Best Egg review: Personal loans for borrowers with good credit
Rating as of based on a review of services November 14, 2022.
Ranking
8/10
Best Egg is an online lender, offering personal loans from $2,000 all the way up to $50,000 to fund anything from debt consolidation to weddings. Their loan products have interest rates as low as 7.99% and no prepayment penalties, but you may be charged a steep, one-time origination fee upfront — as much as 8.99%.
Are you planning a wedding? Preparing for a vacation abroad? Do you have mounting credit card debt? Have you dreamed of renovating your kitchen or bathroom?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you may find a friend in Best Egg.
Best Egg offers personal loans for a variety of financial needs and goals. If you need cash fast, Best Egg typically deposits your loan amount directly into your bank account within 3 days. You can request as little as $2,000 or as much as $50,000, and while loan terms range from three to five years, customers can pay back their loans early with no prepayment penalties.
With that said, every product has its pros and cons. Read on to discover what Best Egg has to offer.
What is Best Egg?
Best Egg is an online lending platform that provides competitive unsecured and secured personal loans, among other financial products like credit cards. Best Egg offers a wide range of terms and loan amounts, and their personal loans are available for everything from credit card refinancing to vacations abroad. Best Egg’s unsecured and secured loans are offered through Cross River Bank and Blue Ridge Bank.
Best Egg has been around for less than a decade, beginning in 2014, but they’ve seen tremendous growth and have garnered an impressive reputation in that short period of time. At the start of 2021, the company had provided more than $15 billion in loans since their founding. Additionally, Best Egg boasts an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau and overwhelmingly positive reviews online.
Pros & cons of Best Egg
Pros
- Fast access to cash — Roughly half of Best Egg’s customers receive cash in their account the day after they’ve applied for a loan.
- Wide range of loan amounts — Best Egg provides personal loans as small as $2,000 and as large as $50,000, which customers can use for a variety of needs. (Note: Loan limits vary in some states, and you will need a special code offer to be eligible for a $50,000 personal loan.)
- Change your due date — Another convenient perk available to Best Egg personal loan customers is you can log in to your account and change your due date (select any option between the 1st and 26th of the month). You must meet certain qualifications to be eligible for this feature.
Cons
- Steep origination fees — Best Egg charges a one-time origination fee between 0.99% and 8.99%, which is automatically deducted from your loan, before the loan amount is deposited into your account. Not only are these rates high compared to some competitors, but some lenders don’t charge an origination fee at all.
- No mobile app — While Best Egg does technically offer a mobile app experience, it is only available for Best Egg credit card users and not for those with a personal loan.
- Loans not available in some states — Best Egg does not offer personal loans to residents of Iowa, Vermont, West Virginia, the District of Columbia, or U.S. Territories, and loan limits may vary in some states (for example, residents of Massachusetts have a minimum loan amount of $6,500, rather than $3,500).
How does Best Egg work?
To receive a Best Egg personal loan, you’ll begin with their online application. Fortunately, applying is a breeze.
Best Egg provides personal loans for a number of different needs, but the application process looks similar no matter your motive. That being said, you are welcome to browse their many educational articles, such as those that explain how to pay for a home renovation or cover the differences between debt consolidation and credit card refinancing, before moving forward with your application.
You can also take advantage of their personal loan calculator to estimate the monthly payments for your desired loan amount and terms.
Source: Best Egg
When you’re ready to apply, click the “Check My Rate” button. From there, Best Egg will request an email address to get started.
This initial pre-qualification process takes just a few minutes, and it will not impact your credit score. However, if you choose to accept a Best Egg loan offer, you will have a hard credit inquiry on your credit report, which could impact your score.
Source: Best Egg
Once you’ve been pre-qualified and selected the loan offer that works with your budget, you’ll have to complete a more comprehensive application process before you can receive your loan funds.
Best Egg requests basic personal details, including your name, physical address, phone number, and date of birth. They’ll also ask for your Social Security number, to check your credit history, as well as information on your employment and income to get a feel for your finances.
The application won’t take long and getting your loan funds won’t either. In fact, 50% of Best Egg’s customers receive the money for their loan the day after applying. Once your loan request has been approved, you’ll also receive an email with information about your loan, including your account number. A couple days after that, you’ll be able to manage your account and make payments online.
Best Egg fees
You’ll of course have to pay back your Best Egg loan over time and in fees, primarily through interest and a one-time origination fee.
Interest rate
Best Egg personal loans come with an APR between 7.99% and 35.99%. Your rate depends on a number of factors, such as your loan terms and credit history, and it will be fixed for the life of the loan.
Origination fee
Best Egg charges a one-time origination fee that is included in the principal loan amount. This cost ranges from 0.99% to 8.99% of the full loan amount and will be deducted from the funds Best Egg deposits into your bank account.
This is one of Best Egg’s more prominent “cons,” since not all lenders charge an origination fee for their personal loan products.
Best Egg features
No prepayment penalties
While Best Egg does charge a steep origination fee for their personal loan products, they make up for this drawback in other ways. For instance, borrowers can repay their Best Egg personal loan at any time without suffering a prepayment penalty.
Modify your payment date for free
One of the unique features Best Egg offers its customers is the ability to change your payment date online. You do need to meet some qualifications to be eligible for this feature (such as being current on all payments), but once the opportunity is available to you, all you have to do is log in to your Best Egg account and select any due date between the 1st and 26th of the month.
Monitor your credit score
With Best Egg Financial Health, you can not only monitor your credit score with ease, but you can see how different financial decisions, such as applying for an auto loan, might impact your credit report in the future. This tool allows you to make informed choices about your money before spending it.
Direct pay option to creditors
Nearly 80% of Best Egg customers select “debt consolidation” as their personal loan need. In recognition of this majority, Best Egg created a Direct Pay option for qualified applicants. This feature cuts out the middleperson, in a sense, and sends the personal loan funds directly to creditors as opposed to the borrower.
My experience researching Best Egg
Although I do not have a personal loan with Best Egg, I’ve spent significant time and energy researching their products. That said, here is my impression of the company as an impartial prospective borrower.
On their main web pages, Best Egg leads with their most attractive benefits, namely the company’s strong reputation (overwhelmingly positive reviews and an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau) and ability to provide cash fast (customers receive cash in one to three business days). But as I dug around for information outside of their site, I discovered some of the company’s drawbacks.
For instance, Best Egg offers a Direct Pay option to creditors, but I found little information about this feature, and what I could find was outdated. Additionally, when compared to other lenders, it became clear to me that Best Egg’s products cater to clients with solid finances. For instance, only those customers with a FICO score of 700 and a minimum individual annual income of $100,000 are eligible to receive Best Egg’s best APR of 7.99%.
To be clear, after thorough research, I do not believe Best Egg is an inferior or unreliable lender, but I will say that Best Egg personal loans are not suited to every borrower.
Who is Best Egg best for?
Those who need cash quickly
One of Best Egg’s most attractive features is its speed. Not only is the application process relatively fast, but once a customer has accepted a loan offer from Best Egg, they’ll receive funds in their bank account in just one to three days. In fact, nearly half of Best Egg borrowers get cash deposited into their account the day after they’ve applied!
Borrowers who want to consolidate credit card debt
Nearly 80% of Best Egg applicants select “debt consolidation” as their reason for seeking a personal loan. The company provides a wealth of helpful resources to assist these customers, including their Direct Pay option, which allows borrowers to have funds sent directly to creditors.
Borrowers with good credit
If you have a credit score of 640 or more, you may be eligible for a Best Egg personal loan (other conditions apply). However, to qualify for Best Egg’s lowest available APR (7.99%), you will need a credit score of 700 or more and a minimum individual annual income of $100,000.
Who shouldn’t use Best Egg?
Mobile app lovers
Best Egg does provide a mobile experience for their credit card customers, but they do not currently offer a mobile app for their borrowers. This said, customers who prefer to manage their finances on their phone may prefer an alternative lender.
Residents of some states (ineligible)
If you live in Iowa, Vermont, West Virginia, the District of Columbia, or U.S. Territories, you should consider an alternative lender, as Best Egg does not offer personal loan products in these states.
Additionally, Best Egg has varying minimum loan amounts for certain states: residents of Massachusetts have a minimum loan amount of $6,500; New Mexico and Ohio, $5,000; and Georgia, $3,000.
Borrowers with poor credit
From my research, Best Egg doesn’t spend their marketing dollars and energy catering to borrowers with poor or fair credit. If you have a credit score of 640 or more, you may be eligible for a Best Egg personal loan (other conditions apply), but the best APR (7.99%) is reserved for those borrowers with a credit score of at least 700 and a minimum individual annual income of $100,000.
Best Egg vs. the competition
SoFi
- APR: 7.99% to 23.43% (includes a 0.25% autopay discount)
- Loan terms: 2 to 7 years
- Loan amounts: $5,000 to $100,000
- Prepayment penalties: None
- Origination fee: None
Despite Best Egg’s strong reputation, SoFi is a worthy competitor for a number of reasons.
First of all, borrowers can receive as much as $100,000 in personal loan funds from SoFi, which is literally double that of Best Egg. SoFi does not charge an origination fee, and their interest rate caps at 23.43% APR, which is significantly less than Best Egg’s 35.99%. As if these incentives weren’t enough, while Best Egg’s offer to send your loan funds as quickly as the next day is certainly impressive, SoFi steps it up and may deliver cash as soon as the day your loan is approved.
Another unique perk available with SoFi is their unemployment protection, which allows eligible borrowers to suspend their monthly payments in three-month increments for up to a full year (though interest will continue to accrue).
All this said, prospective borrowers in search of a secured personal loan option should start with Best Egg, since SoFi’s loans are unsecured.
Learn more/apply or read our full SoFi review.
Marcus by Goldman Sachs
- APR: 6.99% - 24.99% (includes a 0.25% autopay discount)
- Loan terms: 3 to 6 years
- Loan amounts: $3,500 to $40,000
- Prepayment penalties: None
- Origination fee: None
Like SoFi, the personal loan options available at Marcus by Goldman Sachs beat Best Egg in the areas of interest rate (6.99% - 24.99% to Best Egg’s 7.99% to 35.99%) and fees (no origination fees with SoFi or Marcus, while Best Egg charges as much as 8.99%). However, the loan amounts offered by Marcus aren’t as varied as Best Egg: $3,500 to $40,000, next to Best Egg’s $2,000 to $50,000.
Nevertheless, the personal loan products provided by Marcus by Goldman Sachs have some unique perks worth considering. For example, when you pay your loan on time and in full for 12 consecutive months, the company lets you skip a month for free (terms apply). Additionally, tech-lovers will be thrilled to learn that Marcus by Goldman Sachs does provide a mobile app for their personal loan customers (Best Egg’s mobile app is for their credit card customers exclusively).
Learn more/apply or read our full Marcus by Goldman Sachs review.
The bottom line
If you have good credit or need cash quickly, Best Egg has a wide range of personal loan amounts, available for a wide range of financial needs and goals.
They won’t be the perfect fit for customers with poor credit, and you may prefer a competitor if you like to manage your finances on your phone, but this company has built a strong reputation among its customers in the short time it’s been around.
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