Earnest (company)

Earnest
Type Private
Founded September 2013
Headquarters San Francisco, California, United States
Founder(s) Louis Beryl
Ben Hutchinson
Website www.meetearnest.com
Available in English
Launched March 2014
Current status Active

Earnest is a technology enabled lender that evaluates a person’s full education, employment, and financial profile. It attempt to look beyond a simple credit score in order to offer financially responsible people better rates than traditional lenders, on personal loans and student loan refinancing. Earnest utilizes an online dashboard that gives clients the tools to easily control and customize their loan payments. Earnest does not charge origination or prepayment fees.Earnest is headquartered in San Francisco, California. The company was co-founded by CEO Louis Beryl, a former partner at Silicon Valley VC firm Andreessen Horowitz, and by COO Benjamin Hutchinson, formerly the corporate finance advisor at Her Majesty's Treasury.[1]

Earnest’s mission is to offer low-cost credit to qualified individuals at better rates than traditional institutions. It was inspired by Beryl’s own experience having difficulty finding low-interest credit cards or loans for relocation costs, after graduating from college and moving to New York City.[2]

Earnest received $15M in seed funding from several VC firms, including Andreessen Horowitz, First Round Capital, Maveron and Atlas Venture. This funding was a combination of equity and lending capital.[3] Earnest first launched in Massachusetts in March 2014, offering one-year, 6% APR loans for up to $10,000. Earnest currently offers personal loans at one, two, and three year terms between $2,000 and $30,000 with APRs starting at 4.25%. On January 27, 2015, Earnest announced Series A equity funding of $17M led by Maveron, as well as the launch of student loan refinancing starting at 3.5% fixed APR and 1.92% variable APR. Earnest currently lends in twenty states.[4]

Earnest applicants undergo an in-depth underwriting process that looks at a client’s financial profile, educational background, professional achievements, and income potential,[5] in addition to their credit history. Earnest charges no origination fees or prepayment fees on its loans. According to Beryl, Earnest is “always thinking how [it] can deliver the lowest-cost product that delivers happiness to consumers every day.”[3]

Earnest has been covered by The Wall Street Journal,[6] Entrepreneur Magazine,[7] Inc. Magazine,[8] and The Boston Globe.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "Meet Earnest". Earnest. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
  2. ↑ Castellanos, Sara (2014-03-25). "Silicon Valley tech startup Earnest plans to disrupt lending in Mass.". Boston Business Journal.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Loizos, Connie (2014-06-06). "Louis Beryl’s Big Ambitions at Earnest". Strictly VC.
  4. ↑ "FAQs". Earnest. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Borchers, Callum (2014-03-24). "Lender Earnest opens in Boston with new approach". The Boston Globe.
  6. ↑ "Lending Startup Earnest Raises $15 Million to Replace FICO 20".
  7. ↑ Beryl, Louis (2014-07-01). "What Being a VC Taught Me About Entrepreneurship". Entrepreneur.
  8. ↑ Cohan, Peter (2014-07-17). "This Startup Offers Cheap Loans for Relocating Employees". Inc. Magazine.