Upstart Personal Loans Review, August 2025

What are Upstart personal loans best for?

Best for loan prequalification

Prequalification is often the first step before applying for a loan. It can give you an idea of the interest rate you could get, along with how much you might qualify to borrow, and what repayment terms are likely available to you — in only a few minutes and it doesn't hurt your credit. But not everyone can prequalify for a loan. For instance, some lenders have high minimum credit score or income requirements that might make you ineligible for a loan with them. 

With Upstart, more people were able to prequalify relative to all other lenders on the Credible personal loan marketplace. A prequalification quote can give you a basis by which to compare potential loans and loan options  — especially if you're deciding between using a credit card with a high APR or a personal loan. Though it's not a guarantee of approval, it's a good tool to help you make more informed borrowing decisions. 

Great for fast loans and fair credit

Upstart is one of the fastest lenders to send money of all Credible partners — getting funds to approved borrowers in two days, on average. Plus, it's suitable for different credit profiles. If you have excellent credit, you could qualify for Upstart's lowest rates, which are very competitive. But if you don't, you may be more likely to qualify for a loan with Upstart relative to other lenders. 

Upstart’s AI allows a more personalized and accurate approach to lending by adding more factors to the application algorithm, such as education. These extra factors might better predict who is creditworthy. Additionally, the use of AI can greatly speed up the application process.

The result is that more borrowers can be approved for a personal loan from an Upstart partner bank or credit union, and loans can be funded as soon as the day after applying.

Pros and cons

Pros

• A variety of loan amounts: Loans between $1,000 and $75,000 are available. But the highest amount you can borrow depends on what you qualify for based on your application.
• Low minimum APR: Upstart's lowest APR is the second-lowest of all Credible partner lenders (LightStream's starting rate is a smidge lower).
• Easier qualification: You might qualify for a loan through Upstart even with poor credit. The application process considers extra factors such as education and work experience.
• Fast turnaround time: If you accept a loan offered to you before 5 p.m. EST Monday through Friday, your loan will be funded the next business day. If you accept a loan after that time, you’ll get funds the following business day.

Cons

• Potentially high interest rate: Your annual percentage rate (APR) could be as high as 35.99%.
• Fees: Upstart charges an origination fee between 0% and 15% of the loan amount, a late payment fee of 5% of the past due amount or $15, a bank or check return fee of $15, and $10 for paper copies.
• No cosigners or joint loans: Upstart doesn’t allow cosigners on personal loans. Also, spousal income isn’t considered.
• Mixed customer reviews: Upstart has a low star rating from customer reviews on the BBB website and comes in below average in J.D. Power's 2025 Consumer Lending Satisfaction Study. But customer reviews on Trustpilot give it an average 4.9 out of 5 stars.

Upstart average interest rates

Upstart average loan amounts

People with higher credit scores are more likely to be approved for higher loan amounts. In part, this is because monthly payments are lower if you can qualify for a low APR and select the same loan term.

How to qualify

To qualify for an Upstart personal loan, you must meet the following requirements:

• Have a verifiable name, birthdate, and Social Security number
• Be at least 18 years old
• Meet credit score requirements. (See credit score and financial history below.) If you have no credit score, you must have recently graduated or be enrolled in an associate’s, bachelor’s, or a more advanced degree program from an accredited school.
• Have a U.S. address
• Have an email account
• Have a job, a job offer, or another source of income
• Have a bank account from a U.S. financial institution

Credit score and financial history

Upstart has no minimum credit score to qualify; the final decision depends on the lender. The following also applies:

• A debt-to-income ratio (DTI) of no more than 50% — the exceptions are for residents of Connecticut, Maryland, New York, and Vermont, who can’t exceed 45%. Your DTI in this case doesn’t include your rent or mortgage payment
• No bankruptcies within the past 12 months
• No current delinquent accounts
• Fewer than 6 inquiries on your credit report within the last six months
• No material adverse change in your credit profile between the time you’re offered the loan and the funding of the loan

Income and employment

Here’s what Upstart requires for income and employment:

• A pay stub from within the last 30 days to verify your income
• An offer letter if you have a job, but haven’t started yet
• If you’ve been an independent contractor for more than one year, you’ll need to provide a 1040 tax return
• If you’ve been an independent contractor for less than a year, you’ll need to provide your offer letter. Rideshare and food delivery workers need to have been receiving income for at least a year
• Self-employed people need to have worked for at least 1 year and provide a 1040 tax form from the previous year

Related: Personal Loans To Consider If You're Self-Employed

Upstart personal loan purposes

You can use an Upstart personal loan for many purposes. Common uses include weddings, debt consolidation, medical expenses, vacations, home improvements, student debt, and moving expenses.

Loan fees and penalties

Upstart personal loan fees and penalties include an origination fee between 0% and 15% of the loan amount, a late payment fee of 5% of the past due amount or $15, a bank or check return fee of $15, and $10 for paper copies.

Loan origination fees

Upstart charges include an origination fee between 0% and 15% of the loan amount. If you were to take out a $10,000 loan, for example, and were charged a 15% origination fee, that would be $1,500, which would be deducted from your loan before the remaining $8,500 is delivered to you.

No early repayment penalties

Upstart has no early repayment penalties. You can repay the loan at any time.

How Upstart compares to other lenders

How to contact Upstart

You can contact Upstart by sending a message through the contact form found on Upstart’s website, by calling the company at 650-204-1000 or 1-855-438-8778, or by sending an email to [email protected].

About Upstart personal loans

Upstart, an AI lending marketplace, connects millions of borrowers to over 100 banks and credit unions. It isn’t a lender itself.  What sets it apart is its use of artificial intelligence (AI) to process loan applications. Using a proprietary AI loan model, Upstart says it can better predict repayment results for each loan. If this is true, applicants who might not have been approved using the old application models might now be approved using Upstart.

Rating Upstart personal loans

To establish star ratings, Credible evaluated 32 lenders across 1,216 data points based on the following weighted categories:

• 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%

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. Each data point is verified by a senior editor to make sure it's accurate at the time of publication.

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