Credibly is an online lender that offers a number of short and long-term financing options for businesses of all sizes.
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Last updated onUpdated
REVIEWED BY
Editor & Senior Staff Writer
| Total Rating | 3.6 |
|---|---|
| Rates & Fees3.1 | |
| Services3.7 | |
| Eligibility Requirements3.3 | |
| Application4.0 | |
| Sales & Advertising Transparency3.6 | |
| Customer Service4.3 | |
| User Reviews4.0 | |
Table of Contents
Credibly is an online lender that offers short-term business financing, including working capital loans and cash advances, as well as long-term small business loans and SBA loans.
With fees that fall well within alternative lending norms (which tend to be quite high), Credibly relies on its relatively easy qualifications to attract customers. Your business might qualify even if you’ve only been in operation for six months or have a credit score of 500. (Learn about startup loans for bad credit if you want to explore other options for your business.)
Credibly is a worthwhile alternative business loan option if your business doesn’t yet qualify for financing elsewhere. Credibly offers competitive rates and has transparent service, with plenty of positive customer reviews to boot.
| Services3.7 |
|---|
| Lending Services 5.0 |
| Lending Limits 3.0 |
| Payment Portal & Mobile App 2.5 |
Credibly gets serious points for offering a large number of lending options. Credibly is a direct lender for merchant cash advances and working capital loans, but can connect borrowers with long-term loans, SBA loans, lines of credit, and more through its network of partner lenders.
The company’s lending limits are average, but not standout, and there are no mobile apps for managing your loan, which puts the company at 3.7/5 for this section rating.
As follows are the main business lending services offered by Credibly:
| Eligibility Requirements3.3 |
|---|
| Availability 4.5 |
| Borrower Qualifications 2.8 |
| Transparency 3.0 |
Credibly supports a large number of business types. This lender boasts flexible credit score requirements and time in business requirements, which is a huge bonus for new businesses.
However, Credibly is not very transparent about the exact borrower qualifications for some of its lending options. For example, about its long-term loans, Credibly says:
Source: Credibly website, screenshot captured on 3/13/2024
While we appreciate that Credibly is transparent with borrowing amounts and terms, we wish that Credibly were more transparent about its borrower requirements for certain lending products, which is why it gets a 3.3/5 section rating here.
Credibly’s working capital loans and merchant cash advances have the same qualifications:
| Time In Business | 6 months |
| Business Revenue | $15,000/month |
| Personal Credit Score | 500 |
Here are the minimum qualifications for SBA loans through one of Credibly’s partner lenders:
| Time In Business | 2 years |
| Business Revenue | $100,000/year |
| Personal Credit Score | 620 |
No specific qualifying criteria are given for long-term business loans, lines of credit, equipment financing, or invoice factoring.
| Rates & Fees3.1 |
|---|
| Pricing 3.7 |
| Affordability 2.4 |
Credibly’s borrowing fees can be high, especially if you have bad credit. On certain products, Credibly charges extra fees, such as origination, underwriting, and monthly admin fees. However, the fees are generally pretty transparent, which we appreciate, and Credibly offers early payoff benefits on certain products. For example, you can get an early remittance discount if you pay off your Credibly merchant cash advance before the term expires.
These pros and cons score Credibly a 3.1/5 rating for this section.
These are the terms and fees for a Credibly Working Capital Loan:
| Borrowing Amount | Up to $600,000 |
| Term Length | 3 - 24 months |
| Factor Rate | Starts at 1.11 |
| Origination Fee | 2.5% |
| Effective APR | Learn about short-term loan APRs |
| Collateral | UCC-1 blanket lien, personal guarantee |
Credibly’s Working Capital Loan is a short-term loan. Unlike longer-term loans, short-term loans don’t accrue interest over time. Instead, the total cost of borrowing is front-loaded into a fixed fee, expressed as a multiplier called a factor rate. If you want to know how much the loan will cost you, multiply the amount you’re borrowing by that rate. The result is the amount you have to pay back. Note that this does not include the origination fee.
The other major difference comes in the form of the method of repayment. Credibly will withdraw a micropayment from your business account during each payment period through an automated clearing house (ACH) payment process. For this product, repayments can be on a daily or weekly basis.
Since short-term loans tend to translate to very high-interest rates while still technically subject to state loan laws, Credibly’s Working Capital Loans aren’t available in every state. (Credibly doesn’t disclose which states it works with on its site, however.)
These are the terms and fees for Merchant Cash Advances:
| Borrowing Amount | $5,000 - $600,000 |
| Term Length | 3 - 24 months |
| Factor Rate | Starts at 1.11 |
| Underwriting Fee | 2.5% |
| Effective APR | Learn about APRs |
Merchant cash advances are similar to Credibly’s working capital loans in that a factor rate is used to calculate the cost of financing. However, there are a few differences. A merchant cash advance isn’t a traditional loan but rather a purchase of future receivables.
In other words, Credibly purchases a percentage of your future sales in exchange for cash upfront. To collect the amount Credibly “purchased,” the funder automatically debits a percentage from either your credit card processor or business bank account each day.
While there aren’t set terms, the anticipated duration of paying off your cash is 3 to 15 months.
These are the terms and fees for Credibly’s Long-Term Business Loans:
| Borrowing Amount | Up to $250,000 |
| Term Length | 18 or 24 months |
| Interest Rate | Unknown |
| Origination Fee | Unknown |
| Effective APR | Unknown |
| Collateral | UCC-1 blanket lien, personal guarantee |
A more traditional option is the long-term business loan. These installment loans accrue interest in the same way that bank loans do. Repayments resemble those of short-term loans — except these loans are repaid weekly. The interest rate you’re assigned will be based on your business’s overall health as assessed by Credibly’s underwriting department.
Credibly doesn’t supply much information about the terms of its other financing products.
Credibly says factor rates for invoice factoring start at 1.11, with factoring fees ranging from 0.5% to 4.0% and a maximum borrowing amount of $400,000.
Regarding its lines of credit, the company just states that it offers secured and unsecured LOC up to $250,000.
Terms and fees for Credibly’s SBA loans vary depending on the SBA loan type. It’s not uncommon for lenders to not disclose SBA rates and fees since most of that information can be found directly through the SBA (though you may face an SBA packaging fee).
| Application4.0 |
|---|
| Application Process 3.0 |
| Application Timeline 5.0 |
You can “prequalify” for a loan online, a term that here means begin the application process. You’ll be required to enter basic information about yourself and your business. Credibly will use the answers provided to decide whether you’re eligible for a loan and how much funding you qualify for.
If you are eligible, you’ll have to talk to a real person. This person will work with you to determine how much money your business needs and what documentation you have to provide. Before the loan is finalized, you’ll have to provide the following information:
When you’ve provided all the information, your file goes to underwriting.
If all of your information checks out, Credibly will extend a finalized offer to you. Should you accept, you’ll have to sign a business loan agreement, and the money will be transferred to your account.
The time from application to funding generally takes two to five days: one day for the application, one day to get a finalized quote, and one to three days for funding. On certain products, such as equipment financing, Credibly advertises that it offers same-day funding. The general timeline for receiving funding lowered our score slightly, leading to a 4/5 rating for Credibly’s application process.
| Sales & Advertising Transparency3.6 |
|---|
| Sales Practices 3.0 |
| Web Presence 4.5 |
Credibly discloses most of the basic information you’ll need on its website, although some elements could use more elaboration. Overall, though, Credibly provides more information than many other online lenders do. However, some customers report poor sales experiences. Paired with the areas we’ve pointed out where Credibly could provide more information, this earned Credibly a 3.6/5 star rating for this section.
| Customer Service4.3 |
|---|
| Personal Support 4.1 |
| Self-Service 5.0 |
Credibly offers a large number of customer support options, and customers report decent quality of customer support. Customer service often gets cited as one of the high points of working with Credibly. Representatives are friendly, and hold times are short.
| Credibly Customer Service | Availability |
|---|---|
| Phone Support | |
| Email Support | |
| Support Tickets | |
| Live Chat | |
| Dedicated Support Representative | |
| Knowledge Base or Help Center | |
| Videos & Tutorials | |
| Company Blog | |
| Social Media |
Credibly is available by phone, and there is also a chatbot that can answer some basic questions on Credibly’s website. Credibly is also on Facebook and Twitter. Or, if you don’t want to talk to people, an FAQ section is available on their website.
| User Reviews4.0 |
|---|
| User Feedback 4.0 |
| Review Site Aggregate 4.0 |
Overall, while there are some complaints about Credibly, the company receives mostly positive reviews from customers, earning Creidbly a 4/5 star rating for this section.
Here are some of the most common complaints we’ve seen in Credibly reviews:
In general, customers say they like the following in their Credibly funding reviews:
While Credibly’s rates aren’t the best in the business, it is a fairly transparent online lender with a flexible array of products that are within reach of businesses that have poor credit. If you’re in a pinch and don’t have access to other financing options, Credibly might be a good lending option for your business.
Don’t get a loan from Credibly without making a few comparisons first, though. The best small business lenders (Credibly included) will provide an initial quote within a few minutes without damaging your credit score.
Merchant Maverick has been researching and reviewing business lenders since 2015. Our writers have tested over a hundred different funding products, including traditional term loans, online loans, lines of credit, start-up loans, merchant cash advances, and equipment financing. In each review, we evaluate rates and fees, services, eligibility requirements, application process, sales and advertising transparency, customer service, and user reviews.
Read more about how we rate business loans and funding products.
When comparing different lenders and loan products, we consider many data points, including the ease and transparency of the application process, interest rates, repayment structure, sales ethics, time to funding, revenue and time in business qualifications, and credit score requirements. Our lists of the best funding products include only those we’ve deemed worthwhile from multiple vantage points, and often share qualities such as widespread accessibility across fifty states, low rates, flexible requirements, and competitive borrowing amounts.
We spend an average of 10-15 hours researching and updating each one of our lists, making sure the loans and funding products included meet our internal standards for quality and reputation.
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