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The Lending Pulse · Issue #9 · Week of May 19, 2026

This week

Three of the most closely watched non-bank consumer lenders reported Q1 2026 earnings this week. OppFi delivered record revenue but rising charge-offs and falling originations. OneMain beat estimates with broadly stable credit — but a specific back-book problem is delinquenting at twice the expected rate. Upstart grew originations 61% and revenue 44%, signed over $4 billion in committed capital, and posted a net loss. The macro backdrop is the same for all three: record-low consumer sentiment, frozen Fed, gas at $4.39 per gallon, and CEOs across retail and restaurants warning that lower-income consumers are running out of money at month-end. Here is how each company is navigating it.

1. OppFi Q1 2026: Record revenue, rising charge-offs, tighter credit

OppFi reported Q1 2026 total revenue of $151.9 million — a company record, up 8.3% year-over-year. GAAP net income surged 165% to $54.0 million, reflecting the elimination of the Up-C corporate structure which created a one-time accounting benefit. The headline numbers look strong. The operating numbers are more nuanced.

Adjusted net income — the more operationally relevant figure — fell 11.2% year-over-year to $30.0 million. Adjusted EPS was $0.35, down 9.3%. Net charge-offs rose to 55.5% of average receivables annualized — up meaningfully from the prior year — and represented 42.5% of total revenue, up 790 basis points year-over-year. Net revenue actually fell 3.9%, indicating higher loss content in the portfolio despite top-line growth. Total net originations decreased 7% — a deliberate credit tightening move that CFO Pamela Johnson described explicitly: “The year-over-year decrease in originations primarily reflects a tightening of credit for certain consumer segments as we began rationalizing new loan issuance to specific segments beginning in Q2 2025.” Higher average tax refunds in Q1 also reduced near-term loan demand from the OppFi customer base.

The positives: free cash flow of $69.3 million, a new $40 million share repurchase program, and full-year 2026 guidance of $650–$675 million in total revenue and adjusted EPS of $1.76–$1.84 (up 11–16% year-over-year). The BNC National Bank acquisition remains on track for Q4 2026, which will structurally transform OppFi’s funding model and cost of capital.

The read: OppFi is managing a classic high-yield consumer credit tension — tightening originations to control loss rates while maintaining revenue guidance through a combination of receivables runoff and acquisition timing. The 55.5% annualized charge-off rate on average receivables is not alarming in isolation for OppFi’s product segment, but the direction matters. Charge-offs rising while originations are being cut is the posture of a lender that sees deterioration in its target borrower segment and is managing defensively ahead of it. The BNC charter — when it closes — changes the cost structure significantly. The credit tightening is buying time for that structural shift to take effect.

2. OneMain Holdings Q1 2026: Steady growth, a back-book problem worth watching

OneMain reported Q1 2026 results that beat estimates on every headline metric. Total revenue of $1.6 billion, up 6% year-over-year. Net income of $226 million, up from $213 million. Diluted EPS of $1.93, beating the $1.84 consensus. C&I adjusted EPS of $1.95, up from $1.72. Managed receivables of $26.1 billion, up 6%. Consumer loan originations of $3.1 billion, up 3%. A $1.05 quarterly dividend declared. $105 million in share repurchases. CEO Doug Shulman described it as “a very good start to 2026.”

The credit data is the more interesting part of the report. Consumer loan net charge-off rate of 8.02% — up from 7.83% in Q1 2025 but in line with seasonal expectations, as Q1 is historically OneMain’s highest-loss quarter. Full-year C&I net charge-off guidance maintained at 7.4%–7.9%. The 30-plus-day delinquency ratio of 5.37% was down sequentially from 5.85% at December 31 — an improvement that CFO Jenny Osterhout called better than both the prior year and the pre-pandemic benchmark. Consumer loan yield of 22.5%, up 13 basis points year-over-year.

The back-book detail is the one metric that deserves more attention than the headline suggests. Osterhout disclosed that a specific cohort of loans — representing just 5% of the total portfolio — is contributing 14% of total 30-plus-day delinquencies, “delinquenting at about two times the rate we would have expected.” These are older vintage loans that have not yet burned off. The confidence is that they will eventually age out of the portfolio — most OneMain loans are five-year terms. But until they do, they will continue to create a ceiling on credit metric improvement even as the front book performs well.

The newer businesses are gaining real scale. Credit card receivables reached nearly $1 billion, up 45% year-over-year, with customer accounts up 40% to almost 1.2 million. The card business achieved profitability this quarter — a milestone after significant investment. Auto finance receivables were $2.8 billion, up 14%.

The read: OneMain is the most operationally stable of the three companies reported this week. The 6% revenue and receivables growth, maintained charge-off guidance, and sequential delinquency improvement all describe a lender that has its underwriting posture right for the current environment. The back-book problem is real but bounded — it is a legacy cohort running off, not a structural underwriting failure. The credit card pivot to profitability is the strategic milestone that matters most for the long-term earnings trajectory.