Sunlight Financial questions, answered.

Yes. Sunlight Financial completed Chapter 11 restructuring in late 2023 and was acquired by a consortium including Greenbacker Capital, Sunstone Credit, IGS Ventures, and Cross River Bank. It continues to operate and launched a solar lease program with IGS Solar in April 2024.

No. Sunlight Financial is a business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C) lender. You can only apply through a participating solar installer or home-improvement contractor. The contractor enters your information into Sunlight's Orange® portal for an instant credit decision.

The published minimum is 650 FICO for standard solar loans. The best APR tiers (0.00%–1.99%) typically require 740+ FICO. Below 650 you'll generally be declined or routed to the solar lease program.

A dealer fee is the amount your contractor pays Sunlight Financial in exchange for offering you a promotional APR. The fee is rolled into your financed system price — so you do pay it, just not as a separate line item. Dealer fees can range from $0 to $5.00 per watt of system capacity.

A re-amortizing solar loan calculates your monthly payment assuming you'll apply roughly 30% of the principal as a lump-sum payment within the first 18 months — money typically coming from the federal solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC). If you don't make that lump payment, the loan re-amortizes and your monthly payment increases.

Terms range from 3 months to 25 years on standard solar loans, with a separate 30-year tier introduced in 2022 (1.99% / 2.99% / 3.99% APR). Home-improvement loans through Orange® go up to 20 years; Tangerine™ small-ticket loans go up to 7 years.

The initial point-of-sale pre-qualification uses a soft credit pull, which does not affect your credit score. The full application after you accept a quote requires a hard pull, which typically lowers your FICO by a few points temporarily.

The loan stays with you, not the home. You can pay off the balance from sale proceeds, transfer the loan to the buyer (subject to lender approval), or continue paying it as a personal obligation. Solar loans can complicate home sales — coordinate with your title company before listing.

Refinancing a Sunlight solar loan is generally allowed but the secondary market is thin. The most common refinance route is rolling the balance into a home equity loan or HELOC once you have sufficient equity. Most Sunlight loans don't have prepayment penalties — verify in your loan documents.

A solar lease program launched in April 2024 with IGS Solar. You pay a fixed monthly lease for 20–25 years, IGS owns the system and captures the federal tax credit, and there's no upfront cost or loan on your credit report. It's a fit for borrowers who can't use the ITC or whose credit doesn't qualify for a loan.

Sunlight operates in nearly every state where its contractor partners are active. Coverage is functionally dictated by the network, not by lender licensing — if a Sunlight-enrolled installer serves your area, financing is available. Some restrictions apply in specific states.

A HELOC tied to a prime rate often beats a Sunlight promotional APR once dealer fees are factored in — especially for borrowers with home equity. The trade-off: a HELOC requires a separate application, longer underwriting, and uses your home as collateral. Sunlight's point-of-sale speed is its main advantage.

After the 2023 restructuring, Cross River Bank serves as the primary indirect-channel originator for Sunlight loans. Other capital providers in the consortium hold and service portions of the loan book.

Most Sunlight solar loans are unsecured personal loans — the solar equipment is not collateral and there's no lien on your home. Some home-improvement products may carry a UCC filing on the installed equipment. Verify with your specific loan documents.