied after a 15 day grace period.
Upgrade Loan is Best for..
The Upgrade platform is a great place for borrowers with good or excellent credit and strong cash flow. Upgrade looks to enhance the borrowers’ lending experience by providing credit tools and education along with competitive loans. Take advantage of the soft pull inquiry and see what type of terms you could get through an Upgrade loan.
The major drawback to upgrade is their origination fee. There are other lenders who do not charge this fee, which can be pretty high and will add to the overall cost of your loan.
