A Look at Alternative Lending Pioneer, National Funding
(Read Time: 2 Minutes)
National Funding Spotlight:
• Time to Funding: As fast as same day.
• Funding Source: Direct Lender (no outside capital)
• Loan Minimum: $5,000
• Loan Maximum: $500,000 ($250,000 for advances)
Visit our National Funding reviews page to see how we scored the lender in various categories.
National Funding of Southern California is one of the pioneers in the alternative lending space. Since their founding back in 1999, the company has provided more than $2 billion in funding to over 40,000 small businesses.
Small businesses approach the lender to maintain operating independence, meet seasonal demands, upgrade equipment, purchase inventory and meet tax obligations. While the lender has a nationwide presence, they’ve funded an especially large number of businesses in New York, Texas and Florida.
Commercial funding primarily comes in the form of small business loans, business cash advances and equipment leasing. As a direct lender, they can make financing work for businesses that would normally be turned down for traditional financing. They are one of the few alt-finance companies without outside capital sources.
Regardless, they can provide short-term loans, unsecured business loans (no collateral), working capital small business loans and bad credit business loans. But with the acquisition of Quickbridge Loans, National Funding customers may have access to a lengthier, 10-year business loan product.
National Funding provides working capital loans for businesses with a poor credit history.
Outside of short term loans, National Funding offers business cash advances of up to $250,000. This funding option is a fit for businesses that have poor credit and/or a limited operating history but have consistent debit or credit card sales.
When determining the interest rates on merchant cash advances, National Funding requests some documentation. For instance, they assess the last 12 months of gross sales and want to see $3,000 in monthly card sales. This is not surprising since, as a revenue-based financer, they will be repaid by a percentage of future card sales.
The lender may look at other metrics such as net working capital to assess cash flow and the average daily balance in a business checking account.
National Funding has provided financing for a wide range of businesses. They provided $100,000 business loan for a medical supplier and $15,000 in equipment financing for a family farm.
National Funding approves up to 60% of all loans1
National Funding provides working capital loans, cash advances and equipment financing for small businesses in many industries such as:
• Construction (General Contractors)
• Trucking
• Business Services
• Medical
• Landscaping
• Retail
• Auto repair
• Restaurant loans
Their high approval rate, lengthy business experience and dedicated representatives are reasons we gave them solid marks on our National Funding reviews page.
Further, they can make decisions same day. Their technology can review the applicant’s cash flow situation and probability of repayment by reviewing the submitted financial statements.
“We can underwrite, approve and fund a small business in 24 hours”- National Funding founder, Dave Gilbert2
National Funding Minimum Lending Criteria:
· At Least One Year in Business
· $100,000 in Gross Annual Sales
· At least 3 months statements from a business bank account.
· Monthly credit card sales of at least $3,000 (for MCAs)
National Funding Rates and Fees
The rates for cash advance products can be quite high. Still, they are in-line with many alternative lenders including Can Capital and Strategic Funding. Many have APRs well in excess of 40%. Of course, when you are calculating an APR (Annual Percentage Rate) based on daily repayments, the rate is going to look huge.
Many small businesses will accept the tradeoff of higher rates for access to funding regardless of credit history. Regardless, they are clearly shifting their focus away from cash advances and towards their loan products.
Read our National Funding reviews to see how we score the alternative lender in different categories.
Other Small Business Funding Companies and Reviews like National Funding:
· Bluevine
1As stated on National Funding’s website.
2http://www.altfi.com/article/1409_disrupting_finance_since_1999