Achieve Personal Loans Review

Pros Explained

• Co-borrowers are allowed: Unlike many personal loan providers, Achieve allows you to add a co-borrower if you can’t qualify on your own or to get a better rate.
• Better rates available with retirement savings: If you have retirement savings, you may receive a better interest rate. Certain amounts of savings may be required. This is a feature that helps make Achieve stand out from the competition.
• Discounts for direct payments to creditors: You may get a better rate if you use at least 85% of your loan proceeds to directly pay off a qualifying debt to your existing creditors. This is a feature that’s unique to Achieve.

Cons Explained

• Minimum loan amount is high: The smallest amount of funding you can receive from Achieve is $5,000. Many of its competitors offer personal loan amounts as low as $1,000 to $2,500.
• Origination fee is charged: While many personal loan companies don’t charge any origination fees, you’ll need to pay an origination fee to get a personal loan from Achieve. Although this fee potentially ranges from 1.99% to 6.99%, most customers will be charged the origination fee at the top of this range.
• Limited qualification details are available: Unlike much of the competition, Achieve doesn’t provide much information about what it takes to qualify for its loan. While this is a drawback because it’s difficult to see if you’ll qualify, it could also indicate the company may offer solutions to a wide variety of credit scenarios.

Introduction

Achieve, previously FreedomPlus, is an online lender offering personal loans in many, but not all U.S. states. The maximum amount you can borrow from Achieve is $50,000, which is average for the industry. However, you’ll likely be charged an origination fee of up to 6.99%—a fee that many other lenders don’t charge. Even so, Achieve rates and terms are relatively reasonable compared to the competition, and you can get unique rate discounts, making it a solid option. 

Achieve personal loans are a good option for individuals who want to refinance existing debt into a single fixed-rate loan or who need funding to cover certain expenses. This includes covering emergencies, paying for a wedding, or even taking a vacation. Even so, its minimum loan amount of $7,500 is high. If you don’t need to borrow this much money, you’ll need to choose a different lender.

Company Overview

Achieve is an online personal loan provider that’s owned and operated by the Freedom Financial Network. Freedom Financial Network is a financial services company founded in 2002, with offices located in Tempe, Arizona, and San Mateo, California. In addition to providing personal loans, the parent company of Achieve helps people resolve debt issues and improve their finances. Its debt relief services are available to over 75% of the country.

Types of Personal Loans Offered by Achieve

Achieve offers an unsecured personal loan that can be used for the following purposes:

• Debt consolidation
• Home improvements)
• Weddings
• Large purchases
• Travel or vacations
• Medical expenses
• Moving or relocation expenses
• Automotive purchase

As part of the qualification process, Achieve reviews applicants’ employment history, income, credit score, and credit history. While specific credit score requirements aren’t provided by Achieve, Investopedia recommends a 660 or higher.

Time to Receive Funds

In many cases, you could get approved for an Achieve personal loan the day you apply. Achieve generally disburses funds to borrowers’ bank accounts within 24 to 72 hours. It also offers an option to send the funds directly to your creditors if you’re using the loan to consolidate debt.

Achieve Personal Loan Features

Use Co-Borrowers to Qualify or Get Better Rates

If you can’t qualify on your own or want to receive better rates and terms than what you can get on your own, you can apply for a Achieve personal loan with a co-borrower. This is a value-added feature not offered by many personal loan providers. 

Reduce Your Rate By Paying Off Debt or Proving Retirement Savings

You could get a better rate on your Achieve personal loan if you use at least 85% of the proceeds to pay off qualifying existing debt—you’ll need to speak with a customer service agent to learn more.Also, better rates are offered to individuals who can prove that they have sufficient retirement savings. These features help Achieve stand out from the competition.

Apply for a Achieve Personal Loan

You can apply for a personal loan from Achieve online by completing these steps: 

1. Gather personal information and preliminary documentation: Before you apply, make sure you have basic personal information like your Social Security number or tax ID number, address, bank account number, and routing number on hand. Also, gather your current government-issued ID and income documentation. 
2. Submit a quick online application: Once you have all the information you need to apply, you’ll complete a simple online application and wait to receive a loan decision.
3. Receive a loan decision: Assuming you’ve submitted your application early in the business day, your application is complete, and you respond quickly to any request for information, you may receive a loan decision on the day you apply.
4. Upload Documentation: If you accept the loan, you'll be required to upload documentation and sign a contract online.
5. Get funded: After your loan is approved and you’ve reviewed and accepted the terms, your funds will be deposited electronically to your bank account. This can happen as soon as 24 hours after you sign the contract, but it could take up to 72 hours.

Loan consultants are available throughout the process to answer your questions and help you.

Can You Refinance a Personal Loan With Achieve?

In the application process, one of the options for the loan's purpose is refinancing. This option is not offered by some other lenders.

Customer Service

You can contact the customer service team at Achieve by calling 1-800-368-0061. Loan consultants are available Monday through Thursday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. (MST), Friday from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. (MST), and Saturday and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. (MST). These hours of operation are reasonable relative to the competition. 

Achieve doesn’t offer live chat on its website, which is typical for the industry.

Customer Satisfaction

Achieve has a 4.9 out of 5 rating across over 5,000 Trustpilot reviews. Many positive reviews were related to the responsiveness of the customer service team and the quality of the loan product. 

Some of the negative feedback was related to financial issues after the loan was originated. The responses the company provided to this type of feedback were supportive and suggested that the company would be willing to provide support. 

Account Management

As with most personal loan lenders, you review and manage your Achieve application online by logging into its website. And once you’ve received your loan, you can log into a client dashboard to review your loan details and manage your account. These account management resources are standard compared to the competition.

How Achieve Compares to Other Personal Loan Companies

Achieve personal loans feature relatively competitive APRs, average maximum loan amounts of $50,000, and average repayment terms of up to 60 months.All of these features make it a solid personal loan contender, as its product fits well within the competition.

However, the smallest amount of funding you can get is $5,000, which is high compared to competitor offerings, and you’ll need to pay an origination fee. Even so, Achieve offers a competitive personal loan option that’s worth considering.

Achieve vs. LendingClub

One of the key competitors to Achieve is LendingClub. Both lenders offer a relatively competitive rate that starts in the low-to-high 8% range and charge average origination fees up to 6%. Plus, you can get repayment terms of up to 60 months from Achieve and LendingClub, which is average for the industry.

Some of the key differences between personal loans with Achieve vs. LendingClub are:

• You can’t borrow less than $5,000 with Achieve, while the minimum loan amount with LendingClub is only $1,000.
• Achieve offers loans of up to $50,000 (about average for the industry), while personal loans are limited to $40,000 with LendingClub (slightly lower than the industry average).
• LendingClub offers loans in all 50 states. In contrast, Achieve does not lend in some states.

If you have less-than-perfect credit, it might be easier to get funding from Achieve. Plus, its maximum loan amount of $50,000 is more than what’s offered by LendingClub. However, if you need less than $5,000 in funding, LendingClub is the better option. 

Read our LendingClub personal loans review.

Methodology

Investopedia is dedicated to providing consumers with unbiased, comprehensive reviews of personal loan lenders. To rate providers, we collected over 25 data points across more than 50 lenders, including interest rates, fees, loan amounts, and repayment terms to ensure that our reviews help users make informed decisions for their borrowing needs.  

Our full personal loans methodology, including our data collection process and weighted data points, is available for review.