What is Oportun?
Oportun is a digital banking platform. Its goal is to make financial services more accessible and help people build good financial habits and health. Oportun is not a bank. Instead, it partners with Pathward N.A. and WebBank N.A. to offer banking and loan services to its customers. It also works closely with community partners to connect people with services like job placement, financial planning, and non-profit financial support. Oportun is headquartered in San Carlos, California and has been in operation since 2005.
How Oportun Works
As a digital platform, Oportun allows you to apply for small personal loans or credit cards online. It also has an app that helps you to stick to a budget. The app has savings and investment features, too. If you take out a loan with Oportun, you’ll have free access to the app for a year. Anyone can use the app for free for six months. After the promotional or trial period ends, the app is $5 a month.
The first step to applying for a loan or credit card with Oportun is to provide some basic details to see what amount and terms you can qualify for.
From there, you can complete the application process by providing documents to verify your identity, address, and income. The application process takes around 10 minutes, and you’ll receive a decision soon after. If your loan is approved, you may receive funds that same day.
What Services Does Oportun Offer?
Oportun offers personal loans, secured loans, and credit cards. In addition, it offers savings, budgeting, and investing tools through its app. Its website also provides resources to help members learn more about money management.
Personal Loan
Oportun offers a personal loan product. These loans range from $300 to $8,000, with an interest rate cap of 35.99% APR.
Secured Loan
In some states, a secured loan is an option. With a secured loan through Oportun, you’d use your car title as collateral. The advantages include qualifying for larger loans (up to $18,500) and a lower interest rate. The disadvantage is that you risk forfeiting your car if you default on the loan.
Credit Card
Oportun offers cards with a credit limit of up to $1,000. It will approve a credit card even if you haven’t yet built a credit or payment history. An Oportun credit card works on the Visa system and comes with fraud protection.
Budgeting Tool
With the Oportun app, money is moved automatically into accounts for bills, savings, and spending. You receive regular updates, so you know what’s safe to spend without dipping into what you need to cover your bills or depleting your savings.
Savings Tool
The Oportun app allows you to set savings goals and then helps you reach them. You link the app with your bank account, and the app learns your spending habits. It then makes small, smart transfers into your savings account. The average app user saves $1,800 a year.
Investing Tool
Start building your investment and retirement portfolio sooner using the Oportun app. You can choose a conservative, moderate, or aggressive portfolio. The Oportun app will make small deposits into your portfolio based on your spending habits and investment goals. They also have traditional and Roth IRAs to help you get a jump on your retirement saving.
What Makes Oportun Different?
For saving, investing, and budgeting, the Oportun app learns your spending habits and makes small transfers and deposits, helping you save and invest without feeling a pinch in your spending.
Regarding lending options, Oportun strives to help borrowers meet their financial needs, even with an imperfect credit history or no credit history.
Oportun’s financial products are meant to help you build better financial health and reach your wealth goals faster and with less effort.
What Are the Benefits of Using Oportun?
Oportun makes building credit and receiving funding easier for people, even those with poor or no credit history.
- No credit history required: If you’re applying for a credit card, Oportun doesn’t require an established credit history to be approved.
- Applying is easy and straightforward: Oportun keeps the loan application process simple. All you need to do is fill out a short form and submit it along with your required documents.
- Quick approval: In many cases, people receive their loan funding the same day they submit their application.
- Tools to help you get ahead: Oportun’s mission is to help people build better financial health. When you take out a loan, you’ll also receive free access to their savings, budgeting, and investing app for a year.
Who Is Oportun Best For?
Oportun is helpful to people with a poor credit history or who are just starting to build their credit. It’s also beneficial to people with low to moderate incomes who want to save and invest but struggle to make deposits into those accounts.
Oportun’s personal loans can help you manage unexpected expenses or to consolidate your debts. Because Oportun lends smaller amounts, they can give you a manageable way to rebuild your credit score and lower your debt or handle unexpected expenses.
How to Get Started
To apply for a personal loan or credit card with Oportun, visit their website and fill out the form to request pre-approval. This step requires minimal information and will not affect your credit score.
If you are preapproved for a loan that fits your needs, you can continue with the application. Provide a valid photo ID, proof of income, proof of address, and as many as four personal references to complete the process. To get final approval, Oportun will run your credit report. That will affect your credit score.
The application process usually takes ten minutes, and if you’re approved, it’s typical to receive funds the same day if you choose to have them deposited directly into your bank account.
