Become Small Business Lending Review - Pros, Cons and Options

With more flexible requirements than many alternative lenders, Become’s network of lending partners can help even startup businesses get the financing they need to succeed.

Finding the funding you need to help get your business off the ground, cover costs or expand in can be difficult. Many lenders require that you’re in business for at least a year before they’ll consider loaning money to you, and some require even longer terms. This makes it frustrating for entrepreneurs and new small business owners to get the assistance they need to build a successful business that can bring jobs, tax money, and value to the economy.

With a Business Funding Marketplace teeming with non-traditional lenders Become, formerly Lending Express, allows small businesses to get funding as early as their third month in business, giving them the boost they need to succeed.

With an online network of non-traditional lenders in its extensive marketplace, Become matches borrowers who need funding with not only lenders that are in the best position to help them but by showing them their actual loan offers. This allows businesses to make careful comparisons in order to choose the best possible funding option. At minimum, Become’s lenders require three months in business and $10,000 in monthly revenue, though individual lenders may have more stringent requirements.

Your business can get access to a wide variety of funding products, with terms ranging from one month to 10 years. This range of options gives you the funding your business needs with some additional flexibility.

Funding is available from $5,000 to $500,000, and your business gets matched with the right lenders entirely online, through the use of sophisticated algorithms. These algorithms use your individual qualifications and cross-reference them with the requirements of each lender, as well as the amount you want to borrow, to make a match.

Become advertises that some borrowers can get funding in as little as three hours, making them one of the quickest in the business.

Become Small Business Lending: What You Need to Know

Become isn’t a direct lender, so you can’t actually borrow money from Become. However, it does have a vast network of lenders that you can be connected with through Become to find a financing solution that’s right for you.

When you choose Become, you can access a wide range of funding products, including:

• Unsecured small business loans
• Business lines of credit
• Start-up loans
• Invoice factoring
• Merchant cash advances
• SBA loans
• Equipment and vehicle financing
• Asset-based loans

At minimum, Become requires that borrowers be in business for at least three months and bring in $10,000 per month in revenue, or be in business for six months with $3,000 in monthly revenue. Some of the lenders in Become’s network may require more strict basic qualifications.

Become has a network of roughly 50 non-traditional lenders, making them one of the smaller in terms of pool of potential lending sources - they claim to work with a smaller amount of lenders down to quality and not quantity. This means that not all businesses that apply for funding through Become will be able to access the money they need, or they may not have their full funding needs covered by Become’s lenders.

If you’re a relatively new small business with a solid monthly revenue looking for financing between $5,000 and $500,000, Become may be a great fit for you.

How Does Become Small Business Lending Work?

The process of using Become to fund your small business is similar to other networks of non-traditional lenders: You fill out one online application and your information is sent to Become’s algorithm. That algorithm checks the data you provide, including your personal and business information, the type of funding you’re looking for, and how much you want to borrow, against the requirements of its lending partners.

Once this information has been compared by the algorithm, you receive a listing of your options for funding. You will be able to see how much you can receive, the interest rate, and any other terms of the funding so you can make the most informed decision.

After you’ve made a selection, you are then taken directly to working with the lender. At this point, Become is no longer involved in your funding process. That means it’s completely up to the lender you choose whether you are approved for funding, and any other information they require during the process.

Become advertises that some of its borrowers receive funding as little as three hours after approval by an individual lender, so you may be able to have your money quickly to take care of your needs.

All repayment of your funding is done directly through your chosen lender; Become only helps facilitate the funding match.

Using Become to find funding options is free for you as a borrower. The service receives a “finder’s fee” from lenders after a loan has been approved.

Become offers several funding options, so you can choose the type that’s best for your business and repayment needs. Some funding, such as a merchant cash advance or line of credit, have a much faster turnaround time than others, such as an SBA loan.

The amount and type of information you may need to provide the lender depends greatly on your individual qualifications, the amount of money you’re applying for, and the type of funding you wish to secure. A line of credit, for example, will take much less ‘paperwork’ than an SBA loan and is typically much quicker to receive.

Where Is Become Small Business Funding Available?

Become can match borrowers with lenders in all 50 states and Australia, but some lenders may not operate in individual states.

How Much Does Become Cost?

To see if you are eligible for funding with Become’s lending partners, it doesn’t cost you anything. Become makes its money by receiving “finder’s fees” from the lenders once a loan has been approved.

Depending on how much you borrow, the terms of your individual funding, the type of funding you receive, and your individual qualifications, you may pay interest or other fees to borrow money. How much you will pay depends on the individual lender.

What Funding Is Available Through Become?

Become’s lending partners offer a variety of small business funding options. Not all types of funding are available to all small business owners, so your individual qualifications and needs will change the options you have.

Some of the funding options available through Become include:

Unsecured Business Loans

When you receive a traditional loan or a different type of small business loan, you may be asked to put up collateral. This can be your personal home, business equipment, or something else of value. This is called a secured loan, as the lender can then take that asset from you in the event that you don’t make your payments.

Unsecured business loans, on the other hand, don’t require collateral to be put up in order to receive funding. This makes them a great option for newer business owners, or those who don’t have a significant amount of assets to help them receive funding.

Because you aren’t securing your loan with an expensive asset that the lender can claim if you don’t pay, unsecured loans often are seen as a greater risk for lenders. That means you may be required to pay higher interest rates than you would on a traditional secured loan, making them potentially unaffordable to some business owners.

Business Lines of Credit

Do you need funding now and anticipate needing more in the near future, but don’t want to pay interest rates on a huge sum of money? A business line of credit may be for you.

When you are extended a line of credit, you are given the opportunity to borrow up to your limit, and you can borrow some or all of that amount.

If you are extended a line of credit for $20,000, for example, and only need $5,000, you can withdraw only the $5,000 you need. This means you only have to repay the $5,000 and pay any interest and fees only on the $5,000 you withdrew.

In the future, if you need an additional $5,000, you can withdraw from your line of credit again until you’ve reached your credit limit.

Business lines of credit also are replenishable by repayment. If you withdraw $5,000 off your initial $20,000 line of credit and then repay $2,000, you’ll be able to borrow up to $18,000.

Lines of credit are similar to consumer credit cards, so they can carry high interest fees from lenders. However, many small business owners with less-than-stellar credit history and who need flexible funding options choose lines of credit despite these fees.

Invoice Factoring

If you havebusiness invoice clients and you have lots of unpaid invoices that are cutting into your cash flow, you can sell them to a lender through invoice factoring.

With invoice factoring, you sell your unpaid invoices to the lender in exchange for an advance on the money you’d receive if those invoices were all paid. In many cases, you can receive up to 80 percent of the invoice’s face value in advanced funding, with the remaining 20 percent paid upon the invoice’s payment by your customer.

The lender does all the collecting on those invoices, taking that burden out of your hands.

Invoice factoring does come with higher fees than many other financing options, but it often is a good solution for businesses facing short-term cash flow issues.

Merchant Cash Advance

For businesses that accept credit cards as payment from their customers, merchant cash advances can give you funding now based on your anticipated future credit card receipts.

These loans are helpful for those business owners with lower credit scores, and bring in the majority of their money through credit card payments. This advance is paid back using future credit card payments your business processes, either on a daily or weekly basis.

As with some of the other more short-term funding options, fees can be higher, especially if you don’t take in as much in credit card payments as you anticipated.

Commercial Vehicle Loans

Purchasing the vehicles your business needs can easily get overwhelmingly expensive. Large cargo vans, pickup trucks, and trailers all add up, especially when you need to make repairs or replace things.

A commercial vehicle loan operates similar to a regular consumer vehicle loan; you choose the vehicle you want to purchase or lease - new or used - and one of Become’s lenders gives you the money to purchase that vehicle. The vehicle becomes the loan’s collateral, meaning the lender can repossess it if you fall behind on payments.

Become Small Business Funding Features

• Loans available in all 50 states and Australia
• Variety of loan options available
• Not a direct lender, but a lender-borrower match service - a marketplace
• Service is free for business owners to use
• Terms from 1 month to 10 years
• Financing from $5,000 to $500,000
• More flexible lending requirements than other companies
• Quick, easy online application
• Some funding available in as little as three hours
• Compare multiple lenders to find the right option for you
• Both unsecured and secured funding available
• Options available for business owners with low credit scores

Pros and Cons of Become Small Business Lending

Here are some of the pros and cons of choosing Become for your small business funding:

Pros:

• Loans available in all 50 states and Australia
• Wide variety of funding options
• More relaxed lending requirements, with businesses needing a minimum of 3 months in business and $10,000 per month in revenue to qualify for some loans
• Terms from 1 month to 10 years
• Free for business owners to get matched with a lender
• Financing available from $5,000 to $500,000
• Quick, easy online application
• Funding is available within days, sometimes even in as little as three hours
• Some funding options available to those with low credit scores
• Compare multiple lenders and funding options

Cons:

• Fees may be higher than traditional lenders
• Large funding amounts usually only available to larger, more established businesses
• Not a direct lender
• Smaller network of lenders than some other match services

Become Small Business Lending Customer Reviews

Become has a large portfolio of positive reviews of its service, boasting more than 500 reviews on TrustPilot for a total star rating of 4.8 out of 5.

“Everything within the process was so simple.

I am glad with the result but I really wish the rates were a bit lower.

Although this is helping me out it is not a total relief since the rates are high and will have to be paid.” - Jean-Claude

“I had a great experience with getting a loan with Become. The staff was very responsive and guided me throughout the whole process. I highly recommend working with Become!!” - Jimmy

“I was searching for about 6 weeks, and almost took an mca loan, what is not an apr because if you convert using same payment parameters it’s at 40% !!! Luckily I came across this company, which is providing a great service for business people with a nice fiscal history. They are quick , fair and awesome!! I would highly recommend them and will be my go to funding in the future and whom I recommend in my circle! I predict my success will be tied hand in hand with this company! Btw they do sba loans too!!” - Patricia

How to Apply for Become Small Business Funding

Applying for funding through Become’s lender matching network is quick and easy:

1. Visit Become's official site.
2. Fill in how much funding you need and click “Get Loan Offer.”
3. Provide the requested information, including the industry your business is in, how long you’ve been in business, and your monthly revenue.
4. Submit your business’s checking account for analysis.
5. Wait for offers.
6. Review your offers and select the funding you want.

How to Contact Become

Address: 400 Concar Drive San Mateo, CA 94402 Customer Service: (838) 800-0664 Website: www.become.co Email Support: [email protected] Facebook: facebook.com/www.become.co/ Twitter: @become_co LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/become-co/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKVkhtK8cK509NRsKgu6pPw

Summary

As a younger business, it can be difficult to get the funding you need to stay afloat in the early times, purchase new inventory, or jump on that next big opportunity. Traditional banks and lenders only want to work with companies that have been in business for years, and getting a startup loan can take you more time than you have.

With alternative lending marketplaces such as Become, your business can access the funding it needs, fast, helping you grow your business the way you want to.

One easy application is all you need to gain access to Become’s network of partner lenders who can offer you a variety of funding options for your business. From more traditional loans to cash advances, Become has helped thousands of businesses get the money they need to keep their lights on.