Live Oak Bank offers speed and convenience to prospective lenders in all 50 states. However, the convenience comes with some trade-offs, including a limited breadth of products available.
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| Total Rating | 2.9 |
|---|---|
| Rates & Fees2.1 | |
| Services4.4 | |
| Eligibility Requirements2.1 | |
| Application1.0 | |
| Sales & Advertising Transparency4.6 | |
| Customer Service3.9 | |
| User Reviews3.9 | |
Live Oak Bank is an FDIC-insured bank offering term loans and SBA loans to small businesses. Live Oak Bank was also a participant in the PPP COVID-relief small business lending program and specializes in US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Loans.
Live Oak also emphasizes its SBA loans and is, in fact, one of the biggest originators of that type of loan in the country. As an SBA Preferred Lending Partner, it’s able to process those loans more quickly than your typical lender (don’t expect blazing speeds, though; it’s still an SBA loan).
As a relatively young bank, Live Oak is less traditional than many of its competitors, offering speed and convenience to prospective lenders in all 50 states. However, the convenience comes with some trade-offs, including limited borrowing amounts and more stringent borrower requirements. Let’s dive right in to see how Live Oak Bank stacks up as a small business lender.
Table of Contents
| Services4.4 |
|---|
| Lending Services 5.0 |
| Lending Limits 3.0 |
| Payment Portal & Mobile App 5.0 |
Live Oak Bank scores a 4.4/5 for our services rating. This score is determined by Live Oak’s good selection of lending options but lower available borrowing amounts.
| Eligibility Requirements2.1 |
|---|
| Availability 4.5 |
| Borrower Qualifications 1.0 |
| Transparency 1.0 |
Live Oak is fairly transparent about its borrower requirements. Unfortunately, those requirements are difficult for some businesses to meet, which is why Live Oak Bank only gets 2.1/5 stars for this section rating. To qualify for a Live Oak loan, you’ll need to be an established business with a good to excellent credit score.
Here are the borrower qualifications for getting a loan from Live Oak Bank:
| Time In Business | 3 years |
| Business Revenue | Varies by loan amount |
| Personal Credit Score | 680 |
Live Oak does not lend to businesses that:
A down payment may be required depending on the type of financing you are applying for.
Live Oak lends to all 50 states and is willing to work with all types of businesses, but it specializes in lending to the above sectors.
| Rates & Fees2.1 |
|---|
| Pricing 3.0 |
| Affordability 1.2 |
Live Oak Bank does not disclose rates and fees readily, which results in a 2.1/5 star rating for this section.
Here are some rate and term details for the main loan types Live Oak Bank offers to small businesses.
Live Oak breaks its loan products down by industry, with variations in terms depending on the type of business it’s lending to. Here are the terms for Live Oak’s business term loans, broadly speaking:
| Borrowing Amount | $150,000-$5 million |
| Term Length | Up to 25 years |
| Interest Rate | Unknown |
| Other Fees | Unknown |
| APR | Unknown |
| Collateral | Unknown |
Live Oak offers term loans for a variety of business purposes. The bank doesn’t disclose too many specifics about its loans beyond term lengths and borrowing limits. Instead, it stresses flexibility catered to the borrower’s industry and speed.
There are no prepayment penalty fees for loans with terms shorter than 15 years.
These are the terms and fees for Live Oak Bank’s SBA loans:
| Borrowing Amount | Up to $5 million for 7(a); up to $15 million for 504 |
| Term Length | Up to 25 years |
| Interest Rate | See current rates |
| Other Fees | SBA fee of 0%-3.5% of the borrowing amount Bank fees (amount unknown) |
| APR | Unknown |
| Collateral | Commercial real estate, inventory, equipment |
Live Oak Bank is an SBA Preferred Lender, a designation that allows the lender to process SBA loans more quickly. The bank has developed a reputation for being an unusually fast SBA lender, with turnaround times of under two months being possible.
The two most popular SBA loans are the SBA 7(a) and SBA 504 loans. The Small Business Administration partially guarantees these loans, which allows the borrower to access better rates and terms than they would otherwise be able to.
| Application1.0 |
|---|
| Application Process 1.0 |
| Application Timeline 1.0 |
You can start your application online with or without an existing business account or submit a form requesting contact from a loan specialist. Estimates for Live Oak’s small business loan decisions run as short as ten days, which is pretty slow compared to other online lenders.
While the bank has taken great pains to speed up the SBA loan approval process, be prepared to wait a month (at minimum) for processing, with 45 days being the typical turnaround. You should also be prepared to submit the extensive documentation the SBA requires.
| Sales & Advertising Transparency4.6 |
|---|
| Sales Practices 5.0 |
| Web Presence 4.0 |
Live Oak presents a minimal amount of product information on its website. The small business loans section is broken down by industry but, with a few exceptions, doesn’t present much unique information in any of those subheadings. The most information you’ll be able to find is about Live Oak’s SBA loan offerings, but even that is still lacking transparency around APR ranges and what “minimal equity injection required” means exactly.
However, positive customer reviews regarding sales practices and an active social media presence save Live Oak Bank in this rating section giving it a 4.6/5.
| Customer Service3.9 |
|---|
| Personal Support 3.4 |
| Self-Service 5.0 |
You can reach Live Oak Bank primarily through phone support. Since our last review, Live Oak Bank has removed email and support ticket options from their website.
| Live Oak Bank Customer Service | Availability |
|---|---|
| Phone Support | |
| Email Support | |
| Support Tickets | |
| Live Chat | |
| Dedicated Support Representative | |
| Knowledge Base or Help Center | |
| Videos & Tutorials | |
| Company Blog | |
| Social Media |
While Live Oak Bank has fewer customer support options than we like to see, customers overwhelmingly report positive customer service experiences.
| User Reviews3.9 |
|---|
| User Feedback 4.0 |
| Review Site Aggregate 3.8 |
Live Oak Bank has relatively positive customer reviews across multiple third-party review sites, resulting in a 3.9/5 star rating for this section.
Some of the more common complaints we’ve found in Live Oak Bank reviews include:
Most positive reviews are regarding Live Oak Bank’s checking and savings account services, but there are some reviews specific to Live Oak’s lending. Borrowers note several positives about Live Oak Bank:
Live Oak’s overall 2.9/5 star rating leaves users wanting higher borrower requirements, faster application processing times, more flexible time in business and credit score eligibility, and more transparent fees.
However, Live Oak does get a large amount of positive customer reviews and customer support experiences. The company also offers good Live Oak business banking services, so if you’re an existing Live Bank customer, this might be a good option for you. Companies seeking SBA loans, in particular, should give Live Oak a closer look, as the lender seems to have honed the application process down to a science.
If you’re looking for lines of credit or are in an industry that doesn’t fall within Live Oak’s specialty portfolio, there’s not much here for you, so you might want to consider other top small business loans.
Merchant Maverick has been researching and reviewing business lenders since 2015. Our writers have tested over a hundred different funding products, including traditional term loans, online loans, lines of credit, start-up loans, merchant cash advances, and equipment financing. In each review, we evaluate rates and fees, services, eligibility requirements, application process, sales and advertising transparency, customer service, and user reviews.
Read more about how we rate business loans and funding products.
When comparing different lenders and loan products, we consider many data points, including the ease and transparency of the application process, interest rates, repayment structure, sales ethics, time to funding, revenue and time in business qualifications, and credit score requirements. Our lists of the best funding products include only those we’ve deemed worthwhile from multiple vantage points, and often share qualities such as widespread accessibility across fifty states, low rates, flexible requirements, and competitive borrowing amounts.
We spend an average of 10-15 hours researching and updating each one of our lists, making sure the loans and funding products included meet our internal standards for quality and reputation.
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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.
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