Personal Loans Test

Item: LightStream
Rating: 4.5
Author: Brian Cooper

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Last updated on August 3, 2023

Written by

Senior Writer

Written by

Senior Writer

Many or all of the products on this page are from partners who compensate us when you click to or take an action on their website, but this does not influence our evaluations or ratings. Our opinions are our own.

Our Take

4.5

NerdWallet rating

The Nerdy headline:

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Jump to:Full Review

LightStream

Est. APR

6.49-25.29%

Loan amount

$5,000 - $100,000

Min. credit score

660

on LightStream's website

Pros

there
are
a
few
pros

Cons

Lots of cons
here is
just two
of them

Compare to Other Lenders

NerdWallet rating

NerdWallet rating

NerdWallet rating

EST. APR

6.49-25.29%

EST. APR

9.95-35.99%

EST. APR

8.95-17.48%

LOAN TERM

2 to 7 years

LOAN TERM

2 to 5 years

LOAN TERM

2 to 5 years

LOAN AMOUNT

$5,000-$100,000

LOAN AMOUNT

$2,000-$35,000

LOAN AMOUNT

$5,000-$40,000

MIN. CREDIT SCORE

660

MIN. CREDIT SCORE

550

MIN. CREDIT SCORE

640

Compare estimated rates from multiple lenders

Compare rates

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Full Review

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on LightStream's website

Find the Best Personal Loan

Best personal loans Debt consolidation loans Good credit personal loans Fair credit personal loans

How we chose the best personal loans

Our team of consumer lending experts follows an objective and robust methodology to rate lenders and pick the best.

35+

Lenders reviewed

We review over 35 lenders, including major banks, top credit unions, leading digital platforms, and high interest installment lenders operating across multiple states.

25+

Categories assessed

Each lender is evaluated across five weighted categories and 27 subcategories, covering affordability, eligibility, consumer experience, flexibility, and application process.

70+

Data points analyzed

Our team tracks and reassesses hundreds of data points annually, including APR ranges, fees, credit requirements, and borrower tools, ensuring up to date, accurate comparisons.

Star rating categories

We evaluate more categories than competitors and carefully weigh how each factor impacts your experience.

Affordability

25%

We review lenders’ annual percentage rate offerings at least twice per year and the competitiveness of each lenders’ APR range. We also assess whether a lender charges an origination fee and any opportunity for borrowers to receive a rate discount.

Customer experience

20%

We consider the experience of the consumer trying to manage a personal loan, which means accessibility of customer service representatives, whether borrowers can choose and change their payment due date, and the ability to track their loan on a mobile app.

Underwriting and eligibility

20%

We consider the rigorousness of each lender’s underwriting practices and how widely available their loans are. This category includes whether a lender does a hard credit check before providing a loan, the range of credit profiles they accept and how many states their loans are offered in.

Loan flexibility

20%

We assess how flexible lenders can be with borrowers, including whether they offer multiple loan types, personal loan amounts and repayment term options and whether they offer direct payment to creditors on debt consolidation loans.

Application process

15%

We consider the lender’s full application process, including a borrower’s ability to preview their loan offer via pre-qualification, whether basic loan information such as APR range and repayment terms are available and easy to find online and how quickly a loan can be funded after approval.

5.0

Overall score

NerdWallet’s review process evaluates and rates personal loan products from more than 35 financial technology companies and financial institutions. We collect over 70 data points 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.