Best Small-Business Loans with No Credit Check 2023

Want a business loan with no credit check? Lenders that don’t check credit are hard to find―but we did the digging for you and found five lenders that don’t check credit at all and five more that accept very low credit scores. So while you may not qualify for the best business loans out there, you do still have options.

Most businesses will want to go with Kiva, which offers zero-interest microloans to businesses―no credit check required. If that doesn’t sound like a fit, though, we’ve got plenty more choices for you.

Very few lenders offer loans without checking your credit. So while our top five picks truly don’t look at your credit, our honorable mentions will. They just accept bad credit scores (scores under 600).

Either way, no-credit and bad-credit business loans come at a high cost. Often that cost is higher interest rates or loan fees, but it can also be longer funding times (like with Kiva) and shorter repayment terms.

That means that no-credit loans can offer a good short-term solution. But long term, you need to have a plan for improving your personal credit score so you can qualify for the best small-business loans―ones with lower rates and longer terms.

There are plenty of simple ways to improve your credit score, like using and paying off a secured business credit card, paying off other debts, and even paying your utilities (in some cases).

But while you work on your credit score, you’ve got these no-credit business loans to tide you over.

Kiva offers the best small-business loan that doesn’t require any credit check.

See, Kiva doesn’t charge interest on its business loans. You get a 0% interest rate and no loan fees, making Kiva loans the most affordable loan option out there. And Kiva not only doesn’t check your credit score, but it also doesn’t care how long you’ve been in business or how much revenue you make.

How can all that be true? Well, Kiva works differently from other online lenders because it’s a nonprofit crowdfunding platform for microloans. This means that you apply to be advertised on Kiva’s website, and once you are approved, the company uses crowdfunding to get the money for your loan.

And instead of checking your credit or other qualifications, Kiva vets its applicants based on what it calls social underwriting. Kiva explains that social underwriting requires a Kiva Trustee or community members, like friends and family, to endorse and start funding your business before your business will go live on the website. Then you have 30 days to raise funds via Kiva’s website.

That does mean that Kiva loans take a really long time to get funded―especially compared to the same or next-day funding offered by other lenders on this list. And Kiva microloans go up to just $15,000, making them too small for some business needs.

Even so, Kiva’s lack of interest or credit checks make it an unbeatable deal―especially if you’re looking for no-credit loans.

If your business uses Square payment processing, then you should check out Square Loans.

Basically, if you process enough credit card sales through Square, its algorithm can decide if you qualify for a short-term loan. In that case, a loan offer will appear on your dashboard, and you can borrow money with no credit check and no collateral (for amounts less than $75,000). And after finalizing your application, you can get funded by the next day.

As we said, though, it’s the algorithm that decides. You can’t manually apply to get a loan from Square, so it’s not a sure bet. You’ll have better odds of getting a loan offer if you’ve used Square for at least one year and process at least $10,000 a year (so don’t sign up for Square just to try for a loan). And watch out, as Square's fees can get pricey.

Still, for businesses that already do lots of Square payment processing, a Square Loan gives you an easy way to get a loan with no credit check.

Does your business sell on Amazon, Walmart, ebay, or another ecommerce platform? Then Payability could work for you.

Payability offers cash advances to ecommerce businesses. And rather than look at your credit score, Payability looks at your sales history with your ecommerce platform of choice. With enough sales, you can get approved for an advance that you’ll repay with a fixed percentage of your future sales.

Note that Payability charges a weekly fee on your advance. So if you manage to pay your advance off quickly, the fees can actually stay rather low. But if you take your time repaying the advance, your fees can climb scarily high. In other words, please borrow and budget carefully.

With careful and quick repayment, though, a no-credit loan from Payability may offer just what your ecommerce business needs.

Paypal Working Capital is a convenient business financing option if you already do your credit card sales with PayPal.

The brand doesn’t do a credit check. Instead, it bases your qualifications off of your sales history with the company. You work with a fixed fee and choose what percentage of your daily sales will go toward loan payments. And if you’re looking for fast money, PayPal Working Capital is the way to go: from application to funding, it takes less than 10 minutes. The flexibility and ease of the system is definitely appealing if you already work with PayPal.

Of course, PayPal Working Capital has the same downsides we’ve already discussed with Square: You can’t get a loan if PayPal doesn’t want to offer you one. And while PayPal doesn’t list its loan fees, users suggest they can get pretty high.

All the same, PayPal Working Capital gives PayPal users an easy way to get funding without worrying about their credit scores.

Stripe is the latest payment processing company to start offering loans, and its Stripe Capital program works just like PayPal Working Capital and Square Capital.

If you use Stripe to process credit card and debit card payments, you might be eligible for a Stripe loan. You repay the loan (plus fees) through a fixed percentage of your future Stripe sales. And as with loans through PayPal and Square, Stripe cares about your credit card processing more than your credit. It has pretty low processing requirements, too―just $5,000 per year.

You can expect high rates from Stripe Capital, according to reports from its customers. (Stripe doesn’t list any rates or fees.) And as you’ve probably guessed, you have to wait for Stripe to offer you a loan―you can’t start an application for one.

Even with those downsides, the convenience and lack of a credit check make it an appealing option for current Stripe customers.

As we told you, the lenders above don’t check your credit at all. But if you’re willing to undergo a credit check, the lenders below offer some even better loans―and they accept business owners with bad credit.

Lendio is a lending marketplace that connects small-business owners with a variety of lenders and loan options. Because of its system, it can connect those with bad credit to lenders who will offer a line of credit, merchant cash advance (MCA), or invoice factoring—three types of business loans that don’t require good credit.

The downside to Lendio is that it’s hard to know exactly what deals you’ll get until you actually apply. Because it’s a marketplace for so many different lenders and business owners, you are presented with matched deals and can choose between those options only after you apply.

But with all its options, Lendio gives you a chance to get the best possible deal―making it our favorite lender for business owners with bad credit.

While Accion Opportunity Fund can’t quite match Kiva’s 0% interest, it has the lowest interest rates we’ve seen otherwise for business owners with bad credit. Its rates start at less than 6%. That’s quite a competitive rate for an alternative lender―especially one that accepts low credit scores.

Now, Accion Opportunity Fund will check your credit. And with a low score, you shouldn’t expect that super-low rate (though hopefully you’ll still get a lower rate than you do elsewhere).

The chance to get below-average interest rates, though, makes Accion Opportunity Fund worth applying with.

Merchant cash advances are one of the most popular options for business owners with bad credit. And while we dislike merchant cash advances for plenty of reasons (like the high costs and the confusing fee and repayment structure), we understand that sometimes they’re your best option. In that case, we recommend Lendr.

Lendr offers more transparency about pricing than other cash advance companies. Likewise, it earns better reviews than many of its competitors. And Lendr offers more than just cash advances―it has invoice factoring too.

So if you have to go with a merchant cash advance, go with Lendr.

Forward Financing earns really positive customer reviews―some of the highest we’ve seen for a lending company. It has earned more than one thousand glowing reviews on Trustpilot. Customers say Forward Financing is very easy to use, very fast, and has great customer service.

We should point out that Forward Financing does have some issues, though. It doesn’t list its fees, for example, and it doesn’t have especially low revenue and time-in-business requirements.

Despite those flaws, though, Forward Financing has tons of fans. Maybe you’ll be one of them.

National Business Capital works a lot like Lendio, meaning it’s a lending marketplace that partners with lenders to get you a loan. It matches you with loans based on your borrower qualifications―and National Business Capital says it can work with any credit score.

It does have higher revenue requirements than Lendio, though. And National Business Capital is incredibly vague about its interest rates on its website, requiring you to talk to customer service over the phone to get most of your information about the terms and rates available to you.

But if you want an alternative lending marketplace, National Business Capital may be what you’re looking for.

Enter your loan needs and qualifications to get matched with a list of lenders best suited to you. Then, sort by the financing factor that you find most important. (Note: not all lenders allow personal loans for business use.)

The message is this: business loans with no credit check are not the most appealing option on the market. That’s largely because their repayment plans and interest rates are heavy-duty, so lenders can be sure that they’ll get their money back—even without a credit history for a guarantee.

However, if you don’t have other options, don’t lose hope. There are doors available to you.

Kiva offers the best option for most business owners, since it doesn’t charge any interest and accepts businesses of all ages. But payment processor users may prefer to work with their processing company’s lending, whether that’s Square Loans, PayPal Working Capital, or Stripe Capital. And ecommerce sellers might like Payability’s fast advances.

We wish you luck getting a no-credit loan now―and in qualifying for a better loan in the future.

Your personal credit score isn’t the only credit that matters to business lenders. Learn more about how to build business credit too.

To begin, we researched more than 50 lenders to find which ones do and don’t perform credit checks. Once we’d found the ones that don’t do credit checks (and those that accept credit scores under 600), we scored them on important factors like loan costs and customer reviews. Those scores gave us our rankings and informed the reviews on this page.

Disclaimer

At Business.org, our research is meant to offer general product and service recommendations. We don't guarantee that our suggestions will work best for each individual or business, so consider your unique needs when choosing products and services.