iBusiness Funding: A Strong Non-Bank Lender for Established Businesses With Decent Credit
If you’re in search of a business term loan from an online lender, you’ll find other lenders with lower qualification minimums and faster funding times. But if you have your sights set on an SBA 7(a) loan and you don’t have great credit, consider iBusiness Funding.
Karrin Sehmbi is an editor and content strategist on the small-business team. She has covered small-business software and lending since 2022 and has more than sixteen years of editorial experience in the fields of educational publishing, content marketing and medical news. She has also held roles as a teacher and a tutor.
Rosalie Murphy covers small business topics for NerdWallet. Previously, she led editorial strategy for a local news startup and covered business at The Desert Sun. She holds a journalism degree from the University of Southern California and is currently pursuing an MBA.
Karrin Sehmbi is an editor and content strategist on the small-business team. She has covered small-business software and lending since 2022 and has more than sixteen years of editorial experience in the fields of educational publishing, content marketing and medical news. She has also held roles as a teacher and a tutor.
Rosalie Murphy covers small business topics for NerdWallet. Previously, she led editorial strategy for a local news startup and covered business at The Desert Sun. She holds a journalism degree from the University of Southern California and is currently pursuing an MBA.
Sally Lauckner has over a decade of experience in print and online journalism. Before joining NerdWallet, Sally was the editorial director at Fundera, where she built and led a team focused on small-business content. Her prior experience includes two years as a senior editor at SmartAsset, where she edited a wide range of personal finance content, and five years at the AOL Huffington Post Media Group, where she held a variety of editorial roles. She has a master's in journalism from New York University and a bachelor's in English and history from Columbia University. Email: slauckner@nerdwallet.com.
Sally Lauckner has over a decade of experience in print and online journalism. Before joining NerdWallet, Sally was the editorial director at Fundera, where she built and led a team focused on small-business content. Her prior experience includes two years as a senior editor at SmartAsset, where she edited a wide range of personal finance content, and five years at the AOL Huffington Post Media Group, where she held a variety of editorial roles. She has a master's in journalism from New York University and a bachelor's in English and history from Columbia University. Email: slauckner@nerdwallet.com.
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Karrin Sehmbi is an editor and content strategist on the small-business team. She has covered small-business software and lending since 2022 and has more than sixteen years of editorial experience in the fields of educational publishing, content marketing and medical news. She has also held roles as a teacher and a tutor.
Rosalie Murphy covers small business topics for NerdWallet. Previously, she led editorial strategy for a local news startup and covered business at The Desert Sun. She holds a journalism degree from the University of Southern California and is currently pursuing an MBA.
Karrin Sehmbi is an editor and content strategist on the small-business team. She has covered small-business software and lending since 2022 and has more than sixteen years of editorial experience in the fields of educational publishing, content marketing and medical news. She has also held roles as a teacher and a tutor.
Rosalie Murphy covers small business topics for NerdWallet. Previously, she led editorial strategy for a local news startup and covered business at The Desert Sun. She holds a journalism degree from the University of Southern California and is currently pursuing an MBA.
Sally Lauckner has over a decade of experience in print and online journalism. Before joining NerdWallet, Sally was the editorial director at Fundera, where she built and led a team focused on small-business content. Her prior experience includes two years as a senior editor at SmartAsset, where she edited a wide range of personal finance content, and five years at the AOL Huffington Post Media Group, where she held a variety of editorial roles. She has a master's in journalism from New York University and a bachelor's in English and history from Columbia University. Email: slauckner@nerdwallet.com.
Sally Lauckner has over a decade of experience in print and online journalism. Before joining NerdWallet, Sally was the editorial director at Fundera, where she built and led a team focused on small-business content. Her prior experience includes two years as a senior editor at SmartAsset, where she edited a wide range of personal finance content, and five years at the AOL Huffington Post Media Group, where she held a variety of editorial roles. She has a master's in journalism from New York University and a bachelor's in English and history from Columbia University. Email: slauckner@nerdwallet.com.
NerdWallet's content is
fact-checked for accuracy, timeliness, and relevance by humans.
It undergoes a thorough review process involving writers and editors to ensure
the information is as clear and complete as possible. Learn more by checking
our
Editorial Guidelines.
Content was accurate at the time of publication.
Why trust NerdWallet
250+ small-business products reviewed and rated by our team of experts.
80+ years of combined experience covering small business and personal finance.
50+ categories of the best business loan selections.
NerdWallet's small-business loans content, including ratings, recommendations and reviews, is overseen by a team of writers and editors who specialize in business lending. Their work has appeared in The Associated Press, The Washington Post, MarketWatch, Nasdaq, Entrepreneur, ABC News, MSN and other national and local media outlets. Each writer and editor follows NerdWallet's strict guidelines for editorial integrity to ensure accuracy and fairness in our coverage.
Advertiser disclosure
You're our first priority.
Every time.
We believe everyone should be able to make financial decisions with
confidence. While we don’t cover every company or financial product on
the market, we work hard to share a wide range of offers and objective
editorial perspectives.
So how do we make money? Our partners compensate us for advertisements
that appear on our site. This compensation helps us provide tools and
services - like free credit score access and monitoring. With the
exception of mortgage, home equity and other home-lending products or
services, partner compensation is one of several factors that may affect
which products we highlight and where they appear on our site. Other
factors include your credit profile, product availability and
proprietary website methodologies.
However, these factors do not influence our editors’ opinions or ratings, which are based on independent research and analysis. Our partners cannot
pay us to guarantee favorable reviews. Here is a list of our partners .
iBusiness Funding - Online term loan
Overview
The bottom line:
iBusiness Funding is well suited for established businesses with fair credit that prefer a streamlined application process. And for borrowers seeking an SBA 7(a) loan, iBusiness Funding may prove to be a more accessible lending partner.
Loan details
Min. Loan Amount
$25,000
Min. Term Length
6 months
Min. APR
22.45%
Max Loan Amount
$500,000
Max Term Length
5 years
Max APR
50.24%
Qualifications
Min. credit score
660
Min. Time in Business
24 months
Min. Annual Revenue
$50,000
Pros & Cons
Pros
Cash can be available within two to four business days.
Competitive rates for online term loans.
Low minimum annual revenue requirement.
iBusiness Funding also offers SBA loans up to $5 million.
Cons
Must be in business for a minimum of two years.
Minimum credit score is higher than some other online lenders.
Charges an origination fee.
iBusiness Funding, which acquired Funding Circle in 2024, is an online lender that offers small-business loans up to $500,000. These term loans can be a good option for established business owners who want competitive rates and fast funding.
iBusiness Funding is known for its streamlined application process and multiple loan options. In addition to its business term loan, iBusiness Funding acts as a lending marketplace, connecting business owners to other lenders for USDA and SBA 7(a) loans.
This review focuses on iBusiness Funding's term loans.
How much do you need?
We’ll start with a brief questionnaire to better understand the
unique needs of your business.
Once we uncover your personalized matches, our team will consult you
on the process moving forward.
Consider iBusiness Funding if you:
Have fair credit and an established business. This lender has higher minimum requirements in these areas than many other online lenders. iBusiness Funding does, however, ask for only $50,000 in annual revenue to qualify, which is lower than the threshold for some other online lenders.
Are looking for fast cash. As long as you submit all the necessary paperwork with your application and no follow-up is needed, you can expect to receive your loan from iBusiness Funding in two to four business days from approval. (Some other lenders can fund even faster than that. Check out our full list of the best fast business loans.)
Hope to get an SBA 7(a) loan but don’t meet credit score minimums with banks. SBA lenders often tend to be banks, which typically have pretty strict credit score requirements of 690 or higher. iBusiness Funding requires a score of only 640 to qualify for its SBA 7(a) loan offering.
Competitive rates compared with other online lenders
iBusiness Funding’sannual percentage rates range from 22.45% to 50.24%. For comparison, online lender OnDeck offers a term loan with APRs ranging from 35% to 99%, and the APRs on Bluevine’s business line of credit fall between 14% and 95%.
Plus, iBusiness Funding doesn’t charge a prepayment penalty, and paying off your loan early can save interest costs.
It can take just a few minutes to apply online for an iBusiness Funding loan, and you could receive funds within two to four days. That’s much faster than the weeks to months it can take to get approved for a business loan from a bank.
Online lender extending SBA loans
Banks and credit unions are the more common sources of an SBA loan. iBusiness Funding is unique as an alternative lender that offers SBA 7(a) loans.
💬 From our Nerds: Consider the rare opportunity to get an SBA loan from an alternative lender
"Getting an SBA loan from an online lender like iBusiness Funding means you can get access to the many benefits of this coveted type of small-business loan but with a lower minimum FICO score than many banks will expect — 640 compared with 690+ — and with a streamlined online application process."
Karrin Sehmbi, editor & content strategist, Small Business
Where iBusiness Funding falls short
Not for new businesses
iBusiness Funding requires at least 24 months of business history, which is what most banks require to consider you for a business loan. For comparison, online lenders Accion, Altbanq, Backd, Bluevine, Fundbox, Headway Capital and QuickBridge all require 12 months or less in business.
High qualification standards
You’ll need a personal credit score of at least 660 to qualify for a iBusiness Funding loan. More than a dozen other online lenders, however, accept scores between 570 and 625.
OnDeck offers business term loans up to $400,000 with repayment terms up to 24 months. Although interest rates will likely be higher with OnDeck than iBusiness Funding, OnDeck has more flexible qualification requirements and faster funding times.
To qualify for a loan with OnDeck, you'll need at least 12 months in business, $100,000 in annual revenue and a credit score of 625. These requirements may make OnDeck a better option for newer businesses and those with bad credit.
Fora Financial is an online lender that extends term loans up to $1,500,000 with terms up to 24 months. This lender has one of the most accessible credit score minimums for online term loans at 570 and requires only 6 months of time in business. And instead of charging prepayment penalties, Fora offers discounts for paying your loan off early.
Fora uses factor rates in place of interest rates, so total APR is likely to be higher than other lenders in this space. Plus you’ll make payments daily or weekly, as opposed to the monthly payments that iBusiness requires.
Frequently asked questions
Frequently asked questions
iBusiness Funding acquired Funding Circle in 2024. It has connected approximately 135,000 businesses to over $20 billion in financing since its launch in 2010. Since 2013, the lender has been accredited by the Better Business Bureau, where it has an A+ rating.
iBusiness Funding is not a bank. The company issues term loans using funding from accredited investors. It also offers SBA loans up to $5 million.
iBusiness Funding typically conducts soft inquiries on loan applicants, which doesn’t impact your credit score. The lender may perform a hard inquiry on general partnership businesses, however.
The lender may also check your business credit reports; this will not impact your personal credit.
Methodology
NerdWallet’s review process evaluates and rates small-business loan products from traditional banks and online lenders. We collect over 30 data points on each lender using company websites and public documents. We may also go through a lender’s initial application flow and reach out to company representatives. NerdWallet writers and editors conduct a full fact check and update annually, but also make updates throughout the year as necessary.
Our star ratings award points to lenders that offer small-business friendly features, including: transparency of rates and terms, flexible payment options, fast funding times, accessible customer service, reporting of payments to business credit bureaus and responsible lending practices. We weigh these factors based on our assessment of which are the most important to small-business owners and how meaningfully they impact borrowers’ experiences.