Quick Business Loans: Best Lenders for Fast Access to Capital
Quick Business Loans: What You Need to Know
Whether your business experiences an emergency or you simply need to make payroll, it’s very likely that at some point, you’ll need access to capital, fast. Therefore, you might find yourself searching for quick business loans—loans that you can apply to and receive funding in as little as 24 hours.
In this guide, we’ll break down the top lenders who offer quick small business loans, as well as the types of loans that lend themselves best to fast funding.
The Comprehensive Guide to Quick Small Business Loans
The Best Lenders for Fast Business Loans
When you’re looking for quick business loans, your options are going to be limited to lenders who have a fairly expedited underwriting process—those who can review and approve your application in a matter of days.
On the whole, this is going to restrict you to working with online, or alternative lenders. Banks, on the other hand, are going to require a much more lengthy and time-consuming process. This being said, there is a price to pay for speed and convenience, meaning fast business loans will likely be more expensive than their slower counterparts.
Nevertheless, if you need capital for your business fast, you can explore the following lenders, all of which offer a variety of financing products and can possibly fund your application in a few days.
Best Quick Business Loan Lenders
| Lender | Minimum Credit Score Required | Estimated Interest Rates | Speed | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
625 |
29.9% to 99.9% APR (based on loans originated in the half-year ending March 31, 2022) |
As fast as 24 hours |
Short-term loan for big, unexpected expenses; short-term line of credit to manage cash flow |
|
No minimum |
6% to 20% |
As fast as one business day |
Short-term loan to cover larger emergency expenses; businesses with under one year in operation |
OnDeck Capital
You might consider OnDeck as one of your best options for quick business loans. OnDeck also offers lines of credit for business owners who need fast financing. Additionally, OnDeck provides short-term loan products.
For their lines of credit, you can qualify for amounts ranging from $6,000 to $100,000 with terms of six months. To receive a line of credit from OnDeck, you’ll need to have annual revenue of $100,000, a personal credit score of 625, and at least one year in business.
For their short-term loans, on the other hand, you’ll be able to access amounts ranging from $5,000 to $250,000 and terms of up to 24 months. The requirements you’ll need to qualify for this loan will be the same.
All of this being said, you’ll find that OnDeck can fund either financing product in as soon as 24 hours or as long as a few days.
Generally, you’ll find that as far as fast business loans go, OnDeck’s short term business loan is best for big, unexpected expenses, such as an emergency repair. As for their line of credit, this product is going to be best for managing cash flow.
LoanBuilder, a PayPal Service
PayPal offers a financing product called LoanBuilder, which operates much like a short-term loan and is a worthwhile option if you need fast business funding.
LoanBuilder has loan amounts up to $500,000 and terms ranging from 13 to 52 weeks. The loan is paid back with automatic weekly payments from your business checking account.
To qualify, you’ll need at least nine months in business, at least $42,000 in annual revenue, and be located in the U.S.
Once you’ve submitted your application, you can receive approval and funding within one business day.
Generally, however, a short-term loan from LoanBuilder is going to be more expensive than a more traditional business term loan. Nevertheless, if speed and limited documentation are your top priorities, LoanBuilder is going to be a good option for a quick business loan.
Best Types of Quick Business Loans
As you can see, any of these four small business lenders can offer fast business loans, giving you access to the capital you need in a matter of days.
This being said, however, you may have noticed that there are certain types of financing products, like lines of credit and short-term loans, that lend themselves better to speed than others, like SBA loans or medium-term loans.
Therefore, let’s continue our discussion by learning more about the financing products you’ll probably want to search for if you need fast business funding.
Best Types of Business Loans for Fast Funding
| Loan Type | Amounts | Terms | Estimated Interest Rates | Minimum Credit Score Required | Typical Funding Speed | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Up to $250,000 |
Up to 18 months |
Starting at 10% |
600 |
As little as two days |
Covering unexpected, one-off expenses |
|
Up to $250,000 |
Up to one year |
7% to 25% |
600 |
In a matter of hours |
Flexible financing to cover cash flow or fund an immediate small project |
|
Up to the cost of the equipment |
Up to five or six years |
4% to 40% |
600 |
As fast as two days |
Businesses that specifically need to purchase equipment |
|
Up to 100% of the invoice value |
Until the customer pays the invoice |
Approx. 3% processing fee, plus factor fee (~1%) each week until invoice is paid |
530 |
In a matter of hours |
B2B business looking specifically to smooth out cash flow issues |
|
Up to $250,000 |
Paid daily via your merchant account |
Factor fee of 1.14 to 1.18 |
No minimum |
As fast as one day |
Businesses who can’t qualify for other financing options; covering immediate cash flow issues |
Short-Term Loans
As we saw with OnDeck and LoanBuilder, you’ll find that quick short-term loans are a popular product when you’re looking for fast business funding.
On the whole, short-term loans will be a good option if you need to address immediate cash flow needs, specifically one-off expenses.
How fast is this type of loan?
Short-term business loans qualify as quick business loans because they can fund as quickly as two days.
How does this loan work?
Short-term loans work like traditional term loans. Both these loans follow a similar payment structure, but when you need cash quickly, a short-term loan might be a better option as a fast business loan.
A short-term loan is a straightforward loan product—you receive a set amount of cash upfront that you agree to pay back, along with fees and interest, over a predetermined amount of time.
Short-term loans tend to offer smaller amounts—ranging from $2,500 to $250,000—and higher rates than their longer-term, slower-to-fund alternatives.
Additionally, short-term loans often come with factor rates instead of interest rates. To determine how much these quick business loans will cost you, you multiply your factor rate by the total loan amount—that’s how much you’ll be paying the lender back.
Moreover, you’ll have a very short repayment period with these loans, and you can expect to pay on either a daily or weekly schedule.
Best for:
Short-term loans are going to be a good, fast business loan option if you need to quickly cover unexpected, one-off expenses.
These loans are also useful when you know you have an opportunity to secure revenue you couldn’t get otherwise.
For instance, you might need to make a seasonal sales push during the holidays, purchase equipment to get your business off the ground, or buy additional inventory to fill a large pending order. Once you see that extra revenue, you can repay your short-term debt and turn a quick profit for your business.
Short-Term Lines of Credit
Although it’s not a standardized term across the small business financing industry, “short-term” lines of credit typically refer to lines of credit with repayment terms of less than a year.
These short-term lines of credit typically fund quicker than longer-term alternatives and, as a result, are a viable option if you’re looking for fast business funding.
How fast is this type of loan?
Short-term lines of credit can fund as quickly as within a single day—especially if you come prepared with the necessary resources, like financial paperwork and accounting software.
How does this loan work?
A “short-term” line of credit and a traditional business line of credit function the same way:
You’re approved for a revolving line of credit, where you can draw from a pool of funds whenever you want or need to pay for a business expense.
You only pay interest on what you draw, and when you’ve repaid in full, your credit line gets refilled to its original amount.
What makes a “short-term” line of credit different from a traditional line of credit are the amounts, rates, repayment period, and time to funding.
With a short-term line of credit, you might only be approved for a maximum amount of around $250,000—with a steep APR in some cases—but, again, you can often get the funding a day after you apply.
Best for:
Overall, pretty much every small business owner could benefit from having a business line of credit in their back pocket.
This is one of the most flexible business financing options, giving you the ability to choose when you tap into your pool of funds.
However, if you’re specifically looking for quick business loans, a short-term line of credit is going to be one of your best options for covering cash flow or financing an immediate small project.
As we mentioned, a short-term line of credit may have higher interest rates, so if you want a line of credit to consistently use, you may search for one with a longer application process, but a more affordable rate.
Equipment Financing
If you’re on the hunt for quick small business loans that can provide fast cash for purchasing an expensive piece of equipment, equipment financing is probably the best option for you.
From vehicles and machinery to office furniture, this could be the perfect solution for business owners who have an immediate need for fixed assets.
How fast is this type of loan?
You can be approved for equipment financing in as little as two days, and potentially end up financing 100% of the cost of the equipment.
How does this loan work?
Equipment financing is different from term loans in one key way—it’s a form of asset-based lending.
Unlike traditional debt-based financing, which uses your borrowing and business history—like your credit score, tax returns, and bank statements—to decide what loans you qualify for, with asset-based loans, the lender relies on the value of the new asset you’re buying, which acts as your collateral in case you default on the loan.
Best for:
Ultimately, equipment financing will be your best fast business loan option if you have a specific need to purchase equipment.
This being said, however, you should generally be saving and investing so you can afford to purchase new equipment regularly—you don’t want to be taking out equipment loans for every piece of equipment you buy.
If something unexpected happens, on the other hand, you might need to upgrade your equipment to keep up the productivity of your business. This is a great reason to use an equipment loan.
Invoice Financing
When your business’s invoices are unpaid due to slow-paying customers, you might be looking for quick small business loans to support your cash flow in the meantime.
If this is the case, invoice financing might be your ideal option for fast access to capital.
How fast is this type of loan?
If you’re able to qualify for invoice financing, then it will be one of your quickest business loan options—you could fund the same day you apply.
How does this loan work?
Invoice financing solves a common business problem: You’re waiting on customers to pay your invoices, and their delays are creating a serious gap in your cash flow. In the worst cases, this could mean you’re about to miss payments on your end.
Invoice financing, also called accounts receivable financing, can be a quick solution to your cash flow problems. Much like equipment financing, accounts receivable financing uses your outstanding invoices as collateral. Invoice financing companies advance you up to 85% of the total value of those collateralized invoices, giving you cash for your outstanding invoices right away. You’ll get the remaining 15% back, minus lenders’ fees, when your customers pay.
Best for:
Invoice financing will be one of the best options for a quick business loan if you’re a B2B business looking specifically to smooth out cash flow issues fast.
You can use invoice financing or invoice factoring to pay regular operating expenses without having to wait for payment on your outstanding invoices. Invoice financing is especially useful if the gaps in your cash flow are leaving you unable to pay your suppliers in time—and your credit rating is suffering because of it.
Additionally, invoice financing is a good, fast small business loan for business owners that don’t qualify for a lot of loan options otherwise.
As we explained above, invoice financing companies look more at your outstanding finances and less at your credit and your business’s financial health, so borrowers might find these financing options easier to secure than other quick business loans.
Merchant Cash Advances
Merchant cash advances are viable options if you don’t qualify for any other financing product, but you need an infusion of cash quickly. Due to their speed, merchant cash advances are commonly associated with fast small business loans.
However, their speed and accessibility make them the most expensive way to secure business funding.
How fast is this type of loan?
With a merchant cash advance, you can be approved and funded in just a day or two—with almost no paperwork involved.
How does this loan work?
A merchant cash advance, or an MCA, is a lump sum loan that a merchant capital provider gives to your business depending on your monthly revenue. You agree to pay back that advance, plus a fee, by letting the provider take an agreed-upon percentage from your company’s daily credit and debit card sales.
Although MCAs are fast business loans that are easy to qualify for, they cut heavily into your daily cash flow.
This being said, however, allowing your MCA provider to take a percentage from your daily credit card sales has one advantage: You aren’t punished when you have slower weeks or months. If your business isn’t making that many sales, you just pay your lender less. But on the other hand, your successful days are cut into the most.
Plus, interest rates don’t determine the cost of your MCA. Instead, you’ll pay a factor fee with a merchant cash advance. You can still convert these fees to calculate the APR on an MCA though, and generally, APRs range from 15% to 80%.
Best for:
Ultimately, MCAs will only be a worthwhile option if you’ve exhausted all of your other financing possibilities.
Generally, if you have less-than-ideal credit scores or immediate cash flow issues, you’ll appreciate that MCAs are so fast and easy to qualify for. This being said, however, MCAs are going to be one of the most expensive financing products on the market, and therefore, you’ll want to take caution before applying for and agreeing to one.
Pros and Cons of Quick Business Loans
Now that we have a better idea of what types of products are available to you, as well as which lenders are the best choices to consider for these products, let’s break down the pros and cons of quick business loans.
At the end of the day, it might come down to the fact that you need to find working capital in any way possible; however, before you take on debt from a fast business loan, you’ll want to take a step back to weigh both the benefits and the drawbacks.
Let’s discuss:
Pros
- Speed: With these products and lenders, you can apply for the business funding you need and receive it fairly quickly—often within a few days.
- Streamlined application process: Many of these quick business loans require limited documentation and therefore, you can complete the application fairly easily.
- Variety of options: Despite the fact that you’re looking for speed first and foremost, you do have a variety of products to choose from depending on your need—lines of credit, short-term loans, invoice financing, and more.
Cons
- Cost: Overall, any financing products that optimize speed and accommodate limited documentation are going to be more expensive than a slower-to-fund alternative.
- Short repayment terms: You’ll find that with quick small business loans, because you need funding fast, you only have a short amount of time to pay back your debt. As we’ve discussed, these types of products have fairly short repayment terms, making them unsuitable for financing larger or ongoing projects.
- Hard to pay back: Because of the short repayment terms and sometimes steep interest rates, fast business funding can be difficult to pay back. In particular, you’ll want to be careful with products like merchant cash advances, which are often very expensive and cut into your daily sales. Although it’s very easy to qualify for these types of products, they can create a cycle of business debt that is difficult to break.
The Bottom Line
Ultimately, if you’re looking for quick business loans for your company, you probably have one thing in mind: You need capital—now.
As we’ve discussed, although there are worthwhile fast financing products to consider, you’ll want to make sure you’re choosing the best option for your business.
How do you make that decision?
At the end of the day, you’ll have to weigh the benefits and the drawbacks and try to think both short-term and long-term. As part of this process, you’ll want to consider why you need the financing, how fast you need access to capital, and whether or not a fast small business loan will be worth the cost.
If you find that you can wait for a slower-to-fund, more affordable solution, that may be a better option for your business in the long run. On the other hand, however, if you need an emergency business loan, you’ll want to take care in order to choose the right product—not only one that is fast-to-fund, but that meets your needs and that you’ll be able to pay back over the designated terms.
Fast Business Loans FAQs
Meredith Wood
Meredith Wood is the founding editor of the Fundera Ledger and a GM at NerdWallet.
Meredith launched the Fundera Ledger in 2014. She has specialized in financial advice for small business owners for almost a decade. Meredith is frequently sought out for her expertise in small business lending and financial management.