Achieve Personal Loans Review

Achieve gives you the option of working with a dedicated loan consultant for customized support, and can be a great choice for debt consolidation loans and joint personal loans. But the company won't be the best fit for everyone. Here's what you need to know about the benefits and drawbacks, qualification requirements, and features of Achieve personal loans.

Who are Achieve personal loans best for?

Best for rate discounts and debt consolidation

Achieve offers direct payment to your creditors on debt consolidation loans, and you may even qualify for a lower rate if you use the majority of the loan funds to pay off qualifying debt directly. You could also qualify for a rate discount if you apply with a co-borrower or show proof of sufficient retirement savings. 

Great for personalized customer support

If you're pre-approved for an Achieve personal loan, you can ask to be contacted by a dedicated loan consultant or complete the application process by email. Achieve also has a great reputation for customer service, with a 4.8/5-star Trustpilot rating. The financial company is also BBB-accredited with an A+ rating.

Pros and cons

Pros

• Multiple discount opportunities: You may get a rate discount for applying with a qualified co-borrower, showing proof of sufficient retirement savings, or opting for Achieve to pay your creditors directly if you're using the loan for debt consolidation.
• Excellent digital tools: The Achieve MoLO app is highly rated and includes money management features.
• Flexible repayment options: You may have the option to choose a repayment term of 2, 3, 4, or 5 years, and the lender offers flexible payment dates and allows you to repay your loan early without penalty.
• Fast funding: Achieve can offer same-day loan approval if you complete your application early enough on a business day, and loans are generally funded in 24-72 hours.

Cons

• Origination fee: Achieve charges an origination fee between 1.99% and 8.99% that is deducted upfront from the loan proceeds. Origination fees aren't uncommon, but borrowers with good or excellent credit may qualify for a personal loan with no origination fee from other lenders, such as LightStream or Citi.
• High minimum loan amount: Achieve's minimum borrowing amount is $5,000 direct via its website and $20,000 through Credible — not ideal if you need a small loan.
• Not available in all states: Achieve doesn't lend to residents of 11 states.

How to qualify for an Achieve personal loan

Your credit score and financial history

Achieve requires a minimum credit score of 700 through Credible. If you don't meet the minimum requirements, approval may still be possible if you apply with a co-borrower who has a strong credit score. Achieve will also evaluate your outstanding debt balance. While the company doesn't publish a maximum debt-to-income ratio (DTI), most lenders won't approve borrowers with a DTI greater than 36%.

Your income and employment

Achieve doesn't disclose a specific minimum income requirement, but the company requires applicants to provide proof of income and employment status. You'll need sufficient income to manage repaying your loan, but you don't necessarily need to be a W-2 employee — Achieve works with self-employed individuals and may accept alternative sources of income, such as alimony, pension payments, and rental income.

Related: How To Get a Personal Loan If You're Unemployed

Achieve personal loan purposes

You can use an Achieve personal loan for almost any household expense, including:

• Credit card refinancing
• Debt consolidation
• Major purchases
• Home improvement
• Travel and moving expenses
• Medical bills
• Weddings

Though Achieve allows loan use for the above purposes, generally, through Credible you can only use an Achieve loan for credit card refinancing or debt consolidation.

Related: What Can't You Use a Personal Loan For?

Achieve personal loans fees and penalties

Loan origination fees

Many lenders charge origination fees to cover their costs when issuing a personal loan, including Achieve's lending partner, Cross River Bank. Depending on your credit score and other financial factors, you may be charged an origination fee between 1.99% and 8.99% of the loan amount, deducted upfront. Note that the origination fee is included in the APR, which is the annual borrowing cost as a percentage of the loan amount, including the interest rate and upfront fees.

Learn More: APR vs. Interest Rate on a Personal Loan: What To Know

Early repayment penalties

Achieve doesn't charge prepayment penalties. You can make extra payments on your loan or repay the entire balance early to save money on interest.

Other fees

Achieve doesn't disclose incidental fees like late fees and insufficient funds fees. These fees may vary by state. Be sure to check your loan agreement for potential charges.

How Achieve compares to other lenders

Achieve's track record of customer satisfaction is impressive relative to many of its competitors, and the company offers unique rate discounts. While Achieve's APR range is competitive, borrowers with excellent credit may find lower personal loan rates and low or no fees elsewhere. On the other hand, borrowers with bad credit won't qualify for a loan from Achieve.

Here's how Achieve compares to two similar lenders, SoFi and Upgrade.

How Achieve compares to more lenders: Best Personal Loans

How to contact Achieve

If you need help with your existing loan or have questions about your application, you can contact an Achieve loan expert at 1-800-920-0045 or send a message online.

About Achieve personal loans

Achieve, formerly known as FreedomPlus, is a digital finance company founded in 2002 by Brad Stroh and Andrew Housser. The company has served more than 1.5 million customers and helped fund more than $13 billion in loans. In addition to personal loans, which are originated by Cross River Bank, Achieve offers home equity loans, home equity lines of credit (HELOCs), debt resolution services, and free digital tools.

Rating Achieve personal loans

Credible evaluated 32 lenders across 1,216 data points based on customer experience, minimum fixed interest rates, maximum loan amounts, funding times, loan terms, fees, discounts, third-party reviews, and more. Credible's team of experts gathered information from each lender's website and from our partners directly. We also considered each of our partner lenders' statistics over a 12-month period — including average funding times, average credit scores for approved applicants, and average rates.

Learn more about how Credible rates lenders by exploring our personal loans lender rating methodology.

We assigned a numerical value to each attribute based on how that feature compared with the same feature for every other lender in the set. Attributes were grouped into categories, scores were compiled, and categories were weighted according to their relative importance — for instance, rates and fees were weighted highest since loan cost is among the most important factors in determining loan value.

• Rates and fees: 18.75%
• Eligibility and options for bad and no credit: 17.5%
• Availability: 12.5%
• Loan amounts and terms: 10%
• Customer satisfaction: 10%
• Customer service: 10%
• Efficiency and fund delivery: 10%
• Discounts: 7.5%
• Credible proprietary data: 3.75%
   

We also considered each of our partner lenders' statistics over a 12-month period — including average funding times, average credit scores for approved applicants, and average rates. Learn more about how Credible rates lenders by exploring our full personal loans lender rating methodology.

*Timothy Moore contributed to the writing of this article