6 Small Business Loan Options For Purchasing Inventory

BusinessLoans.com is an online lending marketplace that small businesses can use to apply for business financing. Some options offered by BusinessLoans.com partners include options that work well as inventory loans, including short-term loans, lines of credit, and merchant cash advances. Using this marketplace, you can submit one quick application and receive multiple financing offers. This way, you can comparison shop to choose the best offer to finance your inventory purchase.

BusinessLoans.com has no specific borrower requirements, though they recommend that your businesses should make at least $100,000 per year and have 6 months time in business. However, BusinessLoans.com may still be able to find an offer for you even if you do not meet these minimums.

BusinessLoans.com doesn’t list its rates or fees on its website. Fees vary depending on which partnered lender you receive a loan offer from.

Revenued is a financing option if you need capital to buy inventory, but don’t want your credit checked. This fintech lender offers a no-credit-check business credit card tied to your business credit card, as well as a line of credit called a Flex Line that uses your future sales as collateral.

Your credit line grows automatically in line with your business revenue, making Revenued a good option for a business with high sales volume that needs regular access to cash or credit to purchase inventory (or pay other business expenses). It’s also a suitable form of inventory financing for businesses with bad credit.

Since Revenued does not check your credit, there is no minimum credit score to apply. However, qualified applicants will need to have at least 6 months in business and bring in business revenues of at least $15,000/month. Additionally, you need to maintain an average daily business bank account balance of at least $1,000.

Revenued credit cards do not carry any fees (though you will need to pay off your balance every month); cash advances have factor rate between 1.1 and 1.5.

Bluevine is another high-quality online lender offering revolving lines of credit up to $250,000. Bluevine is unparalleled in its convenience and flexibility, and you can potentially qualify and start withdrawing funds within minutes. Once your draw is approved, the funds will hit your bank account within a few hours (if you pay $15 for a bank wire) to a couple days. To withdraw more money, simply request funds using the web portal.

Business lines of credit such as Bluevine provide flexible financing for established businesses that experience seasonal revenue fluctuations or want to take advantage of inventory sales as opportunities arise.

Bluevine can be a little more difficult to qualify for compared to some online LOCs, but they’re still faster and easier to get compared to a bank LOC. Specifically Bluevine requires 2 years in business, $40K/month in business revenues, and a 625 FICO.

Term lengths for LOCs are 6 months or 12 months, with interest rates starting at 6.2%. Bluevine doesn’t charge any monthly fees, and you can save money by repaying early. Payments are weekly or monthly depending on whether you qualify for a the 6-month or the 12-month LOC.

One of the most popular online lenders for small businesses, OnDeck is hard to beat for fast, short-term inventory loans. OnDeck offers both STLs and LOCs, though you can only borrow up to $100,000 with the LOC (term loans can be as large as $250K). OnDeck has no-prepayment penalty on LOCs as well as loyalty benefits for returning customers (they’ll waive all remaining interest on your current loan if you apply for a new one, i.e., they don’t engage in double-dipping).

OnDeck’s short term lengths combined with its same-day funding option make these loans perfect for buying quick-turnaround inventory at a discount. And with LOC withdrawals up to $10K, OnDeck offers instant funding, which puts the money in your account within seconds of withdrawing, even on nights and weekends.

To meet the minimum qualifications for an OnDeck LOC or term loan, you’ll need a 625 FICO score, $100,000 annual revenues, and 12 months in business.

As with other quick online business lenders, OnDeck’s rates can potentially be high, with APRS as high as 98.3% for term loans or 61.9% for lines of credit. With that said, OnDeck is transparent in laying out its terms, and its rates are competitive with other similar online lenders.

LoanBuilder is an online loan service owned by PayPal (not to be confused with PayPal Working Capital loans, which are available to PayPal sellers only). LoanBuilder offers short-term loans up to $500,000. LoanBuilder’s maximum borrowing amount is at least twice the size of other popular short-term loans. LoanBuilder is easy to qualify for, and these loans are also easy to renew once you pay off your current loan.

LoanBuilder requires 9 months in business, $42,000/year in business revenues, and a FICO of 620.

LoanBuilder charges a one-time borrowing fee ranging from 2.9% to 18.72% of the borrowing amount. LoanBuilder loan term lengths can range from 13-52 weeks (about 3-12 months), and you can customize your borrowing amount and term length and then see how that affects your payments and the total cost of the loan. You’ll also see your loan terms and weekly repayment amounts before you accept the offer.

Lendio is an online lending marketplace that matches prospective borrowers with a loan that meet their needs, at no charge to the borrower. As such, it can be a very convenient place to search and apply for an inventory loan online, whether you’re looking for a short-term loan, line of credit, merchant cash advance, or even a bank or SBA loan

Lendio is a convenient way to apply for SBA microloans in particular. These small government-backed loans, which have a shorter term length and a maximum borrowing amount of $50,000, are more suited to inventory purchases. Best of all, Lendio simplifies the SBA loan application process; the initial application for an SBA loan through Lendio should only take about 15 minutes.

Lendio has no specific eligibility requirements. Businesses ranging from startups to larger, established businesses can potentially find inventory loans using Lendio. However, if you want an SBA loan from Lendio, you will have to meet some minimum qualifications—2 years in business, a credit score of 600, and a monthly income of $8K.

Rates and fees vary depending on which Lendio partner you accept a loan offer from, but for SBA microloans specifically, interest rates range from 6-9% with term lengths up to 6 years.