Almost every lender on this site is a non bank lender, and the category is broad enough to be useless as a description: it includes online funders repaid daily out of card takings, equipment lessors, invoice factors and private credit funds. What separates them is not that they are not banks, it is what each one secures, and that determines both the price and whether you can get it at all.
The four things a non bank lender secures
Nothing, in unsecured borrowing backed by a personal guarantee, which is the most expensive and the most gated: the published credit floors here run from five hundred to six hundred and twenty-five with revenue floors from a hundred thousand dollars a year. An asset, in equipment finance, where the same lenders publish lower bars because they hold something sellable. A receivable, in invoice finance, where the credit being assessed is your customer's and one lender in this record publishes that no minimum credit score applies at all. Or future revenue, in a merchant advance, repaid as a share of takings.
What a debt facility actually is
A facility is a commitment to lend up to a limit, drawn as needed, rather than a lump sum handed over on day one. The distinction matters for cost, because a revolving facility charges for what you draw while a term loan charges from the day it lands, and it matters for certainty, because a facility can usually be reduced or withdrawn on notice in a way a drawn loan cannot. Read the availability terms and the review date, and know whether the limit is committed or uncommitted; on an uncommitted line the money may not be there when you actually need it.
Expedited lending, and what fast really costs
Several funders here decide in a day and pay out in two or three, and for a clean file that is genuinely what happens. What takes longer than borrowers expect is not the decision but assembling the file: three to six months of bank statements, identification, business details, and for a secured facility a valuation or an invoice. Speed is priced, so the fastest offer is rarely the cheapest, and the most useful thing a business can do to borrow quickly is to have the file ready before it needs the money rather than to pay for urgency afterwards.
Questions people ask about non bank credit options
Are non bank lenders safe to borrow from?
They are legitimate lenders and they are less heavily regulated than banks for business credit, which is a reason to read the agreement closely. Several states now require commercial financing disclosures; where you get one, read the total cost figure rather than the rate.
What is the difference between a loan and a debt facility?
A loan is drawn in full and repaid on a schedule. A facility is a limit you draw against as needed and pay for what you use. On light, intermittent use the facility is usually cheaper; on continuous full drawing it frequently is not.
How fast can a non bank lender actually fund?
With a complete file, several of the funders in this record decide within a day and pay out within two or three. Without the bank statements and documents ready, add a week, and secured facilities take longer because something has to be valued.