SoFi Technologies closed the year with a notable uptick in fourth-quarter profitability as both loan origination activity and fee-based businesses gained momentum. Management attributed the performance to strong consumer demand for personal, student and home loans and accelerated adoption of the company’s credit, investing and payments products.
For the quarter ended December 31, SoFi’s financial services business - which encompasses credit card and investing offerings - produced $456.7 million in revenue, a 78% increase from the prior year. Revenue from the broader fee-based segment rose 53% year over year, reflecting the company’s growing mix of non-interest income that can help buffer the business from swings in interest rates.
Total loan originations reached a record $10.5 billion in the quarter, up 46% from a year earlier. SoFi said the jump was driven by persistent demand across personal, student and mortgage products, with recent interest rate cuts encouraging borrowers to refinance and consolidate higher-cost debt.
Consumers appear to be moving high-cost credit-card balances into lower-rate personal loans offered by fintech platforms, the company said, a trend that has supported originations and contributed to expanded fee-based revenue.
CEO Anthony Noto commented on the company’s credit metrics, saying credit performance remained in line with expectations and overall financial health of its members across spending, investing and credit "remained strong."
The company’s reported fourth-quarter adjusted revenue rose 37% from a year earlier to a record $1 billion. Adjusted earnings per share more than doubled, reaching $0.13 for the quarter compared with $0.05 a year earlier.
Policy risk for the credit market
Regulatory developments have the potential to reshape the consumer lending landscape. Earlier this month, U.S. President Donald Trump proposed a 10% cap on credit card interest rates. Banks have warned that such a cap could limit consumer access to credit. On that point, Noto warned of market consequences, telling reporters, "I would expect a meaningful contraction in credit card lending because the economics of revolving balances wouldn’t work. People will still need credit and it would leave a massive gap in the market."
SoFi, founded in 2011 as a student-loan refinancer, has since broadened into personal lending, mortgages, investing and payments, positioning itself to capture younger, tech-savvy customers who favor app-based services over branch-centric banks.
The quarter’s results highlight the company’s growing revenue diversity, with fee-based businesses now representing a larger share of sales. That shift helps insulate SoFi from the direct impact of rate volatility on interest income, while maintaining exposure to consumer credit demand.
As the fintech continues to scale originations and non-interest revenue, its performance will remain closely tied to borrower behavior, competitive dynamics in consumer credit, and any policy changes that affect the economics of revolving credit.