Universal Credit Personal Loans: Light on Details, Heavy on Costs [2025 Review]

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Personal loans

• Fast funding
• No prepayment penalty
• Free credit score tracking
• Offers direct creditor payments

• Higher interest rates
• Not upfront with details
• Expensive origination fee

Loan amounts	$1,000 – $50,000
Term lengths	36 – 60 months
Rates (APR)	11.69% – 35.99%
Fees	Origination fee of 5.25% – 9.99%
Min. credit score	Not published but fair/bad scores likely accepted

Universal Credit offers online personal loans ranging from $1,000 to $50,000. Its loans are on the expensive side, which—while the company doesn’t provide any specifics—often means that it’s geared toward people with lower credit scores. It’s similarly mute about other points, too, like what documents you’ll need to apply. 

All that aside, it’s worth getting preapproved for a Universal Credit personal loan if you’re shopping around just to see what it can offer you, particularly if you have bad credit. But otherwise, there’s not much else to recommend it over other lenders. 

Table of Contents

1. Universal Credit vs. Upgrade: What’s the difference?
2. How do Universal Credit personal loans work?
3. Am I eligible for a Universal Credit personal loan?
4. Pros and cons
5. Customer experiences
6. How to apply for a Universal Credit personal loan
7. Alternatives to Universal Credit
   1. Universal Credit vs. Upgrade
   2. Universal Credit vs. Upstart
   3. Universal Credit vs. OneMain Financial
8. Recap of Universal Credit personal loans

Universal Credit vs. Upgrade: What’s the difference?

Universal Credit is a registered business name for another personal loan company, Upgrade, which is much more widely known. Upgrade operates Universal Credit under a DBA (“doing business as”), which allows it to operate a different marketing channel without forming a separate formal company.

It’s possible that Upgrade may be using Universal Credit to target a slightly different market. But as it stands now, the only thing differentiating the two companies is that Universal Credit charges a slightly higher minimum APR compared to Upgrade, and it offers a wider selection of term length options. 

We attempted to contact Upgrade for more information, but it did not respond.

How do Universal Credit personal loans work?

If you’re able to qualify, you can borrow anywhere from $1,000 to $50,000 from Universal Credit, at an APR of 11.69% to 35.99%, and take between 36 and 60 months to pay it off. Here are some examples of the kind of loan payments that could work out to, at either end of the spectrum:

• A $1,000 personal loan with a 36-month term and an 11.69% APR comes with a monthly payment of $33. You’d pay a total of $190 in interest over the life of the loan.
• A $50,000 personal loan with a 60-month term and a 35.99% APR comes with a monthly payment of $1,806. You’d pay a total of $58,379 in interest over the life of the loan. 

Universal Credit says that its loans can be used for a wide range of uses, as is typical for personal loans. People commonly use personal loans for things like:

• Emergencies
• Consolidating debt 
• Moving to a new home
• Repairing or upgrading their home

Most lenders do have restrictions on what you can use the funds for, although Universal Credit doesn’t say anything about this on its website. Typically, you can’t use personal loans for things like higher education, illegal activities, gambling, adult-themed businesses, and more.

Am I eligible for a Universal Credit personal loan?

To qualify for a Universal Credit personal loan, you’ll need to meet the following requirements:

• Have a bank account
• Have an email address
• Be a U.S. citizen or legal resident
• Be at least 18 years or older (or 19, if you live in Alabama)

Universal Credit doesn’t publish a minimum credit score. It’s high APRs indicate that it will accept bad or fair credit scores. You can also apply via a marketplace, like Credible, but to do that, you’ll need a score of at least 580.

Pros and cons

Here are the most important things to know about Universal Credit’s personal loans:

Pros

• Fast funding

  If approved, Universal Credit will send the funds to your bank within one business day. 

• No prepayment penalty

  Pay off the loan anytime you want without financial repercussion. 

• Free credit score tracking

  It doesn’t specify what type of score it uses—the FICO score lenders use, or the easier-to-get VantageScore—but either way, it could help you monitor your credit-building progress.

• Offers direct creditor payments

  If you’re consolidating debt, Universal Credit can send the funds directly to your old creditors to pay them off for you.

Cons

• Higher interest rates

  Universal Credit charges a higher base interest rate on all of its loans than Upgrade. 

• Not upfront with details

  The lender doesn’t provide important details on its website, like what kind of income or credit you need to get approved. 

• Expensive origination fee

  Similar to its interest rates, Universal Credit’s origination fees start from a higher point than Upgrade. 

Customer experiences

Universal Credit isn’t a large lender, and customers haven’t left many reviews of it online. This makes it harder for new customers to get an idea of what it’s like to work with this lender.

Overall ratings on some websites, like Trustpilot, aren’t reliable either because they appear to be more full of Upgrade reviews than Universal Credit reports. In addition, reviewers also seem to be confusing Universal Credit, the lender, with Universal Credit, a U.K.-based social support program. 

If you’re to judge Universal Credit based on its twin company, Upgrade, however, signs do point to a slightly negative experience overall. Upgrade was ranked below average on J.D. Power’s 2024 survey of customer happiness among major personal loan lenders. 

How to apply for a Universal Credit personal loan

If you’re interested in seeing what Universal Credit can offer you, here’s how to check your rates and apply for the loan.

1. Complete the preapproval form: You can see in just a few minutes what your potential loan options, if any, would be with Universal Credit. It uses a soft credit pull, so it won’t impact your credit score. 

1. Accept or reject the loan offer: It’s a good idea to compare your offer with at least two other personal loan lenders; ideally, more. If you like Universal Credit’s offer compared to others, you can fill out a formal loan application, which will result in a hard credit pull.   
2. Respond to lender requests: You’ll need to supply copies of official documents anytime you apply for a loan, like your official I.D. and financial statements. Universal Credit will tell you what’s required. 
3. Receive funds: If you are approved, it’ll send the funds to your bank within one business day. It could take a few more days before the funds show up in your account, though, depending on your bank’s policies. 

Alternatives to Universal Credit

Universal Credit isn’t a very well-known lender, making it especially important to compare with other options so you know whether you’re getting a fair deal or not. Here are three lenders that offer similar personal loans:

Universal Credit vs. Upgrade

Upgrade is Universal Credit’s twin company. Aside from charging lower origination APRs and offering more term length options for those who qualify, the two don’t really provide any distinguishing information from each other. 

Universal Credit vs. Upstart

Upstart may be cheaper for qualified borrowers than Universal Credit, with much lower starting rates and origination fees. It considers more factors in assessing your application than traditional lenders, such as your education, which can make it easier for some people to qualify.

Universal Credit vs. OneMain Financial

OneMain Financial charges even higher rates than Universal Credit, but it offers even quicker cash-in-hand funding through its in-person branch network (in addition to digital loans). Plus, OneMain may accept a vehicle as collateral if you’re having a hard time getting approved.

Recap of Universal Credit personal loans