Fundera is a business funding matchmaker that matches borrowers with business funders. Fundera is a good place to start your search for business funding, including SBA loans.
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| Total Rating | 4.6 |
|---|---|
| Rates & Fees4.8 | |
| Services4.5 | |
| Eligibility Requirements4.9 | |
| Application4.5 | |
| Sales & Advertising Transparency4.4 | |
| Customer Service4.9 | |
| User Reviews4.7 | |
Table of Contents
Fundera is a business funding matchmaker. Much like a loan broker, this company does not originate loans but matches you up with other business lenders. Fundera’s partners offer merchant cash advances, short-term loans, lines of credit, medium-term loans, SBA loans, equipment loans, invoice financing, and personal loans (that can be used for business).
Not only is the company convenient and helpful, but everything about the service is transparent. The customer service is reportedly friendly and informative and has an excellent reputation across the web. Because Fundera is selective about the funders it partners with and provides tools and information to help merchants find the financing they need, it is undoubtedly one of the best matchmakers out there.
| Services4.5 |
|---|
| Lending Services 4.5 |
| Lending Limits 5.0 |
| Payment Portal & Mobile App 2.5 |
Fundera is a business funding matchmaker. With this online service, you complete a single application, which Fundera uses to match you with suitable business financing options on offer from affiliated lenders in its network.
Some business lenders Fundera might match you with include BlueVine, Credibly, OnDeck, Fundbox, and others. Some of the financing services offered through Fundera’s network include:
Fundera doesn’t offer a mobile app to apply for funding on the go, which only slightly lowered our rating in this category. Overall, Fundera’s lending partners offer a wide variety of products suitable for nearly any business need, which led to our rating of 4.5/5 for Fundera’s services.
| Eligibility Requirements4.9 |
|---|
| Transparency 5.0 |
| Eligibility Qualifications 4.7 |
| Availability 5.0 |
Because Fundera partners with several different lenders, it does not have any specific requirements regarding how long you’ve been in business, how much revenue you make, your personal credit score, or any other business characteristics.
Each of Fundera’s partners has its own requirements regarding business characteristics; as such, you may not be eligible for certain products.
If you make an account and find you are not eligible for the products you’re interested in, Fundera offers an eligibility tracker that can inform you when you do qualify for new products.
Because there are no set requirements and there are options for startups, applicants with credit challenges, and businesses that may not qualify for traditional funding, we rated Fundera a 4.9/5 for this category.
| Rates & Fees4.8 |
|---|
| Pricing 5.0 |
| Affordability 4.5 |
Fundera’s rates vary based on factors such as the lender you work with, your selected funding product, and your credit history. Here are some general guidelines Fundera provides about some of its partners’ products:
| Borrowing Amounts | Rates | Terms | Time To Funding | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Term Loans | Up to $600K | 7%-30% | 1-5 years | 1 day |
| Lines Of Credit | $10K-$1M+ | 7%-25% | 3-18 months | Less than 24 hours |
| Invoice Financing | Up to 100% of invoice | 3% processing fee + factor fee | When customer repays | 1 day |
| Equipment Financing | Up to 100% of equipment value | 4%-40% | 5-6 years | 2 days |
| Short-Term Loans | Up to $250K | Starts at 10% | 3-18 months | 1 day |
| Merchant Cash Advances | Up to $500K | Factor rate of 1.1 to 1.5 | Daily/weekly repayments | 1 day |
| Personal Loans | Up to $50K | 5.99%-35% | 3-5 years | 1 day |
You will not have to pay a fee directly to Fundera at any point during the process. Instead, Fundera receives compensation from its funding partners. Whenever a loan is funded through Fundera, the company collects a fee of 2%-5% of your loan amount from its partner. If you are not matched with a lender through Fundera, the company will not receive any money.
Because Fundera acts as a middleman, there is a possibility that the lending partner may pass some costs on to you. In a worst-case scenario, that means your loan might cost a little more if you go through Fundera than it would have if you went directly through the lender.
Otherwise, loan fees vary depending on the lender you’re ultimately partnered with.
Compared to some other lending marketplaces, Fundera is quite transparent about rates and fees for its partners’ products. This transparency, along with good rates and terms, contributed to our score of 4.8/5 for this category.
| Application4.5 |
|---|
| Application Process 5.0 |
| Application Timeline 4.0 |
Fundera provides a comprehensive explanation of the application process on its website.
Fundera is very transparent about its application process, so there are no surprises along the way. The process is quite easy, and the processing of your application and disbursement of funds — while not the quickest — is pretty quick for most products. For these reasons, we’ve rated Fundera 4.5/5 for its application process.
| Sales & Advertising Transparency4.4 |
|---|
| Sales Practices 5.0 |
| Web Presence 3.6 |
Fundera seems committed to providing a transparent service.
The website contains information about Fundera’s service and business loans at large. Fundera discloses what to expect from the process, how fees are collected, and any other information you might need to know before signing up. The website even has Shakespearean-style legalese in layman’s English on its Terms of Service and Privacy Policy pages.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Fundera is a signatory of the Small Business Borrower’s Bill of Rights and has therefore pledged to uphold certain standards, including “transparency, fairness, and putting the rights of borrowers at the center of the lending process.”
Fundera also provides a wealth of information about specific lenders and financial products and can serve as a solid resource.
The one area where we think Fundera could improve is with its social media profiles, which aren’t updated frequently. This had a slight negative impact on our score for sales and advertising transparency, which we rated 4.4/5.
| Customer Service4.9 |
|---|
| Personal Support 4.9 |
| Self-Service 5.0 |
Customer service is available by phone, email, or live chat via the website. Customers have reported positive experiences working with Fundera’s representatives — most claim that the customer service was helpful, informative, and not pushy. These factors led to our score of 4.9/5 for Fundera’s customer service and technical support.
| Fundera by NerdWallet Customer Service | Availability |
|---|---|
| Phone Support | |
| Email Support | |
| Support Tickets | |
| Live Chat | |
| Dedicated Support Representative | |
| Knowledge Base or Help Center | |
| Videos & Tutorials | |
| Company Blog | |
| Social Media |
Fundera also provides an in-depth FAQ that covers many questions you may have about the process, from application to repayment. The company also offers a well-populated resource center, including business loan calculators, lender reviews, financial templates, glossaries, and a host of other information about business loans and finances.
| User Reviews4.7 |
|---|
| User Feedback 5.0 |
| Review Site Aggregate 4.6 |
There are numerous Fundera reviews on Facebook and Trustpilot, where Fundera has earned a rating of 4.5/5 out of 970+ reviews.
The company is accredited by the BBB, and it currently has an A+ rating. One complaint has been filed over the last three years. Reviews are overall positive, with a handful of complaints mixed in. Keeping the large number of positive reviews in mind, we rated Fundera a 4.7/5 for this category.
Fundera is an excellent resource to help you find the funding you need. The website and customer support services are transparent and informative, and the application process is streamlined. These are just a few of the reasons we give Fundera an overall score of 4.6/5 as a marketplace lender.
One thing to keep in mind: Fundera works with relatively few lenders, so if you are not eligible for funding from Fundera’s partners, you may still qualify for funding elsewhere. However, there is a good chance that other lenders would come with higher rates and fees than those on Fundera’s platform.
Regardless, matchmakers such as Fundera provide a valuable service to small business owners. The search for business funding is often a long, confusing, and arduous process, but with Fundera, you don’t have to go it alone.
Looking for more small business financing options? Explore our team’s picks for the best small business loans, the best business lines of credit, or the best corporate credit cards.
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.
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 🏆
Fundera by NerdWallet |
|---|
After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see Fundera by NerdWallet for yourself.
The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆
Fundera by NerdWallet |
|---|
After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see Fundera by NerdWallet for yourself.
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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.
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Our team of experts spends hours on every review so that we can find the best companies to recommend to our readers. Fundera by NerdWallet made the cut.
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