He needed a loan and was turned down despite his earning potential, having worked on Wall Street for a few years, and receiving a degree in financial engineering from Princeton University.

The company first launched a personal loan product in Boston, Massachusetts, as a test market, due to the high concentration of young professionals in the area.

[9] On November 17, 2015, Earnest announced a $75M funding round led by Battery Ventures, plus $200M warehouse line of credit (since retired) from New York Life.

The acquisition allowed Earnest to be backed by a larger company with Navient planning to maintain the brand as a separate unit.

The company does not focus solely on standard measures such as credit scores but takes a more individualized approach when evaluating borrowers by looking at their education, income potential, spending, and saving habits.

[21] As of June 2021, the company offers student loan refinancing in 48 states (all but Kentucky and Nevada) and the District of Columbia.