The Business Backer Review

The Business Backer, founded in 2007, is an alternative lender that offers small business loans, business lines of credit (through their sister company Headway Capital), and merchant cash advances. Financing of up to $200,000 is available for business owners with credit scores of 550 or higher.

The Business Backer is a great lender to work with if you need fast financing for your small business. Plus, they’re committed to providing financing that doesn’t leave borrowers unable to pay off their debt. If you choose to work with The Business Backer, you’ll find that they look closely at your revenue, making sure that they’re providing financing that you can realistically pay back.

Besides the above criteria, in order to apply for a loan from The Business Backer, your business needs to have a dedicated business bank account.

Whoever submits an application must have at least 1% ownership in the business and authority to sign on behalf of the business.

The Business Backer uses a blend of personal and business credit in their decision-making process but doesn’t require a minimum business credit score.

They also allow up to three non-sufficient fund transactions (NSFs) per month on average. NSFs are counted separately from overdrafts, and a borrower can have up to eight overdrafts per month.

The Business Backer does not work with businesses in the following industries:

• Gambling
• Adult and pornographic industries
• Illegal substances
• Lenders
• Multi-level marketing
• Financial services (insurance agents are eligible)
• Staffing and employment services
• Travel agencies
• Chiropractors
• Gaming
• Car dealerships
• Oil and gas

Additionally, they don’t work with sole proprietorships, nonprofits, or businesses that want to refinance existing debt.

• Completed loan application
• Three months of business bank statements (12 months of statements recommended for seasonal businesses)
• Online bank login

If you’re interested in moving forward with one of The Business Backer’s small business loan products, here’s what you can expect during the application, underwriting, and post-funding processes.

The first step is to fill out The Business Backer’s online application and submit your documentation. The Business Backer will do a soft pull of your credit, so there won’t be any impact to your credit score from completing the application. The Business Backer team will review your information and determine whether you’re approved for funding in approximately four hours.

If you want to move forward with the funding process, The Business Backer will send you a copy of the loan agreement. Once you review and sign, the funds are deposited into your business bank account and will be available in as few as 24 hours. If a loan is approved before 3 p.m. ET on a business day, funds will be deposited into a merchant’s bank account that same business day. If approved after 3 p.m. ET on a business day, funds will be deposited into a merchant’s bank account the next business day.

As long as your loan from The Business Backer is in good standing, you can apply for additional funding within 60 days of receiving your initial loan.

If you accept a short-term loan offer from The Business Backer, you’ll be approved for a certain balance limit. You can choose to take the full balance, or you can elect to take a smaller amount. And if you find that you need access to more funds, you can request access for the rest of the balance you were initially offered—provided you’ve been repaying The Business Backer on schedule.

When you take out a short-term loan or merchant cash advance from The Business Backer, you can choose from daily, weekly, or semi-monthly repayment terms. If you choose the line of credit from Headway Capital (The Business Backer’s sister company), you have the option to repay weekly or monthly. The Business Backer automatically debits payments from your business bank account. For daily repayment, your first payment is due the next day after your loan funds. For weekly repayment, payments are due each Monday by default. You can choose a different day if you notify The Business Backer before signing your contract. For semi-monthly repayment, payments are due on the 15th or 28th of the month.

The Business Backer will send you periodic account statements so you can keep on top of the progress of your funding. Additionally, you’ll receive a call from a member of their growth team to make sure the financing is working well for you.

The Business Backer charges a 0% to 8% origination fee on their short-term loan product and a 0% to 8% purchase fee on their merchant cash advance. Since their business line of credit is funded through Headway Capital, you may also have additional fees through this lender.

If you have the means to pay off your loan ahead of schedule, you will not have to pay a prepayment penalty, and short-term loan customers may receive a 35% discount on unpaid interest for paying off the loan early.

The Business Backer requires a personal guarantee on their short-term loan. A personal guarantee also goes into effect for merchant cash advances for structural defaults (e.g. fraud on the loan application).

It’s also worth noting that The Business Backer does not report to the personal credit bureaus, but they will report your payment activity to Experian business on a monthly basis, so making regular, on-time payments can boost your business credit score and open up other financing opportunities (with more favorable interest rates and terms) down the road.

The Business Backer is located in Cincinnati, Ohio, and can be reached by email, phone, or by submitting a short form directly on their website. Their customer service hours are from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. ET Monday through Friday.

The Business Backer is accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and has an A-plus BBB rating, as well as many positive online reviews across other digital platforms. Some themes of these positive reviews are the easy and fast funding process, good communication from the team, and The Business Backer’s willingness to work with customers to find the right (and least expensive) product for them.

Although they are pretty rare, complaints about The Business Backer from customers do exist. Some negative Business Backer reviews focus on their shakey quote system—The Business Backer typically can’t guarantee similar rates to returning customers, and that can be frustrating if you have a long-standing relationship with them.

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