Personal Loan-Focused
Unsecured personal loan volume continues to surge, backed by a strong labor market and consistent demand for credit.
SoFi origination growth accelerated, up +68% YoY, driven by personal loans and supported by its Loan Platform Business (“LPB”) whose originations were up +90% YoY. As a reminder, SoFi’s LPB “refers pre-qualified borrowers to loan origination partners as well as originates loans on behalf of third parties.”
In addition, SoFi launched Big Business Banking in April, which seeks to give enterprise partners the ability to manage both fiat and crypto banking. Also in April, it relaunched SoFi Plus ($10/mo) with expanded benefits. And on the stablecoin front, CEO Anthony Noto said, “During Q1, we began minting SoFiUSD, the next step towards building compelling use cases for the coin. We also formed an important partnership with Mastercard to enable SoFiUSD settlement across their global payments network. This will create interoperability between digital assets and fiat currencies and eventually allow for the settlement of transactions 24 hours a day, 7 days a week versus just during business hours now.”
Upstart reported +61% YoY growth in originations, led by super prime (720+ credit score) originations, which were up +68% to $993Mn. Super prime originations represented 33% of all personal loan originations, up from 29% a year prior.
During the quarter, Upstart launched Cash Line, its first unsecured revolving credit product. Cash Line provides a revolving line of credit up to $5,000. For lines up to $500, there will be a $10 monthly membership fee and for draws beyond $500 there will be a 5-36% APR. This move comes amidst the rise of cash advance and EWA options. Players like Dave, MoneyLion and Brigit have successfully scaled cash advance originations. Chime entered the space mid-2024 with MyPay.
In March, Upstart joined the wave of fintechs pursuing charters, applying to the OCC and FDIC to establish an insured national bank. If approved, holding a charter and being able to take insured customer deposits would reduce Upstart’s operational, regulatory, and financial costs, the company says.
LendingClub posted +31% YoY origination growth, which outpaced guidance. Demand for its loans is strong, with CEO Scott Sanborn saying, “Despite the noise in the environment, we remain oversubscribed with an ability to sell more loans than we are generating. And average loan sales prices improved further in the quarter as it has in 8 of the last 9 quarters.”
In other news, LendingClub will rebrand to Happen Bank by summer 2026. And it launched home improvement financing through a partnership with Wisetack. Through the partnership, it will be able to reach over 40,000 contractors.
OneMain posted a more modest +3% YoY increase in originations, even as the company maintains tighter credit standards and higher pricing. Origination growth has been helped by its credit card business. OneMain continued to gain traction with its BrightWay credit cards, growing receivables +45% YoY to $983Mn.
OneMain said that it was making continued progress on its ILC application process. OneMain said the timing of the application was uncertain, but that it was optimistic because it believes it has a strong case for approval.
Oportun originations declined (11)% YoY, but were in-line with expectations as the lender has adopted a tighter credit posture. Despite this, Oportun’s secured personal loan product has continued to thrive, with receivables growing +31% YoY to $233Mn, to reach 9% of its owned portfolio balance. Oportun’s secured personal loans allow borrowers to secure their loans with their car titles, potentially allowing access to larger loans at lower rates than an unsecured loan. These loans have seen significantly better credit performance and generate 2x the revenue per loan compared to unsecured personal loans, primarily due to higher average loan sizes.
Oportun reported that it was advancing its risk-based pricing initiative to lend above 36% APR for select higher-risk segments. The fintech said it has signed an LOI with a new bank partner and is evaluating financing partners. Also of note, Oportun launched a payment protection offering that members can opt-into which provides protection against unforeseen events (involuntary employment, death, disability) by paying off all or part of the loan.
BNPL-Focused
BNPL growth remains red hot, with the category’s success driven by increased market penetration and increased usage by consumers.
Zip Co, a BNPL provider that operates in the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand, reported a +22% increase in volumes. For context, roughly three-quarters of its volumes come from the U.S. market, which grew +29% YoY. In February, Zip’s U.S. business rolled out a “Pay-in-2” installment solution to all customers, which has seen an average order value of $69.
Sezzle’s +37% YoY growth in GMV was also driven by greater usage of subscription products and increased consumer engagement. Quarterly purchase frequency rose to 7.1x, up from 6.1x a year prior.
Sezzle is exploring an ILC (industrial loan company) charter and expects to submit its application mid-2026. Sezzle has focused on expanding its product offerings, rolling out pay-in-5, expanding its long-term lending functionality, launching Agentic Commerce, launching a closed-end BNPL virtual card solution in Canada, and launching Sezzle Mobile.
Affirm’s YoY GMV (gross merchandise volume) growth of +35% benefited from a more engaged user, with 6.7 transactions per active consumer, up from 5.6 a year prior. At the same time, its average order value declined (7)% YoY to $255, in-line with strategy. GMV growth was led by Short-Term 0% APR which grew +55% YoY. Its interest-bearing product grew +33% and 0% APR Monthly product grew +30% YoY. The Affirm Card continues to scale, with 4.4Mn active cardholders at quarter end, up +130% YoY and card GMV of $2,130Mn, up +146% YoY.
In January, Affirm filed applications to form a Nevada industrial loan company and a corresponding application for FDIC deposit insurance. The charter would enable Affirm to raise its own deposits, lowering its cost of funding vs. current channels, such as securitizations.
Klarna reported +33% GMV growth YoY, helped by a +39% increase in U.S. GMV. Klarna’s Fair Financing (typically a 6-12 month term product which may charge interest) volumes soared, up +138% YoY to $4.1Bn. 21% of Klarna merchants now offer Fair Financing, up from 20% in Q4. Klarna said its Fair Financing offering has a transaction margin over 2x the overall portfolio.
Klarna Card continued to gain traction during its rollout, posting 5Mn active users, up from 4.2Mn in Q4.
Cash Advance-Focused
Consumers looking for a way to bridge the gap between paychecks have increasingly turned to earned wage access and short-term cash advance products.
Dave reported a +37% YoY increase in originations, driven both by the size of originations (+10% YoY to $212) and by growth in monthly transacting members (+18% YoY to 3.0Mn). At the same time, Dave has continued to grow its average revenue per ExtraCash advance, which grew +18% YoY to $13.5.
Dave is also exploring new product offerings. The cash advance player began testing Dave Flex, a Pay-in-4-credit card product, in early April. Dave Flex is currently in beta testing and its impact is not reflected in 2026 guidance. Dave plans to scale the product in 2027. Additionally, Dave rolled out Second Draw, a new feature which allows users to advance twice within a single pay period. Previously, if users had not utilized their entire ExtraCash limit, the remaining amount would not be accessible within the same pay period. Dave expects the new feature to provide users flexibility and to increase overall credit utilization.
Brigit has reported strong growth since being acquired by Upbound Group, with volumes growing +85% YoY (though 1Q25 figures represent February and March 2025 only due to the acquisition). Brigit grew its average revenue per user +12% YoY to $14.41 on higher expedited transfer fees, deeper engagement with marketplace offers, and a shift toward the Premium tier.
Brigit began to pilot its line of credit product in late 2025. The product offers up to $500 of liquidity on recent or upcoming purchases, twice the cap on its Instant Cash advances. Management aims for the product to bridge the gap between smaller ticket BNPL and larger ticket lease-to-own solutions. This move may enable the company to better compete with cash advance competitor products like Chime MyPay and Dave ExtraCash, which both offer up to $500.
Higher APR-Focused
Enova (offers unsecured installment and lines of credit with APRs 34-200+% depending on state and product type), reported +10% YoY growth in consumer originations.
Enova expects its acquisition of Grasshopper Bank (for $369Mn) to close in the second half of 2026.
Higher-APR lender OppFi saw originations decline (7)% YoY, due to lower net originations from refinance customers, “as the prior year period benefited from changes to our credit model that increased the maximum loan amount those customers could refinance, outweighing higher originations from new customers”.
In April, OppFi announced an agreement to acquire BNCCORP and subsidiary BNC National Bank for $130Mn. If the acquisition closes, OppFi will stand to benefit from BNC’s national banking charter (OCC).
Second Look-Focused
Pagaya, a second-look lender, reported a +9% increase in network volume, even as it maintained its tighter credit posture adopted in Q4. Excluding results from its Single-Family Residence business that it exited, network volumes advanced +23% YoY. Pagaya reported that it onboarded Flex Pay (a BNPL solution from Upgrade) and Sezzle. CEO Gal Krubiner noted that, “We welcomed Fitch into our capital market platform, marking the first time we have added a major rating agency alongside Kroll.”
Credit Data
BNPL
While there has been much media concern surrounding BNPL usage and potential losses, underlying credit data has not yet shown substantial credit deterioration.
Klarna’s provision for credit losses rose +1bp YoY to 0.55% of GMV. While Klarna’s Fair Financing product delinquencies were tracking marginally higher year-over-year, management noted that both are tracking favorably this year, with both 30+ and 60+ days past due rates declining quarter-over-quarter.
Affirm's delinquencies were slightly higher YoY, with its Monthly Installment Loan 30+ Day DQ Rate (Ex-Pay-in-4) for FY 3Q2026 at 2.8%, from 2.4% in FY 3Q2025.
Zip Co's net bad debts (annualized net write-offs / opening receivables) as a % of GMV rose +29bps YoY to 1.93% for FY 3Q2026.
Cash Advance
Brigit’s net advance loss rate rose +110bps YoY to 3.5%, as it tests new products and ramps up subscribers, but losses remained within expectations.
Dave’s 28-day delinquency rate declined (1)bp YoY to 1.69%, which marked the lowest Q1 rate in company history.
