Lendio is a loan marketplace with over 75 lenders available to help businesses secure immediate small loans. Expect financing options for almost every type of business operation, including buying new equipment, real estate for a new office location, or acquiring another company. Lendio lets you compare offers from multiple lenders after filling out an application form, and you’ll get a decision on the same business day.
Lendio Compared to the Best Small Business Loans
As a business owner, you’ll often find yourself needing extra cash to capitalize on sudden opportunities. But finding fair and trustworthy lenders is equally important so you know you’re working with a reliable partner. Lendio isn’t the only quality option. Below you’ll find three other great providers among our top picks for the best small business loans:
OnDeck is an excellent option for securing short-term loans with same-day funding, provided you aren’t based in Nevada, South Dakota, or North Dakota. Apply online today to secure a loan that works best for your use case.
Bluevine is a reliable business banking solution that provides instant, low-interest lines of credit for B2B businesses. Apply in just a few minutes without impacting your credit score.
SmartBiz is another loan marketplace that makes it easier than ever to qualify for and secure SBA loans. Submit an application by filling out a short form.
Lendio: The Good and the Bad
Considering there are hundreds of different lenders to choose from, let’s evaluate Lendio’s strengths and weaknesses so you can easily know where it stands compared to its competition and how it might fit your needs.
What Lendio is Good At
Lendio has many things going for it, from a pain-free application process to a variety of options to choose from. Applying (and getting) a loan that meets your exact use case is easy and responsive customer service, a helpful loan calculator, and hands-on technical support further ensure you’re getting the best deal for your time.
Easy, 15-minute application: The majority of small business loan providers have an overly complicated and tedious application process, but not Lendio. All you need to do is fill in basic information about yourself, your business, and your company finances. Lendio will then perform a soft pull on your credit that won’t affect your credit score and provide options from vendors within 72 hours.
Extensive list of lenders: Lendio is committed to helping business owners identify the best financing options for them. It offers loan options from more than 300 lenders, including several well-known banks and lending institutions like American Express, Funding Circle, Kabbage, Headway Capital, and Opportunity Fund. Considering the wide array of renowned options on Lendio’s network, being connected with a disreputable provider is highly unlikely.
Dozens of loan types: The variety doesn’t stop with the lenders. You also get a variety of financing options, including short-term loans, business lines of credit, business term loans, merchant cash advances, and startup loans. Other options include equipment financing, accounts receivable financing, commercial mortgages, SBA loans, and business acquisition loans.
Business loan amounts start from $5,000 and go up to $2,000,000. What’s more, a higher credit score isn’t mandatory for securing these loans. Lendio prides itself on helping businesses with different credit scores qualify for the money they need.
Excellent support: Several customer reviews rave about Lendio’s proactive and transparent customer support. You can reach out to Lendio via its social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter), email, live chat, or phone call.
That’s not all. You’re assigned a funding manager as soon as you apply for a loan. This person is essentially your main point of contact with Lendio, who is responsible for bringing you offers, helping you evaluate options, and resolving any questions you may have.
Helpful loan calculator: As Lendio has several lenders in its network, its loan calculator is one of the most accurate tools on the market. You’ll find a different calculator for each type of business loan available, including the Automated Clearing House (ACH) Loan Calculator, Business Credit Card Calculator, and Invoice Factoring Calculator.
What Lendio is Bad At
Any drawbacks in a potential lender or lending marketplace are crucial to pay attention to. Lendio, like other options, is no exception in terms of having a few aspects that may make them a poor fit for your needs. Examine the drawbacks below to see if any represent a deal-breaker for you.
Elaborate requirement list: Be prepared to dig deep into your documents when looking to secure a loan through Lendio. Beyond the soft credit check before approval, you’re going to need to provide at least six months of bank statements and two years of tax returns. While that helps people with less-than-stellar credit still qualify for a loan through Lendio, gathering the materials adds considerable time to the qualification process.
Not a financial institution: The fact that Lendio is a loan marketplace and not a financial institution is something prospective borrowers should keep in mind. It’s not responsible for interest rates, repayment terms, origination fees, loan forgiveness, or any other aspect of lending. Instead, Lendio matches optimal money lenders with your loan application using a proprietary algorithm.
That may not be a big deal in the end (and Lendio certainly does its due diligence to make sure its lenders are reputable), but it does mean if any loan terms seem off or repayment issues arise, Lendio can only act as an intermediary between you and the lender itself.
Strictly virtual interactions: If you’re someone who values face-to-face interactions when discussing money matters, you may not like Lendio’s virtual-only policy. While you get a dedicated personal funding manager to take care of your needs and resolve doubts, many bank representatives and online lenders extend the same courtesy. All the interactions are virtual only with no in-personal consultations, so there’s no special touch.
Lendio Options and Pricing
One of Lendio’s biggest USPs is its extensive loan types. Tailor-made for first-time borrowers or small businesses looking to secure emergency funding, a startup business loan, or any other funding, Lendio has multiple loan products and options to fit all your needs.
Business Lines of Credit
Opening a line of credit gives your business more flexibility when it comes to money.
If you open a revolving line of credit, you’ll essentially have a credit card in your hand that lets you draw small or large amounts of money up to your credit limit. Simply pay interest on the amount of credit you use, after which the credit becomes available to you again.
On the other hand, opening a non-revolving line of credit is a one-time thing. Once you pay it off, you‘ll have to reopen the line of credit if you want more time. This is also why non-revolving lines of credit have lower interest rates than revolving lines of credit.
You can get a line of credit between $1,000 and $500,000, with interest rates ranging from 8% to 24%. You can select from term lengths of either one or two years.
SBA loans
Thanks to Lendio’s huge network, qualifying to get an SBA loan has become super easy.
Not only do they have lower interest rates, but you can also choose from a wide range of loan types you may find circumstantially useful aside from the general 7(a) loans and CDC/504 construction and equipment loans (think: disaster loans).
SBA loans have a long approval process, since you need to satisfy the comprehensive requirements and paperwork required by the Small Business Administration, but Lendio makes SBA applications easy.
Its proprietary application platform makes uploading documents fast and easy, and personal funding managers look after all your needs to ensure you don’t miss out on any important documentation that may fail or delay approval.
You can get between $50,000 and $5 million from an SBA loan through Lendio, with term lengths ranging between 10 and 30 years.
Short-term Loans
Short-term loans are the easiest way to secure great credit. Thanks to expedited and simple application processes, funds reach your bank account in just a day or two.
You must repay these loans every day or week through an automated withdrawal from your business bank account, though. Also, instead of accumulated interest, the lenders charge a fixed percentage fee. For example, if you borrow $1,000 at an interest rate of 1%, you’ll owe the bank $1,100.
While this fee is deceptively easy to help you understand how short-term loans work, it disguises how expensive the money you’re borrowing can turn out to be. Make sure to learn all the interest charges before accepting these loans.
Short-term loans can fund you with anywhere from $2,500 to $500,000, with interest rates starting at 8%. Term lengths run between one to three years.
Equipment Financing
Equipment financing has a different treatment compared to business loans. In this case, you borrow money to buy equipment, which is a tangible asset that can be used as collateral for the loan. This reduces the lender’s risk, allowing them to offer better terms and rates than they would without the collateral, albeit with certain trade-offs.
According to Lendio, you need at least 12 months in business, a credit score of 650 or higher, and $50,000 or more in annual revenue. If you have a low credit score, showing a stable cash flow and revenues for the past 3-6 months can also make you eligible for qualification.
Borrowing amounts for equipment financing range from $5,000 all the way up to $5 million. Interest rates start at 7.5% and term lengths range from one to five years.
Lendio In Summary
After reviewing the pros and cons, we strongly believe Lendio is an excellent marketplace for those looking to secure small business loans.
Not only does it connect you to some of the biggest and most reputable lenders, but Lendio also takes over the responsibility of finding you the best match based on your use case. A straightforward application process and side-by-side comparison tool make it easier than ever to evaluate your options. Still, Lendio isn’t your only option—you can always consider other institutions like OnDeck, Bluevine, and SmartBiz.
Explore other small business loans from our list of the top options to understand which provider best aligns with your requirements.
