American Express Business Blueprint™ (formerly Kabbage) Small Business Loans Review

Kabbage rebranded to American Express Business Blueprint™ in February 2023. Business Blueprint includes the American Express® Business Line of Credit, among other products.

American Express Business Blueprint™ offers borrowers lines of credit from $2,000 to $250,000. With their automated application process, American Express is a worthwhile option for business owners with fair credit looking for a small business loan.

• Nonprofits
• Ones with large outstanding balances with other lenders
• Ones located outside the 50 U.S. states and territories
• Marijuana/CBD
• Firearms
• Gambling
• Financial institutions
• Lending

If you meet the minimum American Express Business Blueprint™ loan requirements, you can dive into filling out their online application.

You’ll create an American Express account by offering your email and adding a password, and they’ll then ask for basic business and personal information including your name, business name, business type, home and business addresses, phone number, industry, EIN, and Social Security number.

Once you’ve given this information, you’ll be prompted to connect the financial platforms you use to your American Express business loan application. You’ll need to connect your business checking account, plus any other online services your business uses and they will ask that you provide the login information for each account you connect. Examples of online services you can connect to are: 

• PayPal, 
• Amazon, 
• eBay, 
• Xero, 
• Stripe, or 
• QuickBooks. 

It’s important to sync up as many business services as possible because the more business revenue you can demonstrate, the more likely you are to qualify for a line of credit. American Express will review and underwrite your loan based on the information they receive from your synced accounts. Therefore, the more accounts you can link to your application that show your revenue and business performance, the more data they have to underwrite your line of credit.

After you sign your loan agreement, your funds will be sent to the account that you indicate, either your business checking account or a PayPal account. Once you’ve received your funds, you can immediately start drawing money from your line of credit and you’ll only pay for funds that you use.

You’ll want to keep in mind that the application process can take longer in cases where American Express has trouble verifying your business information. If they do not approve your application for funding the first time around, their algorithm will keep tabs on your business using the accounts you linked. If and when you meet their business line of credit requirements, they will alert you. Along these lines, your account will also be regularly reevaluated to see if you’re eligible for changes in your line of credit or fees.

Once funded, you can pull from your American Express® Business Line of Credit as often as once per day—and you can do so using the American Express mobile app or online dashboard. As with most lines of credit products, you’ll only pay interest on what you pull from the pool of funds.

American Express will inform you of your full repayment schedule during the underwriting process so you can be fully prepared to start making the payments. They’ll automatically collect the minimum repayment each month from your business bank account. You’ll also be able to make manual payments at any time.

Additionally, you’ll be able to review your payment plan and schedule on the online dashboard. They do not report to personal credit bureaus or business credit bureaus, so your activity won’t affect your credit scores. 

Every month, you’ll pay back an equal portion of the loan principal plus a fee. Total monthly fees incurred over the loan term range are:

• Six-month term: 2% to 9%.
• 12-month term: 7.5% to 18%.
• 18-month term: 15.75% to 27%.

American Express doesn’t charge prepayment penalties, so you can actually save on monthly fees if you are able to repay the borrowed funds early. Once again, you can manage your upcoming payments, see historical payments, and preview potential payments for any new loans you make using your dashboard.

American Express Business Blueprint™ (formerly Kabbage) has mixed reviews across the internet. Common complaints in customer reviews state that the interest rates are too high. This is the cost of working with a lender that approves less-qualified borrowers. On the other hand, your rates will be very transparent from the get-go.

Other American Express Business Blueprint™ business loan complaints include issues related to billing and collection, logistical problems with the product, and problems with their customer service.

On the other hand, users liked how streamlined the application process was. The terms of the loans and repayments are understandable and if there was ever an issue, customer service was quick to come to a resolution.

Those who switched from traditional banks were pleasantly surprised by how accessible acquiring funds could actually be, and highly recommend American Express Business Blueprint™ over traditional banks for multiple reasons, one of them being transparency of information like fees and interest rates.

American Express Business Blueprint™ is in Fundera’s Lender Network. The Fundera team has carefully vetted American Express Business Blueprint™ and determined that their offering is one of the best in their product category. When working with American Express, you can be sure you’re getting transparent, fair pricing on a best-in-class product.