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7 personal loans like Upgrade

These online lenders offer quick loans to fair credit, often at a lower cost.

Upgrade offers fast online loans that prioritize cash flow over your credit score when you apply. They’re a good option if your credit is less-than-perfect, but you have at least $1,000 in income after expenses each month.

It’s flexible about repayments, with a hardship program that allows you to change your due date. But Upgrade’s rates are on the high end, running from 7.99% to 35.99% APR. And origination fees run as high as 9.99%.

There are other lenders out there like Upgrade. These lenders offer similar fast loans to fair credit borrowers. Some have lower rates and fees and others may be more flexible when it comes to cash flow.

Our 7 top picks for sites like Upgrade

Alternative for customer satisfaction: Best Egg

Best Egg personal loans

8.6 Great

Go to site Read review
Best Egg gets rave reviews from customers. It also has relatively low rates from 7.99% to 35.99% and fees that are lower than Upgrade — but not the lowest available. It accepts fair credit, though you'll need a 640 credit score to qualify. And you're limited to loans from $2,000 to $35,000.
Min. credit score640
APR7.99% to 35.99%
Loan amount$2,000 to $50,000
  • Not available in: Iowa, Vermont, West Virginia

Alternative for your first loan: Upstart

Upstart personal loans

8.3 Great

Go to site Read review
Both Upstart and Upgrade work with borrowers who have fair credit and offer similar rates and fees. The main difference is that Upstart is a little more expensive and can accept lower credit scores, depending on where you live. But if you've never taken out a loan before, you may find a better deal with this provider than upgrade. This online lender looks at your career and education when you apply for a loan.
Min. credit score300
APR7.40% to 35.99%
Loan amount$1,000 to $50,000
  • Not available in: Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, West Virginia

Alternative for bad credit but otherwise strong finances

Integra Credit installment loans

8.2 Great

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Integra Credit specializes in financing for bad credit borrowers, similar to NetCredit. Its installment loans range from $500 to $3,000 with between 10 and 21 months to repay the funds. These are more costly than Upgrade's personal loans, with rates ranging from 149% to 399%. And while the short loan terms and lack of prepayment penalties can help you save on the high interest rate, it also means your monthly payment might be higher than it would be with Upgrade. Integra only serves some states, so check to make sure it's available where you live before you apply.
Loan amount$500 - $3,000
Turnaround timeUsually within minutes
  • Available in: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin

Alternative for building credit: LendingPoint

LendingPoint personal loans

6.6 Standard

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This online lender accepts credit scores as low as 585 with relatively low fees compared to Upgrade. It offers the option for bimonthly repayments to fit your pay schedule, which can help you stay on track. The maximum loan is only $36,500 — but you may struggle to qualify for a higher amount before building up your credit score.
Min. credit scoreNot stated
APR7.99% to 35.99%
Loan amount$2,000 to $36,500
  • Not available in: Nevada, West Virginia

Alternative for self-employed borrowers: Avant

Avant personal loans

6.9 Standard

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Avant has a low credit score requirement of around 550 to 580, and is one of the few lenders that accepts self-employed income. Upgrade's credit score requirement is higher at 620.

But Avant's rates are slightly higher than Upgrade, starting at 9.95%. However, Avant's administrative fee caps at 4.75%, and Upstart's origination fee can be as high as 8.99%. These fees are deducted from your loan before delivery. But Avant's maximum loan amount is much lower than Upgrade's, maxing out at only $35,000.

Min. credit score550
APR9.95% to 35.99%
Loan amount$2,000 to $35,000
  • Not available in: Iowa, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Virginia, West Virginia

Alternative for when you already have debt: Prosper

Prosper personal loans

6.8 Standard

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Prosper is a peer-to-peer platform that accepts people with relatively high debt-to-income ratios (DTI). Where most lenders require a DTI of 43% or below, Propser will go as high as 50%. This makes it a good option for debt consolidation. But its origination fee starts at a high 2.41%. And you must have a 640 credit score or higher.
Min. credit score600
APR8.99% to 35.99%
Loan amount$2,000 to $50,000
  • Not available in: Iowa, North Dakota, West Virginia

Alternative for joint applicants: Achieve

Achieve personal loans

6.8 Standard

Go to site Read review

Achieve (formally FreedomPlus) is one of the few personal loan providers that accepts cosigners and coapplicants — most lenders don't allow cosigners on unsecured personal loans. Additionally, Achieve offers a rate discount up to 6% if you bring along a joint applicant. If you're consolidating debt and allow Achieve to send at least 85% of your loan funds directly to your creditors for debt consolidation, you may get an additional rate discount up to 4%.

Rates range from 8.99% to 29.99% — the maximum rate is much lower than Upstart's 35.97%. And if you bring a cosigner or coappliant, you may qualify for a better APR or loan terms overall. Achieve's origination fee is lower, ranging from 1.99% to 6.99%. But Achieve is unavailable in 11 states, and Upgrade is available everywhere except Iowa, West Virginia and Washington D.C.

Min. credit score620
APR8.99% to 29.99%
Loan amount$5,000 to $50,000
  • Available in: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington

Compare more personal loans

Select your credit score range and state to see more lenders that might be available to you.

Product Finder Score APR Min. credit score Loan amount
Finder score
7.99% to 35.99%
640
$2,000 to $50,000
Fast and easy personal loan application process. See options first without affecting your credit score.
Finder score
6.94% to 25.79%
Good to excellent credit
$5,000 to $100,000
Borrow up to $100,000 with low rates and no fees.
Finder score
6.94% to 35.99%
Fair to excellent credit
$1,000 to $200,000
Get personalized prequalified rates in minutes and then choose an offer from a selection of top online lenders.
Money logo
Finder score
8.99% to 29.99%
620
$5,000 to $50,000
Consolidate debt and more with these low-interest loans. Cosigners welcome.
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What is the Finder Score?

The Finder Score crunches 6+ types of personal loans across 50+ lenders. It takes into account the product's interest rate, fees and features, as well as the type of loan eg investor, variable, fixed rate - this gives you a simple score out of 10.

Read the full Finder Score breakdown

How Upgrade compares

You can find out more about how Upgrade works by reading our Upgrade review. In the meantime, here are the highlights.

Upgrade is better suited for fair credit borrowers with stable income. It requires you to have at least $1,000 leftover after paying all other expenses, and prefers credit scores 580+. While Upgrade is more flexible with credit score requirements than more traditional lenders, like banks and credit unions, it’s not the cheapest option.

Upgrade charges an origination fee from 1.85% to 9.99% — this fee is deducted from your loan amount before delivery, and if you’re charged the highest fee, that’s a pretty penny. Upgrade also has higher rates than other providers, ranging from 7.99% to 35.99%.

Pros

  • Fast application and turnaround time
  • Hardship program
  • Fair credit OK
  • Accepts joint applicants

Cons

  • High max APR
  • High origination fee up to 9.99%
  • Strict income requirements
Anna Serio's headshot
Written by

Editor

Anna Serio was a lead editor at Finder, specializing in consumer and business financing. A trusted lending expert and former certified commercial loan officer, Anna's written and edited more than 1,000 articles on Finder to help Americans strengthen their financial literacy. Her expertise and analysis on personal, student, business and car loans has been featured in publications like Business Insider, CNBC and Nasdaq, and has appeared on NBC and KADN. Anna holds an MA in Middle Eastern studies from the American University of Beirut and a BA in Creative Writing from Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College, CUNY. See full bio

Anna's expertise
Anna has written 158 Finder guides across topics including:
  • Personal, business, student and car loans
  • Building credit
  • Paying off debt
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