National Funding Review: Short-Term Business Loans & Equipment Financing

Pros

• Low credit score requirements
• Discounts for repaying early
• No collateral required
• The application process is fast and easy
• Funds are disbursed quickly

Cons

• Rates can be expensive
• Some additional fees charged
• Repayments are required frequently
• Misleading website advertising

National Funding Overview

National Funding is an alternative lender that offers funding options to businesses that may not qualify for traditional bank loans or need expedited financing.

National Funding is one of the more well-established lenders in its market. It has shifted focus away from riskier products, such as merchant cash advances, onto its loans and equipment financing operations.

We give National Funding 4 out of 5 stars for its accessible, if somewhat costly, funding options.

Services Offered

National Funding provides capital in the form of short-term small business loans, equipment financing, and working capital (although this review focuses on the small business loans and equipment financing aspects). Equipment financing can come in the form of a loan or a lease; it is used exclusively to pay for equipment.

Short-term loans provide a lump sum of cash that can be used for a wide variety of business expenses. Short-term loans generally don’t have interest rates in the traditional sense. Instead, you’ll be charged a flat fee for the funding, usually a percentage of the borrowed amount.

Time to funding is also fairly quick. For small business loans, you can receive funding in as little as 24 hours, seven days at the most. For equipment financing, time to funding is usually about 24-72 hours.

National Funding Borrower Qualifications

National Funding offers fast, though expensive, business funding. Businesses with poor credit ratings can still qualify. Companies such as National Funding are usually more concerned with the amount of money you’re making in revenue than with your credit history.

To qualify for a short-term loan, you must meet these prerequisites:

To qualify for equipment financing, you must meet these minimum qualifications:

National Funding also requires no bankruptcies within the last year.

National Funding Interest Rates & Fees

National Funding’s website is fairly lean on details. Below, you’ll find the range of offers you can probably expect from this company.

Short-term Loans

National Funding, like most of its competitors, uses a fixed-fee structure. Instead of paying interest, the company charges you a one-time fee that is based on a percentage of the amount you borrow. You will repay this fee along with the loan. In the case of National Funding, the fee typically falls between 17%-36% of the amount you borrow. You should also expect to pay around 1-3% of the amount borrowed in origination fees. Our article on business loan rates and fees goes into more detail on this topic.

National Funding’s short-term loans are unsecured business loans, meaning no specific collateral is necessary. You will, however, need to sign a personal guarantee, meaning the funder can go after your personal assets if you default on your loans. Repayments are made daily through ACH debit.

You’ll make daily payments whether you get a loan or an advance. In the former case, you’ll be making a fixed daily debit (though you may be able to get weekly terms on some products) via an automated clearing house payment (ACH).

National Funding offers early payoff discounts. If you pay off your balance (in full) early, you’ll receive a 7% discount. You can take advantage of this offer at any time during your term.

Equipment Financing

National Funding now offers equipment financing, which breaks from its background in short-term lending products. Unfortunately, National Funding doesn’t provide much information about its equipment financing program. However, the starting rate is 4.99% simple interest and an origination fee of 1-3% of the amount borrowed.

Unlike short-term loans, equipment financing is a secured form of lending, with the financed equipment serving as collateral. Repayment terms are measured in years, and payments are made monthly, regardless of whether you get a loan or lease.

Notably, National Funding does not require a downpayment for equipment financing, which could make it a good solution for businesses that don’t have a lot of cash on hand.

Application Process

One of the bigger selling points of alternative funders such as National Funding is the fast and simple application process.

You can begin your application online, or you can call sales directly to get things underway. Sales reps are easy enough to reach, so you can probably skip the online portion if you want to. You’ll need to have three months of bank statements handy to prove your income, a voided business check, and a copy of your driver’s license.

If all goes well, you can have your funding directly deposited into your account within a business day.

Sales & Advertising Transparency

National Funding’s sales and web presence are par for the course for non-traditional lenders. You’ll find some general information about the products National offers, such as the amount you can apply to borrow, but it’s not particularly useful for comparison shopping. More frustratingly, the site implies a greater breadth of products than National Funding provides.

Unfortunately, this is fairly common in the online lending market, either because the lender will hand your application off to a funder within their network that offers the product or because the information is presented simply for reference. Either way, it causes unnecessary confusion.

Customer Service & Technical Support

Reaching National Funding’s sales staff is easy and painless, but I didn’t find my discussions with staff very informative so far as gathering information goes.

The majority of user reviews that address customer service are positive, however, so you may have a better experience when you’re a paying customer.

You can reach National Funding by phone, through its website, or on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn.

National Funding Reviews, Complaints, & Testimonials

Negative Reviews & Complaints

As is often the case when it comes to lenders, National Funding’s user reviews are highly polarized, with customers coming away with strong positive or negative assessments of the company.

National Funding maintains an A+ rating with the BBB, indicating that it tends to respond to complaints in a timely manner. However, the average review rating for National Funding is 1.24 out of 5. A total of 51 complaints have been closed in the last 12 months.

Complaints about National Funding tend to fall into the following categories:

• Qualifying Can Be Difficult: Some customers complained that they received preapproval notices from National Funding but ended up not being qualified after going through the application process.
• Expensive: While National Funding’s business practices are generally well in line with the merchant cash advance and short-term loan industry, customers who don’t have much experience with them were shocked by the fees.
• Aggressive Sales Tactics: Several complaints involve the company’s unsolicited marketing calls and mailers.

Positive Reviews & Testimonials

National Funding has a rating of 4.7 out of 5 on Trustpilot, with over 1,300 reviews. Customers who praised National Funding liked the following aspects:

• Poor Credit Okay: It’s pretty easy to qualify for a National Funding loan.
• Quick & Easy: Compared to traditional lenders, the application and approval processes are really easy.
• Easy Renewals: If you’re making your payments, you can easily get more funding from National.

Is National Funding The Right Lender For Your Small Business?

National Funding is one of the older non-traditional lenders out there and has retained a pretty positive reputation with its customers over the years. On the other hand, National plays its cards a bit too close to the chest, making it difficult for prospective customers to do critical comparison shopping for their funding.

All in all, its rates are slightly on the high side for an alternative lender, but they’re not unreasonable.

Want to know what other types of funding you might be eligible for? Check out our favorite merchant cash advances and small business loans.

National Funding FAQs

The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆

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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 National Funding for yourself.

The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆

National Funding	Apply Now

After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see National Funding for yourself.

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