Upgrade Personal Loans: 2024 Review

Upgrade personal loans are good for borrowers with low credit scores looking to consolidate debt and build credit at the same time.

Though Upgrade lends to borrowers across the credit spectrum, the lender has looser requirements for minimum credit score, credit history and debt-to-income ratio than lenders that seek borrowers with good or excellent credit scores (690 or higher).

» MORE: Compare personal loans

Its softer borrowing requirements make some of its features — such as rate discounts, direct payment to creditors on debt consolidation loans and extra long repayment terms on home improvement loans — stand out even more. Such perks are rare among bad-credit lenders (that accept credit scores of 629 or lower).

Table of Contents

Upgrade loans at a glance

Where Upgrade personal loans stand out and fall short

How to use Upgrade personal loans

Upgrade personal loan customer reviews

Do you qualify for an Upgrade personal loan?

How to apply for an Upgrade personal loan

Compare Upgrade to other lenders

How we rate Upgrade personal loans

Upgrade personal loans at a glance

• Disclosure from Upgrade

  Personal loans made through Upgrade feature Annual Percentage Rates (APRs) of 9.99%-35.99%. All personal loans have a 1.85% to 9.99% origination fee, which is deducted from the loan proceeds. Lowest rates require Autopay and paying off a portion of existing debt directly. Loans feature repayment terms of 24 to 84 months. For example, if you receive a $10,000 loan with a 36-month term and a 17.59% APR (which includes a 13.94% yearly interest rate and a 5% one-time origination fee), you would receive $9,500 in your account and would have a required monthly payment of $341.48. Over the life of the loan, your payments would total $12,293.46. The APR on your loan may be higher or lower and your loan offers may not have multiple term lengths available. Actual rate depends on credit score, credit usage history, loan term, and other factors. Late payments or subsequent charges and fees may increase the cost of your fixed rate loan. There is no fee or penalty for repaying a loan early. Personal loans issued by Upgrade's bank partners. Information on Upgrade's bank partners can be found at https://www.upgrade.com/bank-partners/.

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Where Upgrade personal loans stand out

Multiple rate discounts: Upgrade offers more opportunities to lower your annual percentage rate than most of its competitors.

• Autopay discount: The lender offers a 0.5 percentage point discount for setting up automatic loan payments. Some lenders offer an autopay discount between 0.25 and 0.5 percentage points. This is a low-effort way to lower your APR slightly.

• Direct pay discount: For debt consolidation, Upgrade offers a rate reduction of 1 to 3 percentage points when you have the lender pay off your debts directly. You must have at least half the loan funds sent to other creditors to get the discount. Not all lenders offer direct payment to creditors, which simplifies the consolidation process, and a discount for using the feature is rare.

• Rewards checking discount: Upgrade says customers with multiple Upgrade products (such as a checking account) may get up to 20% off of their personal loan rate. So if you qualify for a 30% APR, your rate could be as low as 24%.

» COMPARE: Best debt consolidation loans

Secured and joint loans: Borrowers can get a secured or joint loan through Upgrade. These loan types may be easier to qualify for or come with a lower rate than unsecured personal loans. Upgrade accepts a vehicle as collateral and says your secured loan rate could be 1 to 10 percentage points lower than an unsecured loan.

Mobile app and credit assistance: Upgrade has a well-rated mobile app where borrowers can manage loan payments. The lender also offers free credit score monitoring, a summary of your latest credit report, a credit score simulator and the ability to track your score history. Some lenders offer a mobile app, but credit report summaries and a score simulator are rare perks.

Longer repayment term for larger loans: Upgrade offers a seven-year repayment term for home improvement loans over $12,000 and loans for other purposes that are over $30,000. Only a few lenders offer longer home improvement loan repayment terms.

» MORE: Best home improvement loans

Where Upgrade personal loans fall short

Charges origination fee: Upgrade charges an origination fee from 1.85% to 9.99%. The lender takes this fee from the loan amount before you receive the funds, reducing your total loan amount. Be sure the loan amount is still enough to cover your expense once the fee is applied. Origination fees can have a significant impact on the loan’s affordability because they increase your APR and may lower your loan amount or raise your monthly payments.

» MORE: Best loans with no origination fee

No option to choose payment date: When you get an Upgrade personal loan, the lender assigns you a repayment date. Many lenders let borrowers choose a repayment date that works best with their pay schedule. Instead, Upgrade borrowers can move their payment date within 15 days before or after their given due date. You can do this as often as you want in the app.

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How to use Upgrade personal loans

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Upgrade personal loan customer reviews

As of August 2024, Upgrade has 4.4 stars on Trustpilot, a website that collects consumer reviews. Customers mention the company’s fast application process and customer service. The lender’s mobile app received 4.7 stars across 23,500 reviews on Google Play and 4.9 stars across 50,800 reviews on the Apple App Store. Upgrade also received an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau and 4.4 stars across more than 2,000 customer reviews.

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Do you qualify for an Upgrade personal loan?

Upgrade’s borrower requirements are softer than some other lenders — a minimum credit score of 580 is one of the lowest among personal loan lenders — but the average borrower has a higher score and relatively strong income.

Here’s what you need to be eligible to apply:

• U.S. citizen or permanent resident, or living in the U.S. on a valid visa.

• At least 18 years old in most states.

• A verifiable bank account.

• A valid email address.

Upgrade's borrowing requirements

Here’s what you need to qualify for an Upgrade personal loan. (Meeting these requirements doesn’t guarantee approval.)

• Minimum credit score: 580. Upgrade uses FICO score version 9 from TransUnion.

• Minimum number of accounts on credit history: One account.

• Minimum length of credit history: Two years.

• Maximum debt-to-income ratio: 75%, including mortgage payments.

• Minimum annual income: None; this lender accepts income from a partner, alimony, retirement, child support, Social Security payments, disability benefits and other sources.

» MORE: See your bad-credit loan options

• Upgrade's average borrower snapshot

  • Average credit score: 676.

  • Average annual income: $89,000.

  • Average loan amount: $13,270.

  • Average loan term: Five years.

  • Most common loan purpose: Credit card refinancing and debt consolidation.

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How to apply for an Upgrade personal loan

Here are the steps to apply for an Upgrade loan.

1. Pre-qualify on Upgrade’s website. Start by entering a loan amount and purpose on Upgrade’s website to get to the lender’s pre-qualify form. Next, choose a joint or individual application and provide basic information like your name, address, birth date and income. Finally, create an account with your email and a password and enter your Social Security number. There’s no hard credit inquiry at this stage.

2. Preview loan offers. Qualified borrowers are shown multiple offers, including loan amounts, rates, repayment terms and monthly payments. Choose the offer that fits your budget to start a formal personal loan application.

3. Finish applying. The application may require certain documents, like W-2s and pay stubs to confirm the information you gave during pre-qualification. Upgrade will also do a hard credit check when you apply, causing your credit score to temporarily dip.

4. Get approved and receive your funds. It typically takes Upgrade one to a few business days to approve applications. The lender says it sends loan funds the day after approval. This process may take longer if you’re having Upgrade directly pay off other debts.

5. Make a plan to repay the loan. Upgrade reports payments to all three major credit bureaus, so on-time payments will help build your credit score, but missed payments will hurt it. Setting up automatic payments and keeping an eye on your budget are two ways to manage your loan payments.

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Compare Upgrade to other lenders

Personal loan lenders offer different rates, loan amounts and special features, so it pays to weigh Upgrade against other options. The best personal loan is the one with the lowest APR and most affordable monthly payments.

Upstart and Best Egg are online lenders with similar borrowing requirements to Upgrade, and both are solid options for consumers with fair or bad credit scores (689 or lower).

Upstart

» MORE: Upstart personal loan review

Best Egg

» MORE: Best Egg personal loan review

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How we rate Upgrade personal loans

NerdWallet writers rate lenders against a rubric that changes each year based on how personal loan products evolve. Here’s what we prioritized this year:

• Category definitions

  Affordability (25%)

  An affordable loan has low rates and fees compared to other similar loans and may offer rate discounts.

  Customer experience (20%)

  A good customer experience includes allowing borrowers to choose and change their repayment date, a fully online application process, a mobile app to manage the loan and a customer service team with wide availability.

  Underwriting and eligibility (20%)

  The lender reviews borrowers’ credit reports and credit history and tries to understand their ability to repay a loan. It offers loans in most states and doesn’t restrict eligibility by requiring a pre-existing relationship.

  Application process (20%)

  Borrowers can pre-qualify to check their potential rate, loan amount, repayment term and APR without affecting their credit score. They can easily find answers to questions about the personal loan on the lender’s website. The application process is fast enough to allow funding within a couple of days or less.

  Loan flexibility (15%)

  A flexible loan is one that offers a wide range of loan amounts and repayment term options. It includes common features like additional loan types and direct payment to creditors on debt consolidation loans.

  Discretionary

  A lender’s star rating can be reduced if the lender is sued by a state or federal regulator for unfair consumer practices or has been accused by a reputable source of suspicious business practices.

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