Fora Financial Review 2024: Short-Term Business Loans & Advances
Fora Financial is a direct lender that might be a great fit for high-risk businesses looking for quick (but possibly expensive) funding.
Fora Financial
Total Rating | 3.7 |
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Rates & Fees3.2 | |
Services3.5 | |
Eligibility Requirements4.6 | |
Application4.3 | |
Sales & Advertising Transparency3.2 | |
Customer Service2.8 | |
User Reviews3.9 |
Fora Financial At A Glance
- Fora Financial is a direct lender offering short-term loans and merchant cash advances to businesses
- Fora Financial’s low credit score requirements make it a good lender of last resort for businesses having trouble meeting lending requirements
- Borrowers with strong credit can probably find better rates elsewhere
Pros
- No credit score requirements
- Discounts for repaying early
- Suited for quick business financing
- The application process is fast and easy
Cons
- Rates can be expensive
- Some additional fees charged
- Repayments are required frequently
Table of Contents
- What Is Fora Financial?
- Services Offered By Fora Financial
- Fora Financial Borrower Qualifications
- Fora Financial Interest Rates & Fees
- Application Process
- Sales & Advertising Transparency
- Customer Service & Technical Support
- Fora Financial User Reviews
- Is Fora Financial The Right Lender For Your Business?
- Fora Financial FAQs
What Is Fora Financial?
Fora Financial is an alternative lender that offers relatively fast funding with relaxed credit qualifications. Fora Financial provides merchant cash advances and short-term loans to small businesses.
Services Offered By Fora Financial
Services3.5 |
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Lending Services 3.0 |
Lending Limits 5.0 |
Payment Portal & Mobile App 2.5 |
Fora Financial offers two short-term lending products.
- Merchant Cash Advances (MCA) are an agreement wherein the funder purchases a percentage of your future daily credit card sales for a lump sum. The funder then “holds back” a percentage of your card-based sales each day until the advance terms are fulfilled.
- Short-Term Loans (STL) are loans with a term length of usually less than a year. Short-term loans use flat fees rather than interest rates and are repaid daily or weekly.
While these two products are versatile and offer high borrowing amounts, they effectively limit Fora Financial’s niche to short-term lending. Customers can log-in to their account through the Fora Financial website. Overall, we rate Fora Financial’s service offerings 3.5/5.
Fora Financial Borrower Qualifications
Eligibility Requirements4.6 |
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Availability 4.5 |
Borrower Qualifications 4.5 |
Transparency 5.0 |
Fora Financial’s lenient borrowing qualifications make it accessible to most small businesses, provided they have strong sales and cash flow. The sales requirements amount to $180,000 per year, which slightly negatively impacts Fora’s near-perfect 4.6/5 score for eligibility requirements.
Time In Business | 6 months |
Business Revenue | $15,000 in monthly gross sales |
Credit Score | 500 |
Fora Financial does not advertise a minimum credit score requirement on its website. This company does a hard credit check on your personal score to help determine your terms, but a poor score alone will not stop you from accessing capital.
However, Fora Financial is strict about its other guidelines. If you have been in business for less than six months or your monthly sales fall below the amounts listed above, your application will most likely get rejected. If you’re trying to qualify for a merchant cash advance, remember that the $5K/monthly revenue minimum must be in credit or debit card sales.
Additionally, Fora Financial does not lend to businesses in the following industries:
- Accounting
- Adult entertainment
- Auto sales
- Financial institutions
- Gambling
- Lawyers
- Nonprofits
- Real estate sales
Finally, your business cannot be in open bankruptcy or have closed a bankruptcy case within the last year.
Fora Financial Interest Rates & Fees
Rates & Fees3.2 |
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Pricing 3.0 |
Affordability 3.4 |
Fora Financial’s rates and fees are fairly typical for short-term subprime business lending, but thankfully without shady hidden fees like prepayment penalties. Still, we’d like to see a little more transparency out of Fora in this department. Fora Financial gets a 3.2/5 for rates and fees.
Borrowing Amount | $5,000-$1.5 million |
Term Length | 4-15 months |
Borrowing Fee | 10%-30% of the borrowing amount |
Origination Fee | 1%-4% of the borrowing amount |
Effective APR | Learn more |
Collateral | None required |
Revenue Advances
Fora Financial’s Revenue Advance is a merchant cash advance. Merchant cash advances, which are technically purchases of a percentage of your future card-based sales and not loans, are repaid through a daily deduction of a percentage of your card sales (which are usually variable), so there is no true term length. Unlike most merchant cash advances, Fora Financial’s Revenue Advance offers weekly payment plans in addition to the standard daily option.
Instead of charging interest, Fora Financial charges a one-time factor rate (sometimes called a “buy rate” or “flat fee”). To understand how much you’re paying, multiply the rate by the principal. For example, if you’re borrowing $50K and have a factor rate of 1.2 (or 20%, as it’s often written), you’ll have to repay $60K: $50,000 x 1.2 = $60,000.
In most cases, you’ll be making daily payments. In the case of advances, these payments will be a percentage of your card-based sales for the day.
Even though the factor rate is often communicated as a percentage, it’s not the same as APR. Generally, the shorter your term length, the higher your APR — even if you’re still repaying $0.20 in fees for every dollar borrowed.
Small Business Loans
Fora Financial’s small business loans are short-term loans. Short-term loans, unlike MCAs, are technically loans; however, their terms are different than what you might be used to with traditional installment loans.
As with merchant cash advances, you’ll get charged a flat fee rather than a traditional interest rate. You’ll also be making regular payments, typically daily, until your loan is paid off. In this case, however, these will be flat payments deducted from a business account rather than a percentage of your daily sales.
Normally, with this type of loan, you would not save money by repaying early because the fee is only calculated when the loan is disbursed. However, Fora Financial does offer a discount for repaying early, as low as $1.10 for every dollar still owed.
Application Process
Application4.3 |
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Application Process 5.0 |
Application Timeline 3.5 |
Fora Financial has an expedited application process consisting of a one-page form. A representative will call for more information, including monthly sales, how long you’ve been in business, and pertinent contact information. They’ll also answer any questions you might have. At this point, they’ll do a soft pull on your personal credit and provide you with an estimated quote detailing your potential fees, options, and term lengths.
If you wish to continue the process, they’ll send your application through underwriting to verify and finalize your information. If everything checks out, you’ll be officially approved, and the money will be wired into your bank account. Final approval can arrive within 24 hours, with funds landing in your account as soon as 72 hours later.
Additional documents you may be asked for include:
- Three months of credit card statements (for merchant cash advances)
- Three months of bank statements
- Some applicants may be asked to submit tax returns, a balance sheet, or a P&L
We like how simple and fast Fora Financial’s application process is. Its funding timeline is slightly slower than many of its similarly situated competitors. Overall, we give Fora Financial 4.3/5 for its application process.
Sales & Advertising Transparency
Sales & Advertising Transparency3.2 |
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Sales Practices 3.0 |
Web Presence 3.5 |
Fora Financial falls somewhere in the middle of the pack for alternative lenders when it comes to transparency. You’ll find information about qualifications and repayment on the company’s website, but not much about specific rates.
Overall, there’s not too much of the obfuscation and fluff that tends to plague fintech websites. Fora Financial gets a slightly above-average 3.2/5 for sales and advertising transparency.
Customer Service & Technical Support
Customer Service2.8 |
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Personal Support 2.8 |
Self-Service 3.0 |
Many customers cite the company’s customer service as a high point of working with Fora Financial. Reviewers claim that the company is honest, transparent, easy to get a hold of, and not overbearing or trying too hard to make a sale. Self-service resources and avenues of contact are somewhat limited, however, resulting in an average 2.8/5 rating for customer service.
Fora Financial Support | 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 |
Fora Financial User Reviews
User Reviews3.9 |
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User Feedback 4.0 |
Review Site Aggregate 3.8 |
Overall, user complaints about Fora Financial are minimal, and the company has maintained a generally positive reputation, which is something of a feat for a lender in its niche. We rate Fora Financial 3.9/5 for user reviews.
Negative Reviews & Complaints
Fora Financial has a presence on the Better Business Bureau website, where the company holds an A+ rating and 7 complaints closed over the past three years. It has 12 customer reviews with an average rating of 3.09/5 stars. Additionally, there are a few reviews on Yelp and Google.
Here’s what people don’t like about the service:
- Expensive Capital: Financing from Fora Financial is not cheap.
- Potentially High Origination Fee: Fora Financial charges between a 1% and 4% origination fee (before wiring your capital along to you, the company will take a percentage cut of it). At the high end, this fee can be pretty punishing.
- Sales Pressure: A few customers complained that they felt railroaded into completing an application after contact with Fora Financial. Additionally, several customers complained about unsolicited pre-approval notices sent to them. Some applicants also complained that they didn’t qualify for the advertised terms.
Positive Reviews & Testimonials
As you might expect, Fora Financial has numerous testimonials on its website. You can also find customer reviews on Yelp, Google, and Trustpilot.
Customers are happiest with:
- Customer Service: Most customers posting positive reviews found Fora Financial’s customer service helpful and responsive.
- Fast Funding: Customers appreciated the speed and ease with which they received funding.
- Easy Qualifications: Customers with poor or little credit appreciated that the company was still willing to work with them.
Is Fora Financial The Right Lender For Your Business?
With its borrowing amounts bumped up to $1.5 million and the introduction of a more flexible merchant cash advance, Fora Financial remains a very competitive, if not superlative, lender in the alternative loan industry, one that we give an overall rating of 3.7/5 stars. With its lenient borrower qualifications and high rates, we’d generally recommend Fora Financial specifically to borrowers looking for the best business loans for bad credit.
As always, Merchant Maverick encourages our readers to compare loan offers to make sure you’re getting the best deal you can.
Fora Financial FAQs
Business Loan & Funding Products Review Methodology
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.
- Rates & Fees: 20% of the total star rating
- Services: 20% of the total star rating
- Eligibility Requirements: 20% of the total star rating
- Application: 15% of the total star rating
- Sales & Advertising Transparency: 10% of the total star rating
- Customer Support: 5% of the total star rating
- User Reviews: 5% of the total star rating
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 Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆
Fora Financial |
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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 Fora Financial for yourself.
The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆
Fora Financial |
---|
After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see Fora Financial for yourself.