Rise Credit Reviews

About Rise Credit

By Derek Lakin

Updated on: Aug 11, 2017

Your interest may have been piqued by a recent commercial or mailer from Rise Credit, a short-term lender that claims to help you address financial emergencies using fast and easy personal installment loans.

On top of this, the lender claims to offer flexible repayment terms, rates that go down over time, access to their Free Credit Score Plus service, and tools that can help customers start a budget, set savings goals, and better manage their debt.

In short, Rise claims that “a better financial you, starts with you,” so they help their customers build good credit and learn new money habits.

According to a chart on their website, Rise’s rates tend to fall somewhere between credit card cash advances on the low end, and payday loans on the upper. But does this mean you should use them?

To address this important question, along with many others, we performed some in-depth research using third-party resources, as well as speaking to the company directly. Here’s what we found.

Rise Credit Details

By offering loan amounts between $500 and $5K, Rise Credit claims to potentially benefit customers—and differentiate themselves from the competition—in three ways:

1. Although the company recommends getting out of debt as soon as possible, they offer up to a 50 percent rate reduction on future loans or advances.
2. Their free Credit Score Plus service provides customers with access to credit score, credit alerts, and savings and spending tips and tools.
3. Like most lenders, Rise also reports payments to the major credit bureaus. As a result, if customers “demonstrate positive financial behavior” and make payments on time, their credit score could improve.

If you’re interested in applying for a Rise Credit loan, the process works over the following steps:

First, fill out an online application, which includes basic information such as name and address, as well as more detailed info such as social security number, checking account balances, and so forth.

According to the Rise Credit website, you’ll need to apply online and to have a valid checking account and email address. We’ll talk about additional requirements in a moment.

Once approved, your loan can be funded as soon as the next business day (as long as approval occurs before 6 pm ET) and sent directly to your checking account. Then, you’ll be able to log into your Rise account to view activity and check your balance 24/7.

How Does Rise’s Credit Score Plus Program Work?

For some quick background, there are three main credit bureaus: TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. They collect financial data about individuals related to mortgages, auto loans, personal loans, and forth. Then, they package this information into a unique credit score, each of which is typically within 20 points of one another.

Whenever you apply for a new loan, lenders will utilize one or more of these scores to help determine your eligibility, APR (often the lower your score, the higher your rate will be), and repayment term.

With these details in mind, Rise’s Credit Score Plus service is offered through TransUnion Interactive, Inc., so you’ll only receive their specific score. While details are slim on the Rise website, we’re also told this involves free credit alerts.

If your Credit Score Plus account remains inactive for 90 consecutive days, TransUnion will automatically un-enroll you in the program, and you’ll be required to re-enroll if you wish to continue service.

What Are Rise Credit’s Eligibility Criteria?

As of this writing, Rise online loans were available to residents of the following states: AL, CA, DE, GA, ID, IL, KS, MS, MO, NM, ND, OH, SC, TX, UT, and WI.

In order to qualify for a Rise Credit loan, you must be at least 18 years of age with a job or other proven source of income. You’ll also need to have an active/valid checking account, a working phone number, and an email address.

According to the FAQ on their website, “RISE is not available to applicants listed as Covered Borrowers in the Military Lending Act database, including qualifying active duty service members and their dependents as defined in 32 C.F.R. § 232.”

Taken together, Rise’s eligibility guidelines—along with the rates you’ll pay—are based on an “assessment of what you can afford, your application information and credit history, and the loan amounts and terms offered in your state.” Let’s continue this discussion in the next section.

How Much Does a Rise Credit Loan Cost?

After you complete your application, the FAQ indicates your loan could be approved in seconds. From there, the funds can be sent via ACH as soon as the following business day, as long as your application was submitted prior to 6 pm ET.

If you prefer, Rise can send you a paper check, although this will take 7-10 days for delivery through the USPS. Your first payment will generally be withdrawn 14 days after your loan’s effective date.

Depending on your state of residence, you can repay your loan over the course of between four and 26 months, with APRs ranging between 36 and 299 percent. Here’s a quick example of how this might play out, according to the disclaimer at the bottom of Rise’s website:

The most common RISE loan in the state of California is $2,600 with 32 bi-weekly payments of $241.44 (last payment may vary), and an APR of 224.35%.

What’s this mean from a money perspective? Assuming you followed the full payment schedule, in this example, you'd end up paying more than $7,700 on an original loan of $2,600.

In this regard, the FAQ emphasizes that Rise is “an expensive form of credit,” ideal for use in emergency situations like car repairs, medical care, or job-related travel expenses. On the other hand, they also point out that their loans can be less expensive than things like overdraft, late, or utility reconnection fees (if you pay it off quickly, of course).

Rise provides a five-day window during which time customers can pay off their loan in full, without accumulating any fees.

If you make 24 months of scheduled payments and have APR(s) over 75 percent during this time, you could be rewarded with a 50 percent drop in your rate for future loans. After 12 additional months, you could see your rate drop as low as 36 percent.

Rise Credit claims that their Credit Score Plus service is free, and that their loans come without any hidden fees or early payment penalties.

For additional information on APRs and repayment terms, Rise Credit’s customer support team can be reached at 866-580-1226.

What Do Other Consumers Have to Say About Rise Credit?

Since writing our original article, nearly 70 HighYa readers provided their feedback about Rise, giving the company an average rating of 3.1 stars. Most compliments seemed related to ease of use, quick approvals, and solid customer support.

On the other hand, frequent complaints referenced high-interest rates and declinations.

We also encountered nearly 17,000 user reviews on ekomi-us.com, where Rise had an average rating of 4.7 stars. There, most compliments and complaints seemed to mirror those found on HighYa.

The company, based out of Fort Worth, TX, also had a 2.2-star average rating on CreditKarma.com among 70 pieces of feedback, and a one-star rating among 23 Yelp reviewers, at the time of our research. Most of the compliments and complaints seemed to mirror those found on HighYa.

Rise also had an A+ Better Business Bureau rating, 32 reviews (split evenly between negative and positive), and 93 closed complaints as of 7/7/17. Most related to high fees and difficulty processing loans, although the company appeared to respond quickly with a resolution.

Where does all of this information leave you?

What’s the Bottom Line About Rise Credit?

With all of this in mind, is it a good idea to take out a short-term loan through Rise Credit? If you’re in a financial emergency and there aren’t any other options, high-interest loans like these could be a real lifesaver.

But before sending in your application, keep in mind that, like payday loans, short-term installment loans often come with very high interest rates. As a result—and as we outlined in the Pricing section example earlier—you could end up repaying three times (or more) than your original loan amount if you don’t pay it off quickly.

And if you frequently encounter repayment issues with your short-term loan (whether through Rise or any other installment lender), you could be assessed late fees and other penalties that keep you in a cycle of debt. If it goes on long enough, it could even end up harming your credit score.

As with any other financial decision, it’s important to weigh all these potential pros and cons before accepting your Rise Credit loan; especially factors like how much money you need and how badly you need it, the associated interest rates, length of repayment, and whether or not you can ultimately afford to pay meaningfully more than you borrowed.

In the meantime, if you’re looking for additional free, in-depth information about how to improve your financial wellness, be sure to browse our extensive credit-related articles and guides section.

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