Prioritizing Consumer Confidence and Transparency Helps This Fintech Thrive

In a Nutshell: Best Egg President and Co-Founder Bobby Ritterbeck contends that consumers use financial services most productively when they feel good about their decisions. That’s why Best Egg prioritizes confidence as the linchpin to financial success. Best Egg offers personal lending solutions with a difference — a dedication to customers as people first. That means many things depending on the individual. But Best Egg’s emphasis on building confidence and providing community and financial education for people from all walks of life never wavers, earning it our Editor’s Choice™ Award.

Many people take out loans as a last resort to tide them over in an emergency, but that’s not always their incentive.

The limited savings customer views debt as a necessity to live their desired life.

That’s how Bobby Ritterbeck sees things. As president of Best Egg, Ritterbeck oversees a fintech that has funded more than 1.1 million personal loans amounting to more than $30 billion.

In addition, Best Egg boasts a 95% customer satisfaction score and an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau. Something must be going right.

Ritterbeck, who helped found Best Egg in 2014, said it’s all down to the team’s passion and commitment to help their customers. When people take out loans to serve higher goals, good things happen on both sides of the transaction.

So, although customers may list credit card refinancing and debt consolidation as their reasons for working with Best Egg, the team implicitly understands that behind every loan application is a desire to be able to live their best life.

“Customers typically have a catalyst for getting a loan, and paying off debt and creating more breathing room in their budget ends up being a fringe benefit,” Ritterbeck said. “We want them to feel money confident.”

That means many things depending on the situation. People feel “money confident” when they understand how much money is coming in and going out each month, when they have access to the money they need, and they feel like they’re making good financial decisions.

Best Egg provides the educational resources essential to building financial confidence. And its products and services provide needed access in ways that result in positive outcomes on both sides of the transaction.

That holistic approach to financial services has earned Best Egg our Editor’s Choice™ Award.

“At Best Egg, we cater to customers with limited savings, which we define as the 100 million Americans who are unable to live for more than two months on their savings,” Ritterbeck said. “I’m a huge proponent of being super clear that there are options for everyone.”

Ease of use and flexibility are at the heart of Best Egg’s personal loan products. According to its website, it strives to provide “a loan for every lifestyle.”

It considers multiple factors in building loan rates because it believes credit scores shouldn’t be the sole determinant of a person’s financial future.

It also believes that when consumers understand all aspects of their financial health — including, but not limited to, their credit score and history — they can make smarter financial decisions.

But flexibility kicks in if things ever go awry, with Best Egg ready with options to ensure customers can match their payment schedule with their ability to repay.

“We have various levels of flexibility, whether it’s an extension, a different payment program, or a different schedule, for customers who need it,” Ritterbeck said.

Best Egg’s three installment loan products largely solve a similar customer need. It’s just a matter of what structure customers want and what matches those needs.

Best Egg’s unsecured personal loan remains its flagship product. It specializes in loans for debt consolidation, credit card refinancing, home improvement, and other categories, including moving expenses, major purchases, babies and adoption, special occasions, and even vacations.

Best Egg typically lends up to $50,000 with a maximum annual percentage rate of 36%. Alternatives allow it to lend deeper and often give people better pricing and bigger loan amounts.

One alternative, Best Egg’s secured loan, leverages the placement of a lien on the fixtures in people’s homes. Best Egg delivers the secured loan with the same speed and ease as its unsecured loan.

A newer collateralized product is its vehicle equity loan, which works for cars like the secured loan works for homes, by placing a lien on the customer’s vehicle. For Ritterbeck, it’s a prime example of looking out for even more people with limited savings.

“We felt like it was a more attractive alternative to title lending while providing a seamless digital experience, which most title lending doesn’t have,” Ritterbeck said. “That doesn’t even consider that title lending APRs and payment terms are much higher for the consumer.”

That flexibility extends to another newer product, Flexible Rent, which Best Egg launched in 2023. Ritterbeck describes it as serving one of the largest subsections of Americans with limited savings: renters.

The reality is that rent is the most significant monthly payment for most renters. They must come up with it at the beginning of the month regardless of whether it matches their cash flow.

Ritterback said renters make about $800 billion in payments yearly, more than $100 million of which are late.

Monthly late fees typically range from $50 to $150. For payments submitted after the 15th of the month, add another $150 to $500.

“When you do the math on that, it’s a pretty pricey payment,” Ritterbeck said.

With Flexible Rent, Best Egg pays a customer’s rent in full when it’s due on the first of the month, and lets the renter pay it back over the course of the month in a schedule that matches their cash flow.

About three-quarters of the 50 million rental units in the U.S. leverage property management software. To offer the product to renters, Best Egg partners with property management systems, including some of the biggest names in that space, to embed the Flexible Rent technology directly in their rental payment portals.

When renters have to come in and make that payment, Best Egg lets them know the option is available. Ritterbeck considers the arrangement an excellent opportunity for Best Egg with a fantastic product/market fit.

The benefits to renters are apparent. A flexible rent payment option helps consumers struggling to meet their monthly obligations.

For landlords, Flexible Rent results in fewer late payments, more predictable cash flow, and more time to focus on property management rather than delinquent payments.

“Flexible Rent is similar to buy now, pay later services, but we’re not trying to create incremental spend for people,” Ritterbeck said. “We’re just trying to help them manage the spend they already have.”

Customers come to Best Egg in many ways. Those encountering the company through one of its products inevitably learn about its other services.

Industry partnerships and marketing efforts get the word out to millions of limited savings consumers looking to regroup and build for the future.

After a straightforward onboarding, more than half of applicants go right to funding with no manual steps required.

It’s a seamless process that includes commitments to financial education and community. Best Egg Financial Health is Best Egg’s free education portal, chock-full of tools and resources designed to help consumers take stock and build action plans.

More than 500,000 members consider Best Egg Financial Health a financial home away from home as it provides easy access to real-time insights into their financial health.

“In addition to credit score monitoring, we offer different components to really help people understand their debt and spending,” Ritterbeck said. “We’re trying to help people budget, get to better financial health, and ultimately achieve financial confidence.”

Meanwhile, The Nest is Best Egg’s exclusive customer community. The Nest started with about 300 customers in 2020 and has grown to more than 5,000 highly engaged individuals who communicate with Best Egg about many things the company is considering doing.

“We’re constantly tapping into that group to understand their needs and experiences,” Ritterbeck said.

That’s where Ritterbeck and his team discover the real motivations behind the decisions to consolidate cards and debt that lead consumers to Best Egg. It’s also whereRitterbeck and his team celebrate the success stories Best Egg loans make possible.

Best Egg’s flexible approach to lending helps meet consumers where they are on their financial journeys and increase those successes.

“We remain focused on our customers as we plan for the future,” Ritterbeck said. “We’re all about helping them feel money confident by making sure they have good alternatives when they need access to money.”