BlueVine Review
-
Expert Analyst & Reviewer
- 47 comments
- Updated on:
Advertiser Disclosure: Our unbiased reviews and content are supported in part by affiliate partnerships, and we adhere to strict guidelines to preserve editorial integrity.
BlueVine
| Total Rating | 4.0 |
|---|---|
| Interest Rates & Fees | Good |
| Application Process | Excellent |
| Sales & Advertising Transparency | Good |
| Customer Service & Technical Support | Excellent |
| Reviews, Complaints, & Testimonials | Good |
Pros
- Financing is available for startups and entrepreneurs
- Low credit score qualifications
- The application is fast & easy
- Funds get disbursed quickly
Cons
- Financing isn’t available in some states
- Rates can be expensive
- Repayments are required quickly
- Customer service is inconsistent
BlueVine Overview
BlueVine, an online lending service, was founded in 2013 after the founder watched his father, a physical therapist, struggle with inconsistent cash flow due to slow payouts by insurance companies. So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that BlueVine offers services intended to help merchants overcome cash flow problems.
In particular, BlueVine offers invoice factoring — a type of business financing for B2B (business to business) businesses in which unpaid invoices are sold at a discount. And if you don’t process invoices, BlueVine also offers traditional lines of credit.
Invoice factoring often has a poor reputation because some factoring companies carry high fees, confining contracts, and inconvenient termination clauses. However, funders such as BlueVine have streamlined and simplified the process. These new invoice financing services tend to be much more flexible than their old-school predecessors. You have more control over which invoices you choose to finance, and you won’t have to sign any long-term contracts or pay a bunch of extra fees.
BlueVine’s fees can get a little expensive, but despite the potential for high costs, BlueVine offers fantastic and transparent services that are easy to qualify for, convenient, and useful for merchants who struggle with cash flow problems.
Interested in learning more? Read on for the details.
Table of Contents
Services Offered By BlueVine
BlueVine offers:
- Invoice Factoring: BlueVine’s invoice factoring buys your unpaid invoices and gives you a lump sum of cash, giving you capital to work with instead of waiting for invoice payments to come through. Rates and terms depend on a company’s credit score.
- Lines Of Credit: Lines of credit are similar to a credit card in that you have a set amount of credit that you can use, and when you draw from the line of credit to receive cash, only then will you start to pay interest on the amount borrowed. BlueVine offers a revolving line of credit, meaning that your credit replenishes once you’ve made a payment. The lines of credit are offered on either a six-month or 12-month repayment plan.
BlueVine Borrower Requirements
BlueVine borrower qualifications vary by product. Note that these borrower qualifications are not comprehensive; when you fill out an application with BlueVine, the lender considers more than the information below when deciding whether you’re eligible for funding. However, if you meet the below requirements, you have a good chance of qualifying.
Invoice Factoring
Invoice factoring is available for B2B (business to business) and B2G (business to government) businesses. To qualify, you must have eligible unpaid invoices as well as meet the requirements below:
| Time In Business | 3 months |
| Credit Score | 530 |
| Business Revenue | $10,000 per month |
Additionally, you must be US-based. Invoice factoring is available in all 50 states.
Line Of Credit
BlueVine’s lines of credit are offered with repayment periods of either 6 or 12 months. To qualify for a line of credit, your business must meet the following minimum requirements:
| Time In Business | 6 months |
| Credit Score | 600 |
| Business Revenue | $120,000 per year |
BlueVine lines of credit are not currently available in North Dakota and South Dakota.
This product is available to most industries, except for financial services and nonprofits.
BlueVine Interest Rates & Fees
BlueVine offers invoice factoring and traditional lines of credit.
Invoice Factoring
Here are the stats for BlueVine’s invoice factoring service:
| Credit Facility Size | $20,000-$5 million |
| Advance Rate | 85%-90% |
| Discount Rate | 0.25%-1.7% per week |
| Max Overdue Account | 13 weeks (91 days) |
| Additional Fees | $15 wire transfer fee (no charge for ACH transfers) |
| Contract Length | N/A |
| Monthly Minimums | No |
| Factor All Invoices | No |
| Recourse Or Non-Recourse | Recourse |
| Notification Or Non-Notification | Both |
For invoice factoring, BlueVine offers credit facilities up to $5 million, though the amount your business is eligible for will depend on a number of business characteristics.
How Does Invoice Factoring With BlueVine Work?
When you are approved to do business with BlueVine, the company will set up a lockbox bank account — which is a bank account in your name that the company can access. You will update your customers with the new payment information, so when the customer deposits their payment, BlueVine can take its cut before sending the rest along to you. If you don’t request an advance on a certain invoice, BlueVine will simply send all the money along to you when the customer pays.
| BlueVine |
|---|
Because the bank account is in your name, the customer will not know about the money advanced to you. However, BlueVine might offer you a larger line of credit with the stipulation that it is allowed to notify your clients about the arrangement. This is called notification factoring. Some merchants are concerned that it will reflect poorly on their business if the customer knows they are using an invoice factoring service. The truth is, factoring is so old and commonplace that most clients, especially larger clients, are used to such arrangements. Regardless, the choice is yours.
Your invoice has to meet these requirements (via the FAQ) to redeem an invoice for cash:
- The service or product was completed, delivered, and accepted by your customer
- The customer is based in the US or Canada
- The customer is a business (not a consumer)
- The invoice face value is higher than $500
- The payment term is shorter than 13 weeks (91 days)
- The due date is at least one week away
When you request money, BlueVine will advance you a maximum of 85%-90% of the invoice. When your customer pays the invoice, you’ll get the reserve of the remaining 10%-15%, minus the fees that have accrued.
Here’s an example:
You redeem a $1,000 invoice. BlueVine advances you $850. Your customer pays you in four weeks, so there is a $40 fee. At the end of the process, you’ll get $110 from the reserve.
BlueVine does not charge application fees, maintenance fees, origination fees, or lockbox fees for its invoice factoring. BlueVine also does not require a long-term contract or termination fees.
There are only two potential kinds of extra fees you can incur: bank wire fees and late fees. The bank wire fee is $15 but can be avoided by using free ACH transfers. Late fees are incurred after a two-week grace period. If you or your customers don’t pay before then, the fee is 2% to 3% of the amount due, with a daily recurring fee between 0.2% and 0.3% until the debt is settled.
Line Of Credit
BlueVine offers two lines of credit — one with a draw term length of six months and one with a term length of 12 months. Because its more extended term length makes it riskier, most businesses will not qualify for lines of credit with 12-month draw terms. Check out the borrower qualifications above to learn which product you might be eligible for.
Here are the rates and fees for both products:
| Credit Facility Size | $5,000-$250,000 |
| Term Length | 6 or 12 months |
| Interest Rate | 0.3%-1.5% per week (6-month terms) 1.5%-6.5% per month (12-month terms) |
| Draw Fee | 1.6%-2.5% per draw |
| APR Range | 15%-78% |
| Personal Guarantee: | Yes |
BlueVine’s lines of credit currently cap at a maximum of $250,000, but the amount you can borrow will depend on the strength of your business.
Once approved, you can draw funds up to your available credit line at any time you want. Be aware that there are draw fees starting at 1.6% whenever you request funds from your credit line. Otherwise, BlueVine does not charge any extra fees.
Repayments are made in 26 weekly installments if you have a 6-month term or in 12 monthly installments if you have a 12-month term. Regardless, you can repay early at any time. If you do so, you’ll only have to repay the interest that has accrued up to that point. BlueVine does not charge a prepayment penalty.
BlueVine’s lines of credit are issued by Utah-based Celtic Bank.
Application Process
The application for BlueVine’s services is simple: create an account via the website and answer some basic questions about yourself and your business. You’ll also have to provide either the most recent three months of bank statements or allow read-only access to your bank account.
You’ll have the option of hooking up your accounting or invoicing software, but it isn’t required. If you’re interested in invoice factoring but don’t use software compatible with BlueVine, you’ll be able to create invoices right in BlueVine’s interface. Currently, the company works with:
- QuickBooks
- Xero
- FreshBooks
Once you give your phone number, expect a call from a BlueVine rep who will walk you through the process and answer any questions.
Approval is based on several factors. Your credit score is a consideration, but BlueVine also looks at various other factors, such as social media presence, business history, transaction volume, and the creditworthiness of your customers.
According to the BlueVine website, your initial approval for a loan, line of credit, or invoice financing will take about 24 hours. When approved, you will receive your loan within a few hours, or you can begin drawing from your credit line or selling invoices immediately. Money transfers usually take one to three business days. However, if you’re selling an invoice from a customer unfamiliar to BlueVine, expect a 24-hour delay because BlueVine has to assess your customer’s creditworthiness.
With BlueVine’s term loans, you could receive your funds in just a few hours through a bank wire. This option comes with a $15 fee. Otherwise, an ACH transfer will be initiated, and your funds will hit your bank account within one to three business days on average.
| BlueVine |
|---|
Sales & Advertising Transparency
BlueVine provides pretty good transparency. Their most recent site overhaul seems to have made it a little more difficult to find some details about their products, but they’re still way above par. Check out the FAQ for most of the meaty stuff.
The customer service is similarly transparent and willing to answer questions.
Customer Service & Technical Support
Customer service is available by phone 8 a.m.-8 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday. You also have the option to email BlueVine via the contact page. For less formal contact methods, the company maintains accounts on Twitter and Facebook.
The consensus (backed up by my own experiences) is that BlueVine reps are very responsive, whichever way you choose to contact them. And if you’re not in the mood to talk to somebody, BlueVine also has an FAQ for general questions before signup as well as one for customers already using the lender’s services.
BlueVine Reviews, Complaints, & Testimonials
Negative Reviews & Complaints
BlueVine is accredited by the Better Business Bureau with an A+ rating and has had 83 complaints closed in the last three years. The complaints available for review from the site are mainly from 2019 and early 2020, with no information available on any more recent complaints. Additionally, BlueVine also has a presence on the Intuit QuickBooks app center and Trustpilot, among other places.
It’s worth noting that BlueVine is extremely proactive in responding to negative reviews and fixing complaints when possible, although they seem to have had difficulty resolving some of the recent ones brought to the BBB. Customer reviews on the site are still mostly positive, however, with BlueVine rating 3.53 out of 5 stars based on 131 customer reviews. Unfortunately, this is down from the 3.95/5 average score we found four months ago at the time of our last update.
When I looked into the most recent spate of poor BlueVine reviews, many of them pertain to the company’s PPP loan offerings and not BlueVine’s primary business loan products. The PPP program has been beset with issues from the start, and just about every participating PPP lender has seen a high volume of complaints from PPP borrowers. It’s likely that the recent downturn in BlueVine’s average customer rating on the BBB website is due in part to PPP-related complaints.
Other criticisms and complaints include:
- Denials: Some reviewers were frustrated to learn that they had been denied funding, even though they met all the requirements listed on BlueVine’s website. A few were further frustrated because they felt BlueVine did not give them a clear reason for why they were rejected.
- Expensive Fees: The fees may be a little higher than some customers would like.
- Rejected Draws: Some customers were frustrated to learn that requested draws from their credit line had been rejected. BlueVine monitors your revenue and debts and will not let you borrow if it looks like you cannot repay based on the information it has. Unfortunately, this can happen at inconvenient times for some businesses.
- Notification Factoring: A few reviewers were disappointed to learn that they didn’t qualify for a large enough credit facility without notification services (meaning, BlueVine alerted its customers to the factoring arrangement).
- Communication Issues: One of the harder-to-resolve complaints involved confusion over the point of contact for BlueVine products administered through their partnerships.
Positive Reviews & Testimonials
BlueVine’s rep has remained strong on Trustpilot, where it gets an average of 4.5 stars out of 5 with over 6,500 reviews.
In addition to a large number of customer reviews, BlueVine has been extensively covered by news sources, including TechCrunch, Forbes, HuffPost, PYMNTS.com, Crowdfund Insider, American Banker, and others.
In general, merchants like BlueVine’s services for solving cash flow problems. Waiting around for your clients to pay can be hard on your cash flow and, as a result, on your business. Having the option of getting an advance on your invoices, even if it costs a bit of money, offers significant help and peace of mind. Likewise, the funder’s lines of credit can be used any time you need extra cash, whatever the purpose may be.
Additionally, customers like the:
- Prompt customer service
- Transparent advertising
- Easy application process
- Fast time to funding
Have you had experiences with BlueVine that you’d like to share? Leave a message with your thoughts in the comments!
Final Verdict
It seems 2020 and 2021 have been unusually rough for BlueVine. Between some backward steps in their advertising and an alarming number of recent negative reviews, not to mention the disappearance of their term loan product from advertised services, the past year left a dent in the company’s otherwise strong reputation.
How much cause for concern is there? Hard to say. Between PPP loans and the pandemic, there’s been nothing typical over the past year as far as lending goes, so we want to give an excellent company the benefit of the doubt. That said, you may want to exercise a little more caution than usual given the circumstances.
Otherwise, BlueVine remains one of the most accessible invoice factors available. If you are interested in factoring a lot of invoices, you may be able to find better rates elsewhere; however, BlueVine’s invoice factoring service is a good choice for B2B businesses looking for casual, hassle-free factoring.
Likewise, while this funder’s lines of credit are not the only — or the cheapest — products on the market, BlueVine’s borrower qualifications are some of the lowest we’ve come across, which means that your business might qualify for a line of credit or loan from BlueVine if it doesn’t qualify elsewhere.
Jason Vissers
Expert Analyst & Reviewer at Merchant Maverick
Jason Vissers has been researching, analyzing, and writing about small business software and finance since 2015. His financial expertise has been cited in numerous publications, including The Ladders. Jason graduated with a Political Science degree from San Diego State University in 2001.
View Jason Vissers's professional experience on LinkedIn.
Latest posts by Jason Vissers (see all)
- All The Provisions in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 For Small Businesses - March 25, 2021
- VizyPay Review: Do Cash Discounts & Hybrid Credit Card Processing Really Work? - March 19, 2021
- COVID Relief: Can My Small Business Get Multiple EIDL Loans? - March 18, 2021
- What Is The Emergency Capital Investment Program (ECIP) & Can It Help My Small Business? - March 15, 2021
- The 8 Best Options For Recurring Payment Systems & Subscription Billing Platforms - February 9, 2021
The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆
BlueVine |
|---|
After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers.
The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆
BlueVine |
|---|
After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers.
I applied for my PPP loan in Feb, they didn’t address and approve the loan until May. Then they sent me a letter stating that the PPP loan had run out of funding. You cannot directly contact anyone with meaningful information about your PPP loan status, they have some kind of receptionist who knows absolutely nothing about your loan or even what PPP is, that’s about it. They failed to address my loan in a timely fashion and now it looks like they waited too long and it won’t be approved. Meaningwilhile my colleague applied through Bank of America twice and received 20k each time. My biggest mistake was going with Bluevine, an archetype of incompetence.
Hi Eric!
I’m sorry to hear about the issues you have had with receiving your PPP loan. I just want to make it clear that while lenders are no longer accepting new loan applications, loans that have already been approved will be funded. Per CNBC: “The SBA will continue to fund outstanding approved PPP applications from other lenders but won’t accept any new applicants.”
I would continue to follow up with BlueVine to learn about the status of your loan and to receive updates as to when your funds will be disbursed. Good luck!
Organization Name: Luke transit LLC
Had a blue vine business account opened up. Was approved and active. Had a large deposit for it to fund the account. Money was in the account for maybe 2 days. And one day after going for lunch. They closed my account for “unusual activity”
They will not return follow up calls like they say. They only have a call back list they put you on. They won’t release any info “for security reasons “
And the biggest kicker. THEY SAID THAT THEY ARE KEEPING MY MONEY AND THAT THEIR TERMS SAY THAT IF THERE IS AN ACCOUNT CLOSURE THEY WILL KEEP ALL THE FUNDS. WTF? OVER $17,000 AND IM SO LOST
Organization Name: A&B Property Owners, LLC
I cant give any ratings yet….I got my first loan through SBA for 5,000…gov…I applied for first round of ppp through Bluevine for 5,200., Feb 23-21 and was not denied but still it is saying in reviewed…they said all my documents are in and nothing is further needed…yet iv emailed them and today I called and she just said check your dashboard…it takes 14-21 days…its been over 21 days…so I feel if I don’t get an answer soon…i miss the cute off to apply anywhere else…SBA approved me in a day…no one gives you answers …and if I gave them all the stuff they needed…confused here
Organization Name: Healing Path Integrative Medicina
I had an excellent experience this week with Bluevine to obtain a PPP loan in 2021. Their online format made it really easy where they asked questions and then used the answers to guide me towards the loan application completion. i was pleasantly surprised how easy it was. I applied on Tues and had the loan in my bank account on Friday. Very thankful, and impressed.
If I could leave a zero for Bluevine, I would.I applied for the second round of ppp loans with Bluevine on the advice of my accountant. After submitting the application, I was eventually asked to approve an alternative offer. They would not let me see the offer before I okd it – so I tried to contact them for more information. Endless hours on hold, only to be disconnected, unanswered emails – when I finally connected with someone who said she could help, she canceled my prior email requests and then completely disappeared, never answering my subsequent emails. I regret even considering using them. Dealing with them is a nightmare. Maybe they are understaffed, but that will become YOUR problem very quickly.
Organization Name: Sunny Day
This is one of those phantom banks you heard about. So easy to open your account, but once you move your money or need anything else, then you see that their support is non-existent and incompetent. Wait time is almost 45 minutes regardless of the time date. Their support doesn’t know anything and can’t do anything, they are promising supervisor will give you a call back and that of course never happens. Because they probably don’t have them. The risk you put your business by dealing with this bank is so enormous that there is absolutely no point of even opening your account there. You have been warned.
BlueVine service is horrible. I applied for a PPP loan that my business really needs about 8 weeks ago. I was referred to them through a friend that works at one of BlueVines partners. After it said my app was complete, it was over a month of silence. They did not reply to my email inquiries. I called in. I waited on hold for about an hour then hung up. I called another day and was given the option to have them call me back from the customer service line. They never called. Tried this again a few days later. They did call back, I pressed a number to be connected, then an automated response said they weren’t accepting calls at that time. Called again, and it took over 2 hours to be connected to a customer service rep. They said everything looked good on my application, and they were just dealing with the backlog of applications before they’d get to mine. A week or two later, I received an email, followed the link and my app was declined. Reason? “Unable to verify Applicant’s identity from documents submitted.” My driver’s license and LLC docs have been used numerous times for loans. Names match. There are no problems with the IDs. I asked my friend that works with one of BlueVine’s partners. He said “The inability to verify your identities is not true by everything I see in the application.” I sent an email to support@bluevine.com 2 weeks ago for clarification or see what they needed. No replies. Been on hold for over 2 hours now at 888-216-9619. There is no outlet to get answers or insight. Not replying to support tickets, declining and closing applications for petty reasons and no resolution option, not calling back, calling back but telling customers you aren’t taking calls, and 2+ hour wait times… This is unacceptable service. I considered applying months ago to other PPP lenders, but many said to not apply if you have applied through another lender. I wish I would’ve cancelled my BlueVine app way back then. Do not use BlueVine. They do not care about their customers.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: JC Systems, Inc
Very dissatisfied with this company. The day they announced COVID-19 they shut down my credit line (as did Kabbage). During this time, when money was needed to keep businesses open they shut down. If it was not for On Deck, I probably would have had to close my doors. They were the only company that helped during these hard times. I tried contacting both Kabbage and Bluevine because I was struggling to make my payments. Neither company would call me back and they continued to take payments not caring if they overdrafted my account. If you want a company that is not going to run during hard times try On Deck. Bluevine and Kabbage will definitely not be there for you. They do not answer voicemail messages or emails so don’t expect much from them.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
I applied for a PPP loan on 5/23, due to the advertisement saying “approval in minutes”, and so haven’t received any communication from Bluevine. Today is 6/17 so their minutes turned into a month. You can’t get anyone on the phone and receive no responses via email. WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE I’ve ever received.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Credentialed Clinical Placement, llc
Has anyone received their PPP from this company?
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Shame on you BlueVine for denying my small business SBA Backed PPP loan only because my bank account is newly negative for the first time ever! The world has been literally shut down since March because of a world wide pandemic and everyone was affected. I did what I was told and paid my employee’s so that they could shelter in place before finally closing down to help stop the spread. Because the Small Business Association and the federal government guaranteed relief would come through the smaller lenders this time as a protection from being overlooked the first round.
Stop eliminating a valued part of our community and back the small businesses to ensure jobs and growth and sustainability for us all. Shame on you for closing out the ones that really could use the help the most. First it was the big banks now it’s even the small lenders and their partners. I have been waiting patiently since the first round of SBA relief to finally be told that I don’t qualify for the second round during a pandemic?!?
8 years of self financing my dream business will be washed away because my bank account is only recently insufficient during a PANDEMIC!
No where in the SBA guidelines does it state that a newly negative account or low income would automatically disqualify you from receiving credit, or a Economic Hardship loan. If you cared enough BlueVine maybe you would have called my bank and learned that my account has never EVER been negative not once, until this global Pandemic! My bank can vouch that this is my first time negative. My finances are normally not this stressed. But now I realize there will never be any relief for the minority owned disadvantaged Women business leaders.
I will file a complaint with SBA ombudsman, the federal trades commission, and all of your lending partners. The Equal credit opportunity act prohibited these actions.
“Notice: The Federal Equal Credit Opportunity Act prohibits creditors from discriminating against credit applicants on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age (provided the applicant has the capacity to enter into a binding contract); because all or part of the applicant’s income derives from any public assistance program; or because the applicant has in good faith exercised any right under the Consumer Credit Protection Act. The Federal agency that administers compliance with this law concerning this creditor is Federal Trade Commission”
Looking at the bigger picture I really wonder how many minority owed or disadvantaged small businesses have been shut out from government relief during this pandemic. Every Business and Every Person matters and because of that a class action suit will be the next cause of action against your predatory lending and bad ethical practices.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.