Our purpose
Personal loan marketing is built around a headline rate most applicants will never receive. We exist to publish the numbers behind the headline: what borrowers at each credit tier actually pay, what fees do to an APR, when consolidation saves money and when it does not, and which lenders disclose what. Everything is tied to a dated public source or a calculation whose inputs are shown.
Our readers are US adults comparing a personal loan, usually to consolidate credit-card debt, cover a large expense or bridge an emergency. We write for someone who has fifteen minutes, not a finance degree, and who deserves to see the trade-offs rather than a sales pitch.
What we don't do
- We are not a lender or a broker. We do not make loans, collect applications, run credit checks or make or influence credit decisions. When you click through to a lender, you deal with that lender under its terms.
- We are not a credit-repair organization and we do not offer debt settlement. Where those topics come up, we point to nonprofit credit counseling and to the CFPB and FTC.
- We do not give individual financial, legal or tax advice. Our calculators and guides are educational; your situation may differ.
- We are not affiliated with Upstart Network, Inc., the lending platform, nor with any other lender we review. Our name uses "upstart" in its ordinary sense. The Upstart review on this site is held to the same scoring rules as every other lender.
How we research and write
Sourcing
Market statistics come from primary sources: the Federal Reserve's G.19 release, TransUnion's Credit Industry Insights Report, the CFPB, the FTC, the NCUA, and lenders' own rate and fee disclosures. Secondary sources (NerdWallet, Bankrate, Credible, MoneyLion) are used to cross-check lender terms, never as the sole basis for a figure.
Dating
Every statistic carries the period it describes and the date it was published. Every page carries a "reviewed" date and names the data release that triggers its next review.
Calculations
Payment, interest and savings figures use standard amortization. Inputs are stated next to the result, and the on-page calculators run the same formulas so readers can test other assumptions.
Language
We describe trade-offs rather than recommend a single product, we name who should skip a lender, and we avoid superlatives that cannot be sourced.
Independence
Lenders cannot pay to be reviewed, to be included in a list, or to change a score, a rank or a sentence. Advertisers do not see content before publication.
Updates
Rate pages are updated within a week of each Fed G.19 release and after each monthly Bankrate reading; lender terms are re-verified monthly and after any lender announcement, such as the June 2026 LendingClub rebrand to Happen Bank.
How lender scores are built
Each lender receives a score from 1 to 5 from four weighted components. Cost (40%) considers the floor APR, the ceiling APR and, where published, the rate typical borrowers receive; a low ceiling counts for more than a low floor. Fees (20%) penalizes origination fees in proportion to their maximum, plus late, returned-payment and prepayment fees. Access (20%) rewards low or no minimum scores, soft-pull pre-qualification and tolerance for thin files and higher debt-to-income ratios. Flexibility (20%) covers amounts, terms, discounts, joint and secured options, direct payment to creditors and funding speed. The full method and the current scores are on the lender reviews page.
What we update, and when
- QuarterlyFederal Reserve G.19 personal loan and credit card rates (data for Feb, May, Aug, Nov; released about five weeks later). Rates page, homepage calculator defaults and debt-consolidation examples are refreshed within a week.
- QuarterlyTransUnion Credit Industry Insights Report (balances, borrowers, delinquency, originations by lender type). Market statistics are refreshed within a week.
- MonthlyBankrate Monitor average; NCUA credit-union comparison when published; every lender's APR range, fee schedule, minimum score and funding time.
- After each FOMC meetingFederal funds range and prime rate references (next meeting: December 9, 2026).
- ContinuouslyLender announcements, regulatory changes, reader-reported errors.
How we make money
Some links to lenders and loan marketplaces on this site are affiliate links. If you click one and later take a loan, the lender or marketplace may pay us a referral fee. That fee does not cost you anything and does not change the rate you are offered. It also does not change what we publish: scores are set by the editorial team from published terms using the weighting above, lists are ordered by score or by the fit we describe, and lenders that pay us nothing (including credit unions, which rarely run affiliate programs) are reviewed on the same basis. Pages that carry affiliate links say so at the top. Our full advertiser disclosure has the details.
Who writes and checks this
Content is produced by the UpStart Loans editorial team and checked against primary sources before publication. Bylines on each page name the team; the people behind it are listed here.
[Founder / Editor name]
Placeholder — replace with a two-sentence bio: background, relevant credentials or experience with consumer credit, and why this site exists. A real name and a photo materially improve reader trust and search visibility for financial content.
Data and verification
Pulls each Fed, TransUnion and NCUA release, re-verifies every lender's disclosures monthly, and reruns every calculation on the site before a page is republished.
Reviewer
Placeholder — ideally an accredited financial counselor (AFC®), CFP® or former lending professional who reviews pages before publication. Name, credential and a one-line bio go here.
Corrections policy
When we get something wrong, we fix it on the page and note the correction with the date at the bottom of that page. Material corrections (a wrong rate, a misattributed source, a calculation error) are logged; typographical fixes are not. If a lender's published terms change between our monthly checks, we update the page and move the "reviewed" date forward. To report an error, email [email protected] with the page URL and the figure in question; we aim to respond within two business days.
Get in touch
Editorial and corrections
Partnerships and advertising
[email protected] — note that advertising does not influence content.
Privacy requests
[email protected] · see our privacy policy
Mailing address
[Add a business mailing address — required by CAN-SPAM for any email you send, and a trust signal for readers and search engines.]
If you have a complaint about a lender, we cannot resolve it, but two agencies can: file with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and, for suspected fraud, with the Federal Trade Commission.