. >> reporter: six months ago, dave collier ditched his job in the sagging oil industry and signed up for computer coding school. >> apps to be built and people who can do that are going to be valuable. >> reporter: but the tuition put him $16,000 deeper in december. he had $50,000 in loans and needed to refinance fast. that's when he found upstart. >> i was able to consolidate $22,000 worth of credit card debt, cut my rate in half, and accelerate my timeline for getting out of debt by about three years. >> reporter: in fact, upstart brought dave's rate down from as high as 19% to just 8%, saving him fmore than $5,000. it's the brainchild of dave injury ard, his goal to help people just like dave get cheaper credit. >> we're in the business of seeing signals about a person that others don't see. >> reporter: instead of focusing on your credit history or your fico score, upstart bets on your future. >> fico is inherently backward looking, what you've done with credit in the past. we like to view it as identifying somebody's potential, where they're going. >> reporter: upstart asks wher