Personal Loan Comparison: Avant Personal Loan ($2K – $35K) vs. Upstart Personal Loan ($1K-$50K)

We’re going to compare Avant Personal Loans to Upstart Personal loans across 11 criteria. We’ve spent years working in the lending industry and we track dozens of lenders. We want to break down these two lender so you can see which one might be better for your situation.

The first thing we are going to look at is the loan amounts that Avant & Upstart offer for Personal Loans.

Avant’s personal loan minimum loan amount is $2,000 and Upstart personal loan will issue loans as low as $1,000. So, if you are looking for a little bit of money to handle an emergency, Upstart offers a little more flexibility on the low side. If you are looking for a more substantial amount of money, Avant will lend as much as $35,000 while Upstart will lend up to $50,000. Upstart has more flexibility on the high side. 

For both of these lenders, it’s important to remember that the amount that they offer you will depend on your particular financial situation. Loans from Avant have terms between 1 and 5 years. Upstart’s terms range from 3 to 5 years. I am a little concerned about 3 years being the lowest term length. You should be cautious about taking a loan under $3,000 with a term that long. That will mean paying interest a lot longer than you really should. 

Avant’s minimum APR is 9.95% and Upstart’s minimum is 7.80%.

7.8% is a great rate, but probably only about 10% of their applicants could expect to see a rate that low. Still, it’s lower than Avant, so we will highlight that as a point for Upstart. Both of them have maximum APRs that cap out at 35.99%.

Avant charges an origination fee up to 9.99% for a personal loan while Upstart’s origination fee ranges between no fee at all all the way up to 12% for a personal loan. Zero is a great number, but 12% is about as high as I ever see origination fees, so I will probably say Avant wins this category. But, it will really depend on what they offer you. The origination fee is a percentage of the borrowed amount and comes out of the proceeds of the loan. So, if you borrow $10,000 and have a 5% origination fee, you will receive $9,500 but will still need to repay the $10,000. Remember that the origination fee is accounted for in the APR. The APR is the origination fee plus the interest rate. All things being equal, you want a lower origination fee if you plan on paying off your loan early. Paying off early will save you on the interest you would have paid, but you don’t get a reimbursement of the origination fee. 

Both Avant and Upstart target borrowers who have fair credit scores for personal loans.

Based on my research, I am guessing these are the rough FICO ranges of their customers. Of course, the lower you go down in their ranges, the less likely you are to be approved. These are guidelines. Lenders don’t usually use credit score to determine eligibility.  They usually use other information some of which is found in your credit file: payment history, debt-to-income ratios, utilization, stuff like that. 

Neither of these lenders will accept a cosigner on the loan. Cosigners can help improve your chances of being approved or scoring a lower rate. But, they won’t accept them. 

Avant charges a $25 late fee, which is a rather hefty fee. Not the highest in the industry, but certainly higher than most. Upgrade charges $15 or 5% of the late amount, whichever is higher. I am going to give this category to Upstart because at least you have the chance of a lower late fee. 

Both companies will charge other fees as well. Avant charges a $15 dishonored payment fee if they attempt to take a payment and the check bounces or there’s not enough money in the account when they attempt to make an ACH draw. Upgrade charges a similar fee that they call an ACH return. They will also charge you if you want paper copies of the loan agreement, bills, stuff like that. Avant gets credit for having a one fewer fee. 

So let’s summarize what we’ve learned. 

Personal Loan Comparison Summary Table: Avant Personal Loan ($2K - $35K) vs. Upstart Personal Loan ($1K-$50K)
Personal Loan Comparison Summary Table: Avant Personal Loan ($2K – $35K) vs. Upstart Personal Loan ($1K-$50K)

You can see that Upstart Personal Loans win more of the categories than Avant Personal Loans do. But, for many people, the most important two things are whether they can get the money they need at the lowest possible price. If Avant would give you the money you need at a lower cost, there’s no reason you shouldn’t go with them. That’s why we always recommend that before you accept a loan, you should shop around. Find the best deal. At The Yukon Project, we’ve tried to make shopping around easy. If you visit our marketplace page, you can apply to any one of our other featured lenders. Behind the scenes, we will check your rate with up to 40 other lenders. Our partners use a soft credit check, so applying won’t hurt your credit score. We will show you all of the approved offers so you can pick the loan that’s best for you.

If you have any questions about either one of these lenders that we didn’t cover, leave a comment below and we will try and answer it. If you found this video useful, please like it and subscribe to our channel. Thanks for watching. 

Stop paying the high interest rates from carrying a monthly balance on your credit card!

Soft Credit Pull, Up To 40 Lenders at Once, See what you’re approved for!

Picture of Jonathan Walker

Jonathan Walker