An unsecured personal loan is money borrowed from a lender that is not secured by property such as a house or car over a fixed period of time and the loan is approved solely off your creditworthiness and our underwriting criteria. A secured personal loan is a loan that uses an asset as collateral, in addition to your credit worthiness and our underwriting criteria to approve the loan. This means that the lender can repossess the collateral if a borrower defaults on a secured  loan. In some instances securing your loan with collateral may lower your interest rate in comparison to an unsecured loan. You may qualify for either an unsecured personal loan or a secured personal loan when you check your rate through Upstart.