Upstart: 2025 Home Equity Review

Upstart home equity products offered 

Through its platform, Upstart has home equity lines of credit (HELOCs), in sums ranging between $26,000 and $250,000. The HELOC features a three-year draw period, with two possible repayment terms: 10 or 15 years. When opening the account, you must make a minimum draw equal to 80 percent of your credit limit (minus the origination fee). Subsequent withdrawals, or “advances,” as Upstart calls them, must be at least $5,000. You can’t have more than nine advances active at the same time during the draw period.

Each draw carries a fixed rate, based on prevailing interest rates, that’s set at the time you make it. So you may pay different amounts for different draws, though each individual draw will carry the same rate throughout the HELOC’s lifetime.

How Bankrate scored Upstart

Affordability: 5/5

• APR: Upstart’s advertised minimum APR is significantly below the Bankrate average. Its rates are currently capped at 18 percent. 
• Fees: Upstart doesn’t charge any annual fees, prepayment penalties or withdrawal fees. It does charge a one-time origination fee of up to 4.99 percent. 

Upstart’s highly competitive advertised minimum APR and minimal fees cause it to score a perfect 5 out of 5 for affordability. 

Availability: 4.5/5

• Credit score: A minimum credit score of 600 is needed to be approved for Upstart’s HELOC, an extremely low score by home equity lending standards.
• Loan products: HELOCs are its only home equity product; it doesn’t HELoans, but the HELOC withdrawals do carry a fixed rate. 
• Footprint: Upstart’s HELOCs are available in more than half of the U.S. (37 states and Washington D.C.) 
• Loan minimum: Upstart’s loans start at $26,000, a fairly typical amount.
• Draw requirement: Upstart requires you to borrow the bulk of your credit line–four-fifths of it, to be exact – when you open the HELOC.

Upstart earns a 4.5 for availability because of its low minimum credit score requirements and availability in most of the country. It gets slightly dinged because of its limited product lineup and high initial draw requirement.

Borrower experience: 3.2/5 

• Rate transparency: Unlike some lenders, Upstart doesn’t publish any interest rates on its site. You can receive a customized rate in a few minutes, provided you enter your home address and other personal and financial details (doing so won’t affect your credit score). 
• Convenience: You can complete the application entirely online and may even be able to sign your HELOC closing documents online – if you live in a county that allows remote notarizations. If you don’t, Upstart will help arrange for a mobile notary to come and witness your closing. 
• Fixed-rate options: The HELOC is in fact a fixed rate product: Each draw’s rate is set and doesn’t change. 
• Customer options: There are only two ways you can contact Upstart: by phone, Monday through Friday, or by email. 

Upstart scores a 3.2 out of 5 for borrower experience, dragged down by its lack of rate transparency and limited customer support/lack of physical locations.

Upstart’s reputation

Upstart has been Better Business Bureau accredited since 2015 and receives an A+ rating. As of Bankrate’s review, Trustpilot gives Upstart a 4.9 rating out of more than 52,000 reviews. However, Upstart has faced class action lawsuits accusing its AI lending model of being discriminatory and of inaccurately assessing credit risk.

How to qualify for a HELOC with Upstart 

Upstart’s goal is to expand home equity lending. While Upstart looks at a borrower’s credit score, debt-to-income ratio (DTI) and loan-to-value ratio (LTV) as most lenders do, its qualifications are more flexible: 

• Credit scores as low as 600 are accepted, below the minimum credit score in the mid-600s that is typically required 
• Debt-to-income ratios (DTI) can go as high as 57 percent, which is significantly more than the usual cap of 43 percent or less
• Loan-to-value ratios (LTV) can go up to 95 percent, above the common LTV cap of 80 to 85 percent

In addition, Upstart incorporates a borrower’s educational background, including their field of study and highest level completed, as part of its loan approval process — a rarity among lenders. 

How to apply for a home equity loan with Upstart 

Before you start Upstart’s application process, you can get a sense if you will qualify and at what rate. You have to enter certain personal details into information on the website. This results in a “soft inquiry" of your credit report, which won’t affect your credit score.

If you decide to move forward, you can Upstart’s application online by including the address and other information about your property, your desired credit line amount, your current employment and purpose for the funds. Then, as part of the application process, Upstart will verify your identity, details about the home and credit information. Upstart also considers non-traditional factors beyond your credit score, such as your education and area of study. 

As of May 2025, Upstart introduced instant verification for less than five percent of its users, allowing many homeowners to skip uploading most or even any documents, like paystubs or a driver's license. The company aims to roll out the verification system to about 35 percent of users in the near future. 

Provided you close with Upstart’s remote online notary and provide them documentation promptly, the closing can happen in five days or less, while funding can happen in 11 days or less. For assistance, you can reach Upstart at (833) 432-2215 between 12 pm EST and 8 pm EST, Monday through Friday or via email at heloc.support@upstartmortgage.com.