Financial services firm Earnest bringing up to 500 new jobs

A private financial services company has selected Utah for an expansion project, bringing up to 500 jobs to the state over the next five years.

Earnest, based in San Francisco, announced the project last week after being approved for a tax credit incentive of up to $2.8 million by the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) board.

The $5.6 million project represents the first major expansion for Earnest, which has 150 employees at its headquarters. The new jobs in Utah are expected to be across credit and client operations, sales and marketing, engineering and management.

The company has not decided on the exact location for the project.

“We’re excited to announce that our second location will be in Utah,” Louis Beryl, the company’s chief executive officer and co-founder, said in a prepared statement. “Utah has become a thriving hub for both technology and financial services companies, with a deep talent pool across multiple areas that is complementary to what we see in San Francisco. Expanding to Utah is an important next step as we continue working to build the modern bank for the next generation.”

Earnest’s activities include providing financially responsible borrowers with better access to credit through low-interest, hyper-personalized, no-fee loans. The company’s holistic, data-driven approach to underwriting is designed to more accurately price financially responsible, high-quality borrowers at the low rates, reducing the current barriers and costs to credit faced by millions. Earnest looks beyond traditional markers of creditworthiness to consider factors such as income, savings, education, employment and credit history. Services include personal loans, student loan refinancing and home loans.

The company is backed by Maveron, Battery Ventures, Adams Street Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Accomplice Ventures, Wildcat Venture Partners, First Round Capital and others.

“Earnest will join the ranks of many cutting-edge companies disrupting the financial services industry and defining the banking of tomorrow,” said Val Hale, GOED’s executive director. “The company will benefit from Utah’s innovative business environment, which has produced a thriving financial technology sector.”

The project is expected to generate about $63.6 million in new wages over five years, plus $14 million in new state tax revenues during the same period.

“We welcome Earnest to Utah, where they will join the ranks of many cutting-edge companies disrupting the financial services industry and defining the banking of tomorrow,” said Val Hale, GOED's executive director. “The company will benefit from Utah’s innovative business environment, which has produced a thriving financial technology sector. We are excited by what the future holds for this partnership.”