Best Business Loans for Bad Credit of 2021 | U.S. News

If you have a checkered credit history, traditional banks or credit unions may be unwilling to approve a business loan. Luckily, alternative lenders, which provide options outside of conventional banks, offer small-business loans if you have a bad credit score.

Some of these lenders set no minimum credit score requirements and consider factors such as revenue or time in business for approval.

When you know how bad credit small-business loans work, you can find the best bad-credit business loan to start or expand your small business. What you’ll learn here:

U.S. News conducted an in-depth review of the leading bad credit small-business loan companies, researching key factors, including customer service ratings, qualification requirements and loan options.

Bad credit is a FICO score that falls below 670, which is a fair or poor credit score. You typically need a FICO score of at least 530 to qualify for a bad credit business loan, but you could get better terms with a good credit score of 670 or higher.

Bad credit business loans are generally aimed at business owners with low credit scores.

Not only your personal credit score but also your business credit score may be a factor in whether you get a loan, particularly from traditional lenders.

As with personal credit scores, business credit scores have distinct scoring ranges and interpretations. Your business credit score reflects your payment history on accounts associated with your business.

However, your personal credit will be used exclusively to measure the risk of a loan if your business has no credit history, as with a startup.

Small-business owners with low credit scores will find limited options for small-business loans, especially from traditional lenders.

Approval for a small-business loan can be tricky because it factors in not only credit history but also cash flow and collateral, says Jay DesMarteau, head of commercial distribution at TD Bank. The bottom line is that approval is always easier when applicants have strong credit and steady revenue.

“When a business owner has poor or unsteady cash flow, banks and lenders often focus more on the company’s documented financial history and assets,” DesMarteau says. “Those with poor credit scores may struggle with their loan approval.”

Small-business loans come in many forms, and some are easier to qualify for than others. Alternative lenders, including online lenders, may offer bad credit small-business loans that are more accessible than loans from traditional lenders.

Alternative lending refers to the broad range of loans for consumers and business owners made outside of traditional financial institutions. Alternative lenders fill a gap left by risk-averse banks that may turn away certain borrowers – especially as many traditional lenders tighten credit standards in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Usually, alternative lenders make loans online and may not have brick-and-mortar branches like many traditional banks.

Alternative lenders and traditional lenders specializing in bad credit provide these types of loans for small businesses:

Term loans are lump sums of cash you borrow from banks and pay back, with fees, over a certain period of time. You can choose from secured or unsecured business loans, but secured business loans require collateral, such as equipment. Unsecured business loans primarily rely on your credit but may need a personal guarantee.

Business lines of credit are similar to business credit cards and can help when you’re in a cash flow crunch. With a business line of credit, a lender approves you for a pool of funds, also known as a revolving line of credit.

Just like a business credit card, a business line of credit has a credit limit, which is the maximum amount you can borrow. You will pay interest only on the portion of money that you borrow from your business line of credit.

With equipment loans, lenders typically finance 80% to 100% of the cost of your equipment. The equipment acts as collateral for the loan. Alternative lenders may be more likely than traditional lenders to offer equipment loans to small businesses with poor credit.

Invoice Financing or Factoring

If your small business struggles with cash flow issues because customers do not pay their balances in full, invoice financing – or invoice factoring, which is closely related – is an option.

With invoice financing, you sell your invoices to a lender at a discount and receive an advance on them. The lender pays you most of the amount owed on the invoices upfront and keeps a portion – usually 20% – until the invoices are paid.

Invoice financing can be a risky choice. Borrowers pay a factoring fee based on a percentage of the invoice, plus interest charged on the cash advance until it is paid off.

The fees can quickly add up, and with invoice factoring, you hand control of the invoices and collections to a factoring company. You’ll need to carefully weigh the pros and cons before choosing invoice financing or factoring.

A merchant cash advance, or MCA, is an advance on your firm’s future sales and can deliver quick access to capital. You’ll often repay the advance as a percentage of your daily credit card and debit card receipts, plus fees.

Lower-risk borrowers will have lower fees and more favorable borrowing terms than higher-risk borrowers. Still, a merchant cash advance is often a poor choice for a business.

Beware the long-term financial implications of using merchant cash advances.

“It’s almost like a drug,” says Kevin Monahan, area director for the Florida Small Business Development Center at the University of North Florida. “Small-business owners need the money desperately, resort to paying high interest rates, and find themselves with less and less money.”

Getting a business loan means preparing a solid application, especially when you have bad credit. Before you apply for a small-business loan, take these steps to boost your odds of approval:

When you’re ready to start a business loan application, make sure you can answer these questions:

You will likely need to provide personal information, such as your Social Security number, home address and phone number, along with your resume. Any sound loan program will also require your business and personal financials and legal documents, such as articles of incorporation.
For in-depth information on the business loan application process, read the U.S. News Small-Business Loans guide.

When choosing a lender for your small business, pay close attention to the lender’s:

Keeping these factors in mind will help you find a lender with a better chance of approving your loan and offering you the best possible terms and costs.

Applying for a loan that you don’t qualify for doesn’t make sense. Find out what a lender expects as a baseline for approval before you apply.

Ask about these and other factors:

Look for a lender that provides the type of loan you need, such as a business line of credit, invoice financing or term loan.

Also, check that loan limits and terms are in line with your needs. If you require a $250,000 loan with a seven-year repayment term, you won’t want to apply with a lender that makes only small, short-term business loans.

Seek a lender with the lowest costs, including:

Read lender reviews to find out how businesses rate the products and the customer service each lender offers.

Two good review sources for alternative lenders are Trustpilot, which rates companies based on an aggregate of customer reviews, and the Better Business Bureau.

If you aren’t approved for a small-business loan or can’t secure enough financing because of poor credit, you have a few options: