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Join For FreeBluevine might be expensive, but the online lending service offers transparent services and flexible lines of credit that may work for some businesses.
Total Rating | 3.7 |
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Rates & Fees3.8 | |
Services3.6 | |
Eligibility Requirements3.6 | |
Application4.5 | |
Sales & Advertising Transparency3.4 | |
Customer Service3.4 | |
User Reviews3.4 |
Table of Contents
Bluevine is an online lending service offering business lines of credit, term loans, and business checking accounts.
Bluevine’s fees can get a little expensive, but despite the potential for high costs, Bluevine offers useful and transparent services that are relatively easy to qualify for, convenient, and useful for merchants who struggle with cash flow problems.
Services3.6 |
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Lending Services 3.0 |
Lending Limits 3.0 |
Payment Portal & Mobile App 5.0 |
Bluevine offers small business lines of credit. Lines of credit are similar to credit cards, giving you a set amount of credit that you can use. You can make one or multiple draws as needed, and you only pay interest on the amount borrowed.
You can also receive term loans through Bluevine’s lending partners. Term loans offer lump sums of cash that are repaid, plus interest, on a regular, set schedule.
Bluevine also offers business checking accounts.
Bluevine’s services effectively cover the basics of small business lending, with modest borrowing amounts and product breadth. Bluevine borrowers will benefit from the banking service infrastructure Bluevine’s developed, making it easy to check on your accounts on any device. We rate Bluevine 3.6/5 for services.
Eligibility Requirements3.6 |
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Availability 4.0 |
Borrower Qualifications 3.5 |
Transparency 3.0 |
To qualify for a Bluevine line of credit, your business must meet the following minimum requirements:
Time In Business | 24 months |
Credit Score | 625 |
Business Revenue | $10,000 per month |
Bluevine lines of credit are available to U.S. corporations and LLCs, except those based in Nevada, North Dakota, South Dakota, or U.S. territories. Your business must have not filed for bankruptcy within the last three years.
This product is available to most industries except for the following:
Bluevine’s time in business and credit score restrictions rule out some very new businesses as well as those with very low credit scores, but should be accessible to a large number of merchants. The revenue requirements add up to $120,000 per year. Borrower qualifications are on the website, but not prominently displayed. This adds up to a 3.6/5 rating by our methodology.
Note that borrower qualifications for term loans through Bluevine vary depending on the affiliate.
Rates & Fees3.8 |
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Pricing 3.7 |
Affordability 3.8 |
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.
Here are the rates and fees for Bluevine’s lines of credit:
Credit Facility Size | $6,000-$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. There’s also a $15 fee for expedited deposits. Otherwise, the funds from each draw are deposited by ACH transfer, which can take up to three business days.
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.
Bluevine’s rates and fees are slightly better than average for its market segment. Unfortunately, Bluevine’s recently taken a big step backward in transparency, disclosing few of its rates and fees on its website. This adds up to a 3.8/5 score for rates and fees.
Application4.5 |
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Application Process 5.0 |
Application Timeline 4.0 |
The application for Bluevine’s services is simple: create an account via the website and answer 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.
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.
Once approved, you can begin drawing from your credit line immediately. Money transfers usually take one to three business days. If you have a Bluevine business checking account, you can get access to your money even faster.
For its speedy application process and relatively fast access to funds, we rate Bluevine 4.5/5.
Sales & Advertising Transparency3.4 |
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Sales Practices 4.0 |
Web Presence 2.5 |
Bluevine used to be among the more transparent online lenders but has recently taken a step backward. You’ll find very little publicly disclosed information about rates on Bluevine’s site.
That said, Bluevine’s sales tactics don’t make any particularly deceptive promises either. We give Bluevine 3.4/5 for transparency.
Customer Service3.4 |
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Personal Support 3.6 |
Self-Service 3.0 |
The consensus (which matches my own experience) is that Bluevine reps are very responsive, whichever way you choose to contact them.
Bluevine Customer Service | Availability |
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Phone Support | |
Email Support | |
Support Tickets | |
Live Chat | |
Dedicated Support Representative | |
Knowledge Base or Help Center | |
Videos & Tutorials | |
Company Blog | |
Social Media |
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, but there’s nothing particularly meaty in those. We give Bluevine a 3.4/5 for customer service and technical support.
User Reviews3.4 |
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User Feedback 4.0 |
Review Site Aggregate 2.7 |
Bluevine’s user reviews are mixed but trend positive. The company’s business banking services tend to be a bigger source of complaints than its lines of credit, but as the products are increasingly more intertwined, it makes sense to consider them as a total package. We give Bluevine a 3.4/5 for user reviews.
Bluevine is accredited by the Better Business Bureau with an A+ rating but with just a 1.15 out of 5 rating in customer reviews. A large number of those are associated with PPP loans from 2020, and many of the more recent ones are about the company’s business checking product.
Criticisms and complaints include:
Bluevine’s rep has fared better on Trustpilot, where it gets an average of 4.3 stars out of 5 with over 7,800 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. The funder’s lines of credit can be used any time you need extra cash, whatever the purpose may be.
Additionally, customers like the:
Bluevine’s growing pains appear to have carried over into 2024, unfortunately, accompanied by a decreasing amount of transparency. Given how complex Bluevine’s ecosystem is becoming with business checking accounts and third-party lending, prospective borrowers would benefit from seeing how all of these parts work together, and how much it will cost them. All of that aside, Bluevine’s lines of credit have substantial cashflow requirements that small businesses may not be able to hit.
We still believe Bluevine offers a worthwhile product, so we hope to see more transparency and accessibility in the future. Bluevine’s lines of credit get an overall score of 3.7 out of 5 from the Merchant Maverick team.
Don’t qualify for a Bluevine line of credit? Check out your alternatives on our list of best 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.
The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆
Bluevine |
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After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see Bluevine for yourself.
The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆
Bluevine |
---|
After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see Bluevine for yourself.
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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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