Avant Personal Loans: 2024 Review

An Avant personal loan is a solid fast-funding option for consumers with fair or bad credit.
Annie Millerbernd
By
Last updated on August 14, 2023
Edited by
✅ Fact checked and reviewed
Kim Lowe
Edited by
✅ Fact checked and reviewed

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Our Take

4.0

NerdWallet rating
The Nerdy headline:

Avant personal loans are an option for fair- and bad-credit borrowers who need fast funding, but they lack features that help you build credit or consolidate debt.

Jump to:Full Review
Avant
Avant

Est. APR
9.95-35.99%
Loan amount
$2,000 - $35,000
Min. credit score
550
on Avant's website
on NerdWallet

Pros & Cons

Pros

  • Fast funding.
  • Option to pre-qualify with a soft credit check.
  • Mobile app to manage loan.
  • Wide range of repayment term options.
  • Seven-day customer service availability.

Cons

  • May charge an origination fee.
  • No co-signed, joint or secured loans.
  • No direct payment to creditors on debt consolidation loans.
Compare best personal loans for bad credit
Lender
Est. APR
Loan amount
Min. credit score
Upgrade
5.0
Check Rateson NerdWallet
on NerdWallet
8.49- 35.99%
$1,000- $50,000
560
7.80- 35.99%
$1,000- $50,000
None
9.95- 35.99%
$2,000- $35,000
550
11.69- 35.99%
$1,000- $50,000
560
8.99- 35.99%
$2,000- $50,000
600
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Full Review of Avant

Avant is an online lending platform that connects fair- and bad-credit borrowers (689 or lower credit score) with personal loan lenders.

The company charges origination and late fees, but rates are consistent with other bad-credit loans. Avant also reports to all three major credit bureaus and allows consumers to check their potential loan offers via pre-qualification.

Though this company doesn’t provide certain flexible features you’ll find with other lenders, Avant personal loans are a solid choice for midsize expenses.

» MORE: See your bad-credit loan options

Table of Contents

Avant personal loans at a glance

Minimum credit score

550.

APR

9.95% - 35.99%.

Fees

  • Origination fee: 0% to 9.99%.

  • Late fee: Typically $25.

  • Returned check fee: $15.

Loan amount

$2,000 to $35,000.

Repayment terms

1 to 5 years.

Time to fund after approval

1 day.

Loan availability

Loans not available in HI, IA, ME, NY, VT or WV.

  • Minimum loan amounts may vary by state. If approved, the actual rate and loan amount that a customer qualifies for may vary based on credit determination and other factors. An administration fee of up to 9.99% will be deducted from the loan proceeds. Avant branded credit products are issued by Webbank. See New Mexico consumer brochure for common terms and definitions and regulations around rates and fees at https://www.avant.com/nm_important_consumer_information.pdf

Where Avant personal loans stand out

Fast funding: Avant says it usually approves borrowers within one business day and can deposit the funds from a personal loan into your account the next day. Fast funding is somewhat standard for online personal loans, but some lenders may take an extra day to approve applications or send funds.

Soft credit check to pre-qualify: Borrowers can pre-qualify to see the potential loan amount, annual percentage rate (APR), repayment term and monthly payment on an Avant loan. This process doesn’t affect your credit and doing so can help you understand how loan payments fit into your monthly budget. If you move forward with a loan application, the lender will do a hard credit pull, which can temporarily knock a few points off your score.

Option to change your payment date: Avant customers can’t choose their initial payment date, but they can change it up to two times during the repayment term. Other lenders may let you choose the initial payment date or change it more often, but two changes is typical for personal loans.

Mobile app: Avant has a mobile app where borrowers can make payments and see their payment history. Many other lenders have a mobile app, but some online lenders still don’t.

Where Avant personal loans fall short

Origination fee: Avant may charge an origination fee up to 9.99%. The lender deducts this fee from the loan amount before sending you the funds, reducing the loan size. Not all lenders charge an origination fee, but you may find even higher fees with other bad-credit lenders.

No co-signed, joint or secured loan option: Avant doesn’t allow borrowers to add a co-signer or co-borrower to their application, or to secure the loan with collateral. Some lenders allow applicants to add collateral or a co-applicant to improve their chances of qualifying.

No direct payment to creditors: If you use an Avant personal loan to consolidate debt, the lender won’t pay off your other lenders and credit card issuers for you. Instead, Avant sends the funds to you to distribute. Lenders that offer the direct pay feature take some of the work out of debt consolidation, and some even offer a rate discount with it.

No rate discounts: Avant doesn’t offer any chances to get a discounted APR. Many lenders offer a rate discount for setting up automatic payments — typically a fraction of a percentage point.

Do you qualify for an Avant personal loan?

You don’t need stellar credit to qualify for an Avant personal loan, but lenders often reserve the lowest rates for those with strong credit and income.

Here’s what you need to get a loan from Avant. (Meeting the minimum requirements doesn’t guarantee approval.)

  • A bank account in your name and in good standing.

  • A valid Social Security number.

  • No active bankruptcy.

  • Minimum credit score: 550. Avant uses FICO score version 8 and VantageScore version 3.

  • Minimum monthly net income: $1,200. This lender accepts income from employment, alimony, retirement, child support and Social Security payments.

Before you apply

  • Check your credit. You can get your free credit report on NerdWallet or at AnnualCreditReport.com. Doing so will help you spot and fix any errors before you apply.

  • Calculate your monthly payments. Use a personal loan calculator to determine what APR and repayment term you’d need to get a loan with affordable monthly payments.

  • Make a plan to repay the loan. Review your budget to see how the loan’s monthly payments impact your cash flow. If you have to cut other expenses in order to repay the loan, it’s better to know that before you borrow.

  • Gather your documents. Avant may require proof of income, which can be a pay stub or bank statement, as well as proof of address and a Social Security number. Having these documents handy can speed the application process.

How to apply for an Avant personal loan

Here are the steps to apply for an Avant loan, based on our experience completing the pre-qualification process.

  1. Pre-qualify on Avant’s website. Choose “Check Your Loan Options” on Avant’s website to be taken to the pre-qualification form. There, you’ll enter personal information including your name, address, birthdate, monthly income, rent or mortgage payment and email address. You’ll also enter your Social Security number, but there is no hard credit pull at this stage.

  2. Review your offers. It may take a few minutes for Avant to generate loan offers. Qualified applicants will see the loan amount they’re approved for. Avant also shows applicants how much their origination fee reduces the loan proceeds, so borrowers can decide to increase their loan amount. Finally, you’ll see a breakdown of your loan term, APR and monthly payments. You may be able to choose from more than one loan offer.

  3. Preview loan offers and accept the one that fits your budget. Once you choose a loan offer, you’ll submit a formal personal loan application. This could require more documents, like pay stubs and bank statements to confirm the information you gave during pre-qualification. Avant will also do a hard credit check when you apply, so your credit score could temporarily dip.

  4. Make a plan to repay the loan. Avant reports payments to all three major credit bureaus, so on-time payments will help build your credit score, but missed payments will hurt it. Setting up automatic payments and keeping an eye on your budget are two ways to manage your loan payments.

CHECK RATES AT AVANT

Compare Avant to other lenders

Personal loan lenders offer different rates, loan amounts and special features, so it pays to weigh other options. The best personal loan is usually the one with the lowest APR.

Achieve and Upgrade are both strong choices for borrowers with less-than-perfect credit looking to consolidate debt or finance other large expenses.

Avant vs. Achieve

Achieve personal loans may be larger and have lower rates than Avant’s, but the lender charges a similar origination fee. Unlike Avant, Achieve offers multiple ways to discount your personal loan rate, including directly paying off creditors on debt consolidation loans and adding a co-borrower.

Achieve stands out for its strong focus on debt consolidation. The lender also has dedicated loan consultants to walk you through the application process. Achieve’s one- to three-day funding time is slightly longer than Avant’s.

Avant vs. Upgrade

Upgrade personal loans offer solid financing for debt consolidation or home improvement projects. Unlike Avant, borrowers can have Upgrade pay other creditors directly on debt consolidation loans — and get a rate discount for it — or take advantage of the extended seven-year repayment term on larger home improvement loans.

Upgrade also provides secured and joint personal loans, while Avant offers only unsecured loans. Upgrade funds loans as quickly as Avant, though approval may take a few days.

How we rate Avant personal loans

NerdWallet writers rate lenders against a rubric that changes each year based on how personal loan products evolve. Here’s what we prioritized this year:

Category

Star rating

Affordability

Underwriting

Loan flexibility

Transparency

Customer experience

Overall

  • Affordability (30%) An affordable loan has low rates and fees compared to other similar loans and may offer rate discounts.

    Underwriting and eligibility (25%) The lender reviews borrowers credit reports and credit history, and tries to understand their ability to repay a loan, before making a final application decision.

    Loan flexibility (20%) A flexible loan is one that lets users customize terms and payments. That means offering a wide range of repayment term options, allowing the borrower to change their payment date, offering loans in most states and funding it quickly.

    Customer experience (15%) A good customer experience can include a fully online application process, financial education on the lender’s website and a customer service team that’s available most of the time and can be reached multiple ways.

    Transparency (10%) A transparent lender makes information about the loan easy to find on its website, including rates, terms and loan amounts. Transparency also means allowing users to pre-qualify online to preview potential loan offers and reporting payment information with the major credit bureaus.

on Avant's website

Find the Best Personal Loan

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Methodology

NerdWallet’s review process evaluates and rates personal loan products from more than 35 technology companies and financial institutions. We collect over 50 data points from each lender and cross-check company websites, earnings reports and other public documents to confirm product details. We may also go through a lender’s pre-qualification flow and follow up with company representatives. NerdWallet writers and editors conduct a full fact check and update annually, but also make updates throughout the year as necessary.

Our star ratings award points to lenders that offer consumer-friendly features, including: soft credit checks to pre-qualify, competitive interest rates and no fees, transparency of rates and terms, flexible payment options, fast funding times, accessible customer service, reporting of payments to credit bureaus and financial education. Our ratings award fewer points to lenders with practices that may make a loan difficult to repay on time, such as charging high annual percentage rates (above 36%), underwriting that does not adequately assess consumers’ ability to repay and lack of credit-building help. We also consider regulatory actions filed by agencies like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. We weigh these factors based on our assessment of which are the most important to consumers and how meaningfully they impact consumers’ experiences.

NerdWallet does not receive compensation for our star ratings. Read more about our ratings methodologies for personal loans and our editorial guidelines.

Frequently asked questions

  • Avant is an online lender that provides personal loans in 44 states. Loan APRs don't exceed 36%, which is the maximum rate most consumer advocates say an affordable loan should have. Though Avant charges late and origination fees, rates are consistent with other bad-credit lenders.

  • Avant says it generally approves loan applications within one business day. Once approved, the lender says funds are generally deposited via ACH the following day.

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