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Need a business loan, but you have bad credit? Getting a loan isn't as unlikely as you think! All of these lenders offer solutions for businesses with bad credit.
Shannon has been writing for Merchant Maverick about small business software and financing since 2015. She started writing professionally about business topics in 2005. Shannon has been featured in the Washington Post, Reader's Digest, US News, MSN, Yahoo Finance, Business Insider, and other publications. She has a bachelor's degree in English from San Diego State University and currently resides in San Diego, California.
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Shannon VissersShannon has been writing for Merchant Maverick about small business software and financing since 2015. She started writing professionally about business topics in 2005. Shannon has been featured in the Washington Post, Reader's Digest, US News, MSN, Yahoo Finance, Business Insider, and other publications. She has a bachelor's degree in English from San Diego State University and currently resides in San Diego, California.
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Erica has been writing about small business finance and technology since 2008. She joined Merchant Maverick in 2018 and specializes in researching and reviewing business software, financial products, and other topics to help small businesses manage and grow their operations. Her expertise has been cited in MSN, Reader's Digest, Vox, U.S. News & World Report, and Real Simple. She is a Certified ProAdvisor for QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Payroll, a graduate of Limestone University, and currently resides in Greenville, South Carolina.
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Erica SeppalaErica has been writing about small business finance and technology since 2008. She joined Merchant Maverick in 2018 and specializes in researching and reviewing business software, financial products, and other topics to help small businesses manage and grow their operations. Her expertise has been cited in MSN, Reader's Digest, Vox, U.S. News & World Report, and Real Simple. She is a Certified ProAdvisor for QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Payroll, a graduate of Limestone University, and currently resides in Greenville, South Carolina.
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When you have a credit score of 600 or lower, getting a business loan with fair terms and affordable fees can be difficult. Fortunately, many lenders are beginning to look at other business factors to judge your business’s creditworthiness, even for first-time business loans with bad credit.
While most lenders still pull your credit score to verify your identity (and for additional reasons), high credit scores are not always necessary to qualify for business financing. To find a lender that’s willing to work with less-than-perfect credit, get started with these top picks.
Various online lenders offer bad credit business loans for working capital. You’ll have to pay more for the loan than someone with good credit, but many lenders will still lend to your business — as long you earn enough to make your payments.
Why We Chose BusinessLoans.com For No Credit Score Requirement
BusinessLoans.com is an online lending marketplace with multiple types of business loans available to businesses with bad credit via the free service's network of partnered lenders. Some of these loan types include short-term loans (STL), merchant cash advances (MCA), lines of credit (LOC), invoice factoring, equipment financing, and others.
Importantly, BusinessLoans.com does not require any minimum credit score to apply. Different lenders in its network may have different qualifications they desire in applicants, but BusinessLoans.com will try to find you with a matching offer, even if your credit is bad.
BusinessLoans.com Rates & Fees
BusinessLoans.com does not disclose much information about rates and fees on its website. However, BusinessLoans.com does estimate that payback fees on MCAs will equal 20% to 40% of the total advance amount (typical for an MCA).
BusinessLoans.com Eligibility Requirements
Business loan requirements for loans obtained through BusinessLoans.com vary, but the following requirements apply generally:
Time In Business
6 months
Business Revenue
$100,000/year
Credit Score
N/A
When To Use BusinessLoans.com
You want to explore multiple business financing options
You have at least 6 months in business and $100,000/year in revenues
Why We Chose Revenued For Businesses With Bad Credit
Revenued is one of the only business credit cards with no minimum FICO. In fact, Revenued does not conduct any hard credit checks at any point during the application or approval process. Instead, approvals and borrowing limits are based on your business revenue. (You must have at least $20,000+ monthly cash flow to qualify.)
Revenued offers up to $750,000 to eligible businesses through its Flex Lines. These no-credit-check business loans can have high factor rates, but they are still in line with industry standards.
Revenued Rates & Fees
You will not incur any fees when using the Revenued business credit card.
If you draw on your Flex Line, Revenued charges customers using a factor rate model. Rates range from 1.1 – 1.5.
Revenued Eligibility Requirements
Applicants should meet the following minimum criteria:
Time In Business
1 year
Business Revenue
$20,000+ monthly cash flow
Personal Credit Score
N/A
When To Use Revenued
You need a business card that doesn’t require a credit check
You’ve been in business for at least 1 year and have $20,000+ monthly cash flow
Get approval decision in as little as three minutes
Access funds as soon as the next business day
Apply and draw funds from Fundbox mobile app
Cons
Small credit limits
Must repay the loan quickly
Doesn’t accept very bad credit
Why We Chose Fundbox Loans For Best Line Of Credit
Fundbox offers an easy-to-use business line of credit that is not backed by specific collateral, even with bad credit. Fundbox uses algorithms to gain a holistic view of your business and make quick lending decisions. Most applicants will be able to fill out their applications, learn about their eligibility in a few minutes, and start drawing funds immediately.
Saves time by sending your application to multiple lenders at once
Easy to qualify for funding
Large lender network with a variety of loan types available
Cons
Not all lenders are bad-credit friendly
Not for brand-new businesses that aren’t making money yet
Time-to-funding can be long
Why We Chose Lendio For Comparing Bad Credit Business Loan Options
Lendio is not actually a lender. It's an online loan marketplace you can use to search and apply for business loans of all types, including short-term loans, medium-term loans, lines of credit, and merchant cash advances, among others. Lendio has a vast lender network that includes lenders that accept applicants with bad credit.
Lendio's free service lets you prequalify for and compare multiple loan offers so that you can select the best one. Lendio saves you time and ensures you secure a fairly priced loan, even with bad credit.
Lendio Rates & Fees
Interest rates on loans available through Lendio’s partnered lenders vary. Your offer rate will depend on which type of loan you’re applying for (and how bad your credit score is). Lendio does not charge borrowers any additional fees to use the service.
Lendio Eligibility Requirements
Depending on which type of loan you apply for, Lendio’s borrower requirements vary. For example, some of Lendio’s financing options only require a credit score as low as 500. For other loan types, however, you’ll need to have a score in the high 600s.
When To Use Lendio
You want to explore different funding options
You want to be easily compare offers from multiple lenders
Credibly offers short-term working capital loans for bad credit, as well as equipment financing and invoice factoring for businesses with poor credit. Lines of credit, SBA loans, and business expansion loans are also available, though these require slightly better credit.
Credibly's loans are not available in every state, so make sure Credibly serves your state before applying.
Credibly has a relatively easy online application process and good customer service. Credibly advertises same-day funding and a 4-hour approval time. However, some users say that the application process and/or time-to-funding took longer than expected.
Credibly Rates & Fees
Credibly’s factor rates for STL, MCA, equipment financing, and invoice factoring start at 1.11.
These rates are not cheap, but they are in line with industry standards.
Credibly Borrower Requirements
To qualify for a working capital loan or merchant cash advance, make sure you meet the following minimum borrower requirements before applying:
Time In Business
6 months
Business Revenue
$15,000/month
Personal Credit Score
500
When To Use Credibly
You need a short-term loan or equipment financing
You have unpaid invoices to use for invoice factoring
Business Loan & Funding Products Review Methodology
We spend hours researching and evaluating each business loan and funding product that we review at Merchant Maverick, placing special emphasis on key characteristics to generate our ratings.
Weighted Rating Breakdown
Rates & Fees 20%
Services 20%
Eligibility Requirements 20%
Application 15%
Sales & Advertising Transparency 10%
Customer Service 10%
User Reviews 5%
When rating lenders and funding providers, we use a 31-point rubric that looks at rates and fees, services, eligibility requirements, application, sales and advertising transparency, customer service, and user reviews. We weigh each section differently to calculate the total star rating. This rubric is applied to traditional term loans, as well as short-term loans, start-up loans, lines of credit, online lending products, merchant cash advances, and equipment financing products.
Rates & Fees: 20% of the total star rating
Services: 20% of the total star rating
Eligibility Requirements: 20% of the total star rating
Application: 15% of the total star rating
Sales & Advertising Transparency: 10% of the total star rating
Customer Support: 5% of the total star rating
User Reviews: 5% of the total star rating
Each section is further broken down into granular, weighted subsections, in which we examine specific attributes like terms lengths, conditions of repayment, credit score and revenue requirements, ease of application, length of time to funding, the ethics involved in promoting the lending product, customer support, and the overall reputation of the lender or funding provider.
To improve your chances of getting a loan despite bad credit, look for types of business loans that don’t place as much emphasis on credit during the application and review process.
Types of loans for bad credit you might want to consider include:
Online Loans: Also called “alternative lenders,” online lenders place less importance on credit scores because they examine non-traditional risk metrics.
Microloans: Microloans feature small borrowing amounts and short-to-medium business loan repayment terms. Microloans are considered low-risk because loan amounts are small, so poor credit isn’t always a barrier to funding.
Invoice Financing: Invoice financing is a type of loan in which you put up your unpaid invoices as collateral in exchange for immediate financing. Because invoice financing is dependent on your customers paying their invoices, not you, your credit is not an important consideration.
Crowdfunding: Although crowdfunding can be significantly more work than other types of business financing, your credit score isn’t usually a consideration. Instead, backers decide to contribute to your fund based on your business plan’s strength, a desire to contribute to a business in a particular community, or other factors. Even startups with bad credit can even potentially secure funds with crowdfunding.
Business Credit Cards: You won’t qualify for the best credit cards if you have bad credit, but many issuers still offer credit cards for businesses with low scores. In addition to granting you access to cash, credit cards will help you build your credit up to get better financing down the line.
How To Get A Business Loan With Bad Credit
Wondering how to get a business loan with bad credit, or if it is even possible to get a business loan with bad credit?
It is absolutely possible to get a business loan even with subprime credit. Finding a business loan when you have poor credit does present an extra challenge — you’ll need to have strong income and limit your search to lenders that don’t require good credit — but you’ll still follow the same basic steps to securing financing as someone with good credit.
Shannon has been writing for Merchant Maverick about small business software and financing since 2015. She started writing professionally about business topics in 2005. Shannon has been featured in the Washington Post, Reader's Digest, US News, MSN, Yahoo Finance, Business Insider, and other publications. She has a bachelor's degree in English from San Diego State University and currently resides in San Diego, California.
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The vendors that appear on this list were chosen by subject matter experts on the basis of product quality, wide usage and availability, and positive reputation.
Merchant Maverick’s ratings are editorial in nature, and are not aggregated from user reviews. Each staff reviewer at Merchant Maverick is a subject matter expert with experience researching, testing, and evaluating small business software and services. The rating of this company or service is based on the author’s expert opinion and analysis of the product, and assessed and seconded by another subject matter expert on staff before publication. Merchant Maverick’s ratings are not influenced by affiliate partnerships.
Our unbiased reviews and content are supported in part by affiliate partnerships, and we adhere to strict guidelines to preserve editorial integrity. The editorial content on this page is not provided by any of the companies mentioned and has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone.
Get Started With A New Top Pick 🏆Get funding up to $3 million as fast as same-day from this loan marketplace.Our expert reviewers found BusinessLoans.com to have a quick and easy application process alongside excellent support and guidance for borrowers.Start A Quick ApplicationNo minimum credit score required