CIT Direct Capital Review

Acquired by the CIT Group in 2014, Direct Capital was an online, alternative lender known for their short-term business loans and equipment financing. Now, under the small business financing branch of CIT, business owners have even more funding options to choose from—and they can still benefit from a fast and streamlined application process.

CIT Group offers three main financing products for small businesses—equipment financing, working capital loans, and franchise financing. 

That said, however, it’s important to note that within their commercial branch of business they offer additional products, including factoring, supply chain financing, and capital equipment financing. Moreover, CIT Bank (which owns CIT Group) also offers SBA loans—however, these are largely limited to the state of California.

Unfortunately, CIT Direct Capital doesn’t provide specifics regarding common business loan requirements (i.e. credit score, annual revenue, time in business) upfront on their website. As you might expect, to some extent, the eligibility requirements you’ll need to meet will vary depending on the product you’re applying for.

That said, however, here’s some overarching information to keep in mind when it comes to the eligibility criteria for CIT Direct Capital:

CIT Direct Capital does not work with businesses in the following industries:

• Nonprofits or churches
• Check cashing, mortgage reductions, or similar financing businesses
• Adult entertainment
• Firearms and narcotics
• Fortune telling
• Bail bonds
• Lottery
• State or local governments

• CIT Direct Capital requires you have a business bank account with a minimum average bank balance of $4,000.
• CIT Direct Capital will work with business owners who have filed for bankruptcy, but only after a minimum of three years have passed since discharge.
• CIT Direct Capital can work with borrowers who have tax liens.

CIT Direct Capital can work with businesses in any state.

They also can work with borrowers who run home-based businesses.

Although some of the documentation and information you’ll need to provide to CIT Direct Capital will vary based on the financing you’re applying for, in general, you’ll be asked for:

• Basic information about you, the business owner, including your name, address, social security number, driver’s license, and ownership percentage
• Information about your business, including your entity type, industry, EIN, and DBA (if applicable)
• Loan amount request
• Three to six months of business bank statements
• Business and personal tax returns
• Business financial statements (e.g. profit and loss statement, balance sheet, etc.)

If you’re interested in financing from CIT Direct Capital, you can submit a business loan application online and in most cases, receive funds as fast as one day.

Here’s what the basic process looks like:

You can fill out an application for a CIT Direct Capital business loan fairly quickly online. First, you’ll just have to provide preliminary information about your business—including how much you want to borrow, your ownership percentage, etc.

After you submit your initial application, you’ll wait to receive word from CIT about next steps. If you’ve passed the initial qualification, they’ll likely ask you to upload documentation such as your tax returns and business bank statements.

If you’re applying for equipment or franchise financing, you may have to submit additional documentation or work with a CIT representative to continue through the underwriting process. Once you’ve completed your entire application, however, CIT Direct Capital can typically underwrite your financing fairly quickly. As we mentioned, they often fund businesses as fast as one day. 

Therefore, if you’re approved, you’ll be able to receive an offer, sign your documents electronically, and have your funds sent to your business bank account. That said, CIT may require a personal guarantee from business owners, as well as file a lien on your business assets, so you’ll want to review your offer carefully to ensure you understand all the terms and conditions before signing.

After you’ve secured funding through CIT Direct Capital, you can check on the progress of your loan anytime by logging into the CIT online portal. You’ll also receive statements on your outstanding loan through this online portal.

CIT’s working capital loans automatically deduct daily or weekly payments from your business checking account, whereas equipment financing is repaid on a monthly schedule. CIT’s franchise financing, on the other hand, varies based on the individual product.

Once you’ve repaid roughly 50% of your loan, it may be eligible for renewal. You can talk to CIT’s customer service representative’s to discuss your renewal options if you’re interested in renewing your financing.

There are a number of ways you can contact customer service for CIT Direct Capital.

CIT offers email and phone-based customer service, as well as the online portal for applicants and existing customers. For general assistance, you can email service@cit.com or call 800-253-0157, Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. ET.

Due to the acquisition of Direct Capital by CIT, it can be a little time-consuming to navigate CIT and Direct Capital reviews online. That said, however, over the years, it seems that reviews of CIT Direct Capital are fairly mixed.

Currently, CIT is not BBB-accredited and they have a B- rating on that site. Their BBB reviews are not particularly favorable, with customers complaining of poor customer service and extraneous fees. Similarly, Direct Capital has pretty negative Yelp reviews, although not many are recent.

With this in mind, however, CIT has a very positive reputation on Trustpilot, with an average of 4.6 out of 5 stars. Positive Trustpilot reviews highlight the simple, fast, and efficient process, helpful and responsible customer service, and frequently mention the benefits of the equipment financing program.

In addition, CIT responds to an average of seven out of eight negative reviews on Trustpilot, trying to resolve issues with customers.

On Google Reviews, on the other hand, you’ll see a much greater mix of both positive and negative reviews—with CIT Group earning an average of 2.9 out of 5 stars on this platform. Here, reviewers mention some of the advantages (quick application, equipment financing) and disadvantages (hidden fees, poor customer service) we’ve discussed thus far.

Ultimately (and unfortunately), it’s difficult to get a comprehensive sense of what it might be like working with CIT Direct Capital based on their online reviews.

CIT Direct Capital is not in Fundera’s Lender Network. The Fundera team carefully vets all of the lenders in our network, and have determined that CIT Direct Capital either doesn’t have the technology to work with Fundera or does not offer a financing product that competes with the other lenders in its product class. We suggest considering another lender in this product class.

See if you qualify for similar products in Fundera’s Lender Network.