LoanBuilder: A PayPal Service Review

Pros

• Borrower qualifications are lower than banks
• Low credit score requirements
• No extra fees
• The application process is fast & easy
• Funds get disbursed quickly

Cons

• Not available to businesses in some industries
• No discounts for repaying early
• No long-term financing options available
• A blanket lien is required

Overview

LoanBuilder is a PayPal Service that offers loans to small businesses without the need for them to use PayPal as a payment processor.

LoanBuilder offers short-term business loans, a type of interest-free loan in which borrowers repay a predetermined fixed fee along with the borrowed amount. LoanBuilder’s short-term loan is unique in that it offers weekly repayments instead of daily, but it has a potentially high borrowing fee and a long list of ineligible businesses.

Is a small business loan from LoanBuilder right for you? Read on for the details, or go straight to our best short-term loan picks for small businesses.

Services Offered By LoanBuilder

LoanBuilder issues short-term business loans. This type of loan offers lump sums of capital at a fixed fee. Short-term business loans typically have term lengths of less than 18 months and are usually repaid daily or weekly.

How Is LoanBuilder Different From PayPal Business Loan?

LoanBuilder and PayPal Business Loans are one and the same. In fact, you may notice that when you begin the application questionnaire, the service is called PayPal Business Loan instead of LoanBuilder. At one point, there had been plans to phase out the LoanBuilder brand name, but that hasn’t happened yet.

Currently, LoanBuilder and PayPal Business Loans have different landing pages for the same product with similar content on each website.

How Is LoanBuilder Different From PayPal Working Capital?

PayPal Working Capital is a separate business loan service offered by LoanBuilder’s parent company. Like LoanBuilder, PayPal Working Capital provides short-term working capital business loans.

PayPal Working Capital is a useful tool, but it’s only available to PayPal sellers.

By contrast, LoanBuilder can be used by most businesses — PayPal sellers or otherwise. LoanBuilder also has potentially higher borrowing amounts, and the amount merchants can borrow is based on the business’s entire revenue (not just its PayPal sales). Check out the next section to see if you have a good chance to qualify for a LoanBuilder loan.

LoanBuilder Borrower Requirements

Recently, LoanBuilder has become much less transparent with their borrower requirements, rates, and fees. The only solid requirement on their website is a business checking account for weekly repayments. However, here are the previous minimum requirements a business had to meet to qualify for a LoanBuilder loan to give you an idea of what you might be able to expect:

Previously, LoanBuilder’s list of ineligible industries was rather lengthy and included attorneys, nonprofits, financial services, and others. While they no longer make this list readily available, here are the industries that were previously affected:

If your business falls into one of these industries, you may still be able to qualify, you’ll just have to reach out to LoanBuilder directly to check your eligibility.

Your business must also be based in the United States and not have any active bankruptcies. LoanBuilder also requires both a personal guarantee and blanket lien.

LoanBuilder Interest Rates & Fees

In the past, LoanBuilder was far more transparent with their borrowing information. Now, the company makes it incredibly difficult to get any information about borrowing amounts, term length, etc. which we had to take into consideration when rating LoanBuilder as a short-term lending solution.

Because of LoanBuilder’s lack of transparency, the best way to get the most accurate interest rate and fees information is by contacting LoanBuilder directly. However, here are the rates and fees LoanBuilder used to advertise. While these numbers might not be 100% accurate anymore, they can at least give you an idea of what to expect. (Note that the collateral, origination fee, and effective APR information are all still accurate).

* In the past, LoanBuilder loans were available up to $500,000 for qualified borrowers. Now, LoanBuilder does not advertise a borrowing amount; however, the PayPal Business Loan website lists borrowing amounts as $5,000-$100,000 for first-time borrowers and up to $150,000 for business owners who have borrowed with PayPal Business Loans before. Because PayPal Business Loans and LoanBuilder are the same product with different websites, it’s likely that this change is universal. The best way to find out how much you qualify for is by asking a LonaBuilder rep directly.

LoanBuilder rates are one-time fees and have ranged from 2.9% to 18.72% of the borrowing amount. While no specific collateral is required to qualify, a blanket lien and personal guarantee is required as a condition of receiving a LoanBuilder business loan.

LoanBuilder borrowing fees are usually not too high. However, the loans have relatively short repayment terms, making for large weekly payments. The two main fees you’ll find are a fixed Total Loan Fee and a $20 Returned Item Fee if your payment is returned.

Determining your Total Loan Fee is easy — simply multiply the Total Interest Percentage by the borrowing amount. For example, if you are borrowing $100,000 and you have an interest percentage of 10%, you will have a borrowing fee of $10,000. In total, you would have to repay $110,000.

Note: the Total Interest Percentage is not the same thing as an interest rate or APR. Unlike interest, which accrues over the life of the loan, LoanBuilder’s borrowing fees are only calculated once and stay the same for the loan term (even if you pay the loan off early, you’ll still have to pay the full Total Loan Fee).

Notably, LoanBuilder does not charge an origination fee, so you won’t have anything deducted from the amount of money you receive. As for LoanBuilder’s borrowing fees, they are not expensive, but they’re not the cheapest either and could potentially be as high as 18.72% of the borrowing amount. The repayment term is pretty short, which means that it’s not a viable long-term financing option, and each weekly repayment will be significant.

Repayment is hands-off. Each week, LoanBuilder will deduct a fixed amount from your business bank account via an automated clearing house (ACH). It’s worth mentioning that many of LoanBuilder’s competitors withdraw payments daily, making LoanBuilder’s weekly payment system a little easier than most to plan for. You can pay the loan off early without penalty if you choose, but unfortunately, there’s no monetary benefit to doing so.

LoanBuilder Application Process

LoanBuilder has a quick and easy application process.

The first step is to fill out an online pre-qualification form. You can choose to sign in using your PayPal account (in which case LoanBuilder will already have some of your information) or as a guest. The application has five steps: Contact Info, Personal Info, Business Location, Business Details, and Verify Identity. In all, LoanBuilder advertises that this form only takes five to ten minutes to complete.

Here is the type of information you’ll have to provide in each step (note that the information might vary based on your type of business):

1. The first step is Contact Info, in which you must supply contact information, such as your name, email address, phone number, and intended use of the loan proceeds.
2. Next is Personal Info, in which you must supply your home address and personal phone numbers.
3. For Business Location, you will have to submit your business address and business phone numbers.
4. For Business Details, you’ll supply relevant information, such as your business entity type, trade name or DBA, state of incorporation, annual business revenue, business start date, number of full-time employees, and business industry and sub-industry.
5. On the final section of the loan application, Verify Identity, you will include information such as your date of birth, SSN, what percentage of the business you own, and your federal tax ID. LoanBuilder will use this information to perform a soft pull on your credit, which will give the lender a sense of your credit history. Supplying this information will not affect your personal credit score.

What Happens After I Apply Online?

On submitting the application, LoanBuilder will let you know if you’ve been approved to continue the process or not. To determine eligibility, LoanBuilder evaluates your business’s financials and overall health, as well as your personal credit history. If pre-approved, you will receive estimated rates and fees, and you will be able to customize your borrowing amount and term length.

When you have settled on your terms, you will have to complete a full application. The documentation required varies based on your business’s situation, but you should expect to submit various documents, such as recent bank statements. In this stage, LoanBuilder will perform a hard check on your credit, which might have a small impact on your credit score. If approved for a loan, you must electronically sign a contract before receiving your funds.

I Got A Loan From LoanBuilder. Now What?

On approval, WebBank (the bank responsible for originating LoanBuilder loans) will deposit the funds into your bank account. If your loan is approved before 5 PM EDT on Monday through Friday, the funds will generally transfer the next business day. If you are approved later than 5 PM, or during a weekend, the transfer might take a little longer.

To repay, LoanBuilder will automatically deduct payments every week from your business checking account. You will be able to choose the day of the week on which payments are withdrawn.

LoanBuilder Declined My Loan. Now What?

If your loan gets declined, LoanBuilder will let you know immediately, and it will follow up via email a few days later with additional details and reasons. Applicants who didn’t qualify can try again after 30 days have passed.

If you are in need of immediate small business funds, check out the best same-day business loans instead.

LoanBuilder Sales & Advertising Transparency

Over the past two years, LoanBuilder has sharply cut back on the amount of information it provides upfront to prospective borrowers. There’s still a FAQ that provides some general information about how Loanbuilder works, but you won’t find much information about rates and precise terms. The PayPal Business Loan page provides the same information in a slightly different format.

You can check your eligibility quickly by filling out a questionnaire, but this requires you to submit contact information.

LoanBuilder Customer Service & Technical Support

Customer service is available by phone Monday through Saturday. Support is also reachable via email and social media. There is no live chat feature, however.

Though customers in the past have complained about the difficulty of reaching a customer support representative, LoanBuilder appears to have taken great pains to improve its customer service experience, and most recent reviews of the company’s customer experience are positive. Now, LoanBuilder has gotten many positive reviews from customers regarding customer support, despite the company not offering as many support avenues as other competitors.

LoanBuilder Reviews, Complaints, & Testimonials

Previously, it was difficult to disambiguate PayPal’s loan services from all their other operations. However, the internet has finally caught up with PayPal’s Loanbuilder acquisition, and you’ll find thousands of LoanBuilder reviews. Currently, LoanBuilder: A PayPal Service receives 4.1/5 stars on TrustPilot based on over 5,300 customer reviews.

Let’s take a deeper look at what these reviews say.

Negative LoanBuilder Reviews & Complaints

While the majority of LoanBuilder reviews are positive, there a some recurring complaints against this service:

• Mixed information about loan requirements and eligibility
• Lack of transparent rates & fees
• Large weekly repayments

Some of the older negative reviews also related specifically to COVID-19 and issues getting PPP funding.

Positive LoanBuilder Reviews & Testimonials

LoanBuilder has several testimonials on its website, a lot of positive reviews on TrustPilot. Customers usually like the following:

• Fast Time To Funding
• Helpful Customer Service
• Weekly Repayment Term
• Easy application process

While LoanBuilder no longer has transparent fees, recent reviews do note low interest rates and competitive pricing compared to other lenders. Some lenders also noted that LoanBuilder paused repayments during COVID to help businesses not default on their loans, which created a few very satisfied customers.

Final Verdict: Is LoanBuilder Worth It?

LoanBuilder’s loans are fast, easy, and a little more flexible than your average fintech business loan. PayPal’s move away from transparency over the last two years is puzzling, and definitely a step in the wrong direction, but the service remains among the better short-term loan offerings out there with its weekly repayments and reportedly strong customer support.

While some borrowers might want to look for a small business loan with longer repayment term lengths, LoanBuilder has a lot to offer the right type of business. In other words, if your business needs a short-term infusion of capital, or you can’t qualify for financing elsewhere, LoanBuilder is worth including in your comparisons.

PayPal Business Loan & LoanBuilder FAQs

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Find Funding for Any Credit Level

BusinessLoans.com	Visit Site Read our Review

Explore a wide range of business loan options at BusinessLoans.com. With no minimum credit score requirement, find the perfect funding solution for your needs. Get Started.