Credibly Review: Business Loans, Merchant Cash Advances, How To Apply, & More

Pros

• Low credit score requirements
• Discounts for repaying early
• Financing is suited for business growth needs
• The application process is fast and easy

Cons

• Rates can be expensive
• Some additional fees are charged
• A blanket lien is required

Credibly Overview

Credibly is an online lender that offers short-term business financing, including business loans and cash advances, as well as long-term business expansion loans and SBA loans.

With fees that fall well within alternative lending norms (which tend to be quite high), Credibly relies on its relatively easy qualifications to attract customers. Your business might qualify even if you’ve only been in operation six months or have a credit score of 500. Credibly is a worthwhile alternative business loan option if your business doesn’t yet qualify for financing elsewhere. Though you might want to shop around a bit before settling, Credibly offers competitive rates and has transparent service.

Lending Services Offered By Credibly

As follows are the main business lending services offered by Credibly:

• Short-Term Loans: A financial product that grants borrowers a lump sum. Unlike other term loans, short-term loans carry a one-time fee that is repaid along with the principal. Repayments are made daily or weekly, with the term usually lasting less than a year.
• Business Expansion Loans: These are more traditional term loans. The lender provides a lump sum, and the borrower pays back the principal plus accrued interest over the term. Payments are typically made monthly or weekly.
• Merchant Cash Advances: The funder buys a percentage of your future credit/debit card sales for a lump sum. A percentage of your daily card-based sales is held back until the funder has collected the amount it advanced plus a flat fee.
• Business Lines Of Credit: With a business LOC, the borrower has a set amount of credit they can draw from. The business only has to repay what they end up borrowing.
• SBA Loans: These are partially government-backed term loans that allow qualifying businesses to secure loans with lower rates and longer terms than they would otherwise qualify for.
• Equipment Financing: This type of financing is used specifically to finance business equipment, such as heavy machinery or computer systems. Because the equipment itself is used as collateral to secure the loan, EF typically doesn’t have a minimum credit score or business revenue requirement.
• Invoice Factoring: With this type of business financing, business owners sell their outstanding invoices to a factoring company at a discounted rate. The factoring company fronts the business a lump sum for the invoices and then assumes responsibility for collecting on the invoices.

Credibly Borrower Qualifications

The minimum requirements to have a good chance of qualifying for a loan or advance from Credibly vary depending on the type of financing you’re seeking.

Working Capital Loans & Merchant Cash Advances

These are the minimum requirements to get a merchant cash advance from Credibly:

Business Lines Of Credit

These are the minimum requirements for Credibly’s long-term/business expansion loans:

SBA Loans

Here are the minimum qualifications for Credibly’s SBA loans:

Other Financing Types

No specific qualifying criteria are given for business expansion loans, equipment financing, or invoice factoring.

Credibly Interest Rates & Fees

Learn the details Credibly provides about its various financing products below.

Working Capital Loans

These are the terms and fees for a Working Capital Loan:

Credibly’s Working Capital Loan is a short-term loan. Unlike longer-term loans, short-term loans don’t accrue interest over time. Instead, the total cost of borrowing is front-loaded into a fixed fee. This cost is expressed as a multiplier called a factor rate. If you want to know how much the loan will cost you, multiply the amount you’re borrowing by that rate. The result is the amount you have to pay back. Note that this does not include the origination fee.

The other major difference comes in the form of the method of repayment. Credibly will withdraw a micropayment from your business account during each payment period through an automated clearing house (ACH) payment process. For this product, repayments can be on a daily or weekly basis.

Since short-term loans tend to translate to very high-interest rates while still technically subject to state loan laws, Credibly’s Working Capital Loans aren’t available in every state. (Credibly doesn’t disclose which states it works with on its site, however.)

Merchant Cash Advances

These are the terms and fees for Merchant Cash Advances:

Merchant cash advances are similar to Credibly’s short-term loan products in that a factor rate is used to calculate the cost of financing. However, there are a few differences. A merchant cash advance isn’t a traditional loan but rather a purchase of future receivables. In other words, Credibly purchases a percentage of your future sales in exchange for cash upfront. To collect the amount Credibly “purchased,” the funder automatically debits a percentage from either your credit card processor or business bank account each day.

While there aren’t set terms, the anticipated duration of paying off your cash is three to 18 months.

Business Expansion Loans

These are the terms and fees for Credibly’s Business Expansion Loans:

A more traditional option is the Business Expansion Loan. These medium-term installment loans accrue interest in the same way that bank loans do. Repayments resemble those of short-term loans — except Business Expansion loans are repaid weekly. The interest rate you’re assigned will be based on your business’s overall health as assessed by Credibly’s underwriting department.

Other Financing Types

Credibly doesn’t supply much information about the terms of its other financing products.

Regarding its lines of credit, the company just states that it offers secured and unsecured LOC up to $250,000.

For equipment financing and invoice factoring, Credibly says factor rates start at 1.09 but doesn’t give other info, except that invoice factoring has a maximum borrowing amount of $400,000.

Term and fees for Credibly’s SBA loans vary depending on the SBA loan type — SBA 7(a) or SBA 504. You can learn more about the terms and differences between these two SBA loans by reading our comparison piece on SBA 504 vs. 7(a) loans.

Visit Credibly

Application Process

You can “prequalify” for a loan online, a term that here means begin the application process. You’ll be required to enter basic information about yourself and your business. Credibly will use the answers provided to decide whether you’re eligible for a loan and how much funding you qualify for.

If you are eligible, you’ll have to talk to a real person. This person will work with you to determine how much money your business needs and what documentation you have to provide. Before the loan is finalized, you’ll have to provide the following information:

• Business lease agreement or business mortgage statement
• Picture ID of all owners
• Most recent business tax return (if you are applying for a loan above $100,000)
• Bank statements for the last three months
• Basic personal information, such as your social security number

When you’ve provided all the information, your file goes to underwriting.

If all of your information checks out, Credibly will extend a finalized offer to you. Should you accept, you’ll have to sign a business loan agreement, and the money will be transferred to your account.

The time from application to funding generally takes two to five days: one day for the application, one day to get a finalized quote, and one to three days for funding.

Sales & Advertising Transparency

Credibly discloses most of the basic information you’ll need on its website, although some elements could use more elaboration. Overall, though, Credibly provides a lot more information than many other online lenders do.

Customer Service & Technical Support

Credibly is available by phone and by chat via its website. Credibly is also on Facebook and Twitter.

Or, if you don’t want to talk to people, an FAQ section is available on their website.

Customer service often gets cited as one of the high points of working with Credibly. Representatives are friendly, and hold times are short.

Credibly Reviews, Complaints, & Testimonials

Negative Reviews & Complaints

Credibly business loan reviews are a mixed bag. Credibly currently has three recent complaints, 11 negative reviews, and an A+ rating overall on the Better Business Bureau website. The company also has a handful of negative reviews on Trustpilot.

Here are some of the most common complaints we’ve seen in Credibly reviews:

• Early Repayment Stipulations: While Credibly allows early repayment discounts, you’ll have to read the fine print to ensure you get the discount. For example, it must be made in a lump sum from a qualified account.
• Payment Issues: A few customers complained about the repayment system and having to make more payments than anticipated. Given the nature of merchant cash advances, however, this may not have been Credibly’s fault.
• Long Application Process: Some reviewers complained that the application process took longer than expected. Note that while Credibly makes claims of 48-hour funding, this refers to how long it will take to receive the funds after your application is approved.

Positive Reviews & Testimonials

There are a few testimonials on Credibly’s website and YouTube page. The lender also has a rating of 4.8 out of 5 on Trustpilot with 994 reviews. In general, customers say they like the following in their Credibly funding reviews:

• Easy Application Process: Compared to traditional lenders, such as banks and credit unions, Credibly’s process should be quick and easy.
• Low Prerequisites: Younger businesses without great credit might still be able to qualify for funding.
• Good Customer Service: Most clients were pleased with the frequency and quality of the assistance they received from Credibly’s staff.

Have you done business with Credibly? Leave a message in the comments letting us know what you think!

FAQs: Credibly Lending

Credibly Review: Final Verdict

While Credibly’s rates aren’t the best in the business, it is a fairly transparent online lender with a flexible array of products that are within reach of businesses that have poor credit. If you’re in a pinch and don’t have access to other financing options, Credibly might be the lender that works for your business.

Don’t get a loan from Credibly without making a few comparisons first, though. Most lenders (Credibly included) will provide an initial quote within a few minutes without damaging your credit score. Head over to our small business loan comparison chart to learn about some of our favorite business lenders.

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