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If a disaster or unexpected business expense has you looking for capital, check out our top six choices for emergency loans.
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Expert Contributor
Last updated onUpdated
REVIEWED BY
Editor & Senior Staff Writer
Whether you’re dealing with a massive regional disaster, like a hurricane, or you just need to re-up your inventory in a hurry, being able to access capital when you need it can be critical to the survival of your business.
You’ve already shaken out your pants for loose change, so now what do you do? Where do you look for an emergency business loan? Read on for some great options to get you started.
Learn More About Our Top Picks
| Company | Best For | Next StepsBest For |
|---|---|---|
OnDeck
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AdvancePoint Capital
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Fundbox
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Lendio
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Riviera Finance
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| Show More Options | ||
National Business Capital
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| Show Fewer Options |
Read more below to learn why we chose these options.
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Table of Contents
The best emergency loans feature an expedited application process and/or the ability to be used as a rainy day fund. Here are the best emergency loans for small business.
| Services Available | Borrowing Amounts | Time To Funding | |
|---|---|---|---|
| OnDeck | Term loans, lines of credit | $5,000 - $250,000 | 0 - 2 days |
| AdvancePoint Capital | Term loans, short-term loans, lines of credit, invoice financing, merchant cash advances | Varies by product | 1+ day |
| Fundbox | Lines of credit | $100 - $150,000 | 1 day |
| Lendio | Term loans, short-term loans, lines of credit, merchant cash advances | Varies by lender/product | 3+ days |
| Riviera Finance | Invoice factoring | $5,000 - $2 million | 4 - 7 days |
| National Business Capital | Term loans, lines of credit, equipment financing, SBA loans | Varies by product | 1 - 3 days (30 - 75 days SBA loans) |
Pros
Cons
If you're in a real emergency, you probably need your money sooner rather than later. While OnDeck isn't the cheapest way to get financing, we've found it to be an excellent one-stop shop for fast, emergency loans and lines of credit.
A successful application will get money into your bank account within two days. In some states, you can even get your money the same day you apply. If you need an immediate lump sum, you can get a term loan from OnDeck. On the other hand, if your emergency is ongoing, we'd recommend looking into a line of credit.
Pros
Cons
No matter what type of loan you need for your emergency, you're sure to find it with AdvancePoint Capital. With one easy application, AdvancePoint can help you find the funding you need from its network of lenders. If you need emergency capital, AdvancePoint can connect you with short-term loans, merchant cash advances, invoice financing, and lines of credit.
AdvancePoint offers great customer support and fast funding times -- with some products, you can have your funds in as little as 24 hours. High borrowing limits and options for businesses of all sizes, borrowers with imperfect credit, and newer businesses round out all of the benefits of choosing AdvancePoint for your emergency funding.
Get Started With AdvancePoint Capital
Pros
Cons
Who wants to waste time with complex applications during an emergency? When it comes to raw speed and convenience, it's hard to do better than Fundbox.
We found Fundbox's fully automated application process, which can be completed in as little as three minutes, to be quite painless. Funds can hit your bank account as soon as the next business day, depending on what time of day you complete your application.
Pros
Cons
Lendio is a loan marketplace rather than a direct lender, which means you can apply to its entire pool of 75+ lenders with a single application. While Lendio isn't necessarily the fastest option on this list, it's faster than traditional bank lending.
We think you'll also appreciate being able to apply to Lendio's entire network of lenders with a single application, because who wants to waste time filling out multiple applications during an emergency? Also, with a lending limit of $5 million, Lendio should be able to cover even large emergencies.
Pros
Cons
One particularly frustrating scenario in an emergency is when you have money due to come in, but your invoices haven't been paid yet. What if we told you that you could get an advance on those invoices through invoice factoring? Essentially, you're selling your unpaid invoices to a factoring company at a small discount. You're taking a small hit on your revenue, but you'll get fast access to the funds due to you.
If you're in a hurry, one of the best companies to do this with is Riviera Finance, a non-recourse invoice factoring company that offers reasonable fees, high credit facilities, and a relatively fast application process.
Get Started With Riviera Finance
Pros
Cons
National Business Capital is another loan aggregator that matches applicants to a lender within its pool of affiliates. The service is surprisingly fast for an aggregator and is willing to work with a wide variety of industries, including cannabis.
We also like that National Business Capital assigns a financing advisor to make recommendations to improve their chances of approval. That's somewhat rare in the age of automation. You can also ask for advice on what kind of loan is the best fit for your particular emergency.
Get Started With National Business Capital
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.
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.
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.
Read more about how we rate small business lenders.
The list above covers private lenders that can cover capital shortfalls for personal emergencies. However, if your business has been affected by a federally declared disaster, your best bet may be to seek an SBA disaster loan.
These loans have long term-lengths and low interest rates, making them far more suited to recovering from a serious disruption to your business. SBA disaster loan options include:
When you’re looking for emergency funding for your small business, you don’t have a lot of time to weigh your options the way you would during normal times.
Here are some tips for when time is of the essence:
There’s no shortage of options for getting emergency small business loans. The trick is making sure you get it on the schedule you need at a rate you can afford.
Assessing the vulnerabilities of your business can go a long way toward being prepared for a financial emergency, as can having a lender you can trust to give you the best small business loans you can get during an emergency.
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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.
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