Best Emergency Business Loans 2023

If your business faces an urgent financing situation, you don’t have to panic. Plenty of lending companies let you get approved for financing today and get funded today or tomorrow―and we’ve rounded up the best lenders that do just that.

We analyzed lenders to find the best interest rates, borrower requirements, customer reviews, and more from lenders that offer speedy funding times.

Bluevine offers the best emergency business financing for most business owners, thanks to its low starting rates and same-day funding option. But we’ve found nine other lenders that can help your business get back on its feet after an emergency. 

We’ve found that some business owners looking for emergency business loans need funding after a disaster (whether that’s COVID-19, flooding, or a different crisis), while others just need money right away. Either way, you probably need speedy, accessible financing.

That’s why most of the emergency business loans on our list come from online lenders. They can get you funding much, much faster than traditional lenders (banks and credit unions). You may even get funding the same day you apply.

Plus, online lenders have lower borrower requirements (like credit score, time in business, and annual revenue) than traditional lenders do―making their loans more accessible to all sorts of business owners in crisis situations.

Keep in mind, though, that speed and accessibility doesn’t always come cheap. Online lenders tend to cost more than traditional lenders do, with higher interest rates or expensive fee structures.

Still, if you need an emergency business loan right away, the emergency lenders on this list offer your best financing options.

Bluevine offers the best emergency business loan for most lenders.

Okay, technically Bluevine offers an emergency business line of credit―not a business loan. But credit lines give you tons of flexibility, meaning you can use them for general working capital, payroll, bills, or other cash flow needs. You might even find you prefer revolving credit (meaning credit you can use over and over again) to a term loan.

Most notably, Bluevine stands out because of its low starting interest rates. Bluevine offers lines of credit with interest rates under 5%, making it almost as affordable as credit lines from traditional lenders. Plus, Bluevine is the rare online lender that gives you the option to make monthly payments (instead of daily or weekly payments) on some credit lines.

And Bluevine can get you funded and approved ASAP. In most cases, you’ll get a response to your Bluevine credit application in mere minutes. Then you can choose to get funds via wire transfer (for a small fee) to get money in your bank account that same day.

Some downsides? Bluevine has higher revenue requirements than lots of other online lenders. And if you want those super-low rates we mentioned, you’ll need to not just meet but exceed its borrower requirements. Also, Bluevine doesn’t lend in Nevada, North Dakota, or South Dakota.

But competitive rates and fast funding still make Bluevine our top pick for emergency business loans.

Prefer a short-term loan to a line of credit? Then OnDeck has the best emergency business loan for you.

Like Bluevine, OnDeck can get you funding the same day you apply (assuming you apply early enough in the day). And borrowing from OnDeck comes with some nice benefits. Unlike many online lenders, OnDeck reports to credit bureaus, so you can improve your credit score as you repay your loan. OnDeck also offers perks like lower fees and waived interest to its repeat borrowers.

OnDeck does cost a lot more than traditional lenders, though. Its loans start at 35% APR and only go up from there. Plus, for such a pricey funding option, OnDeck has relatively high (though still normal) time in business and revenue requirements.

Even so, OnDeck’s fast funding and borrower perks make it a solid choice for emergency funding needs.

Very young businesses (less than one year old) often have trouble getting funding. Fortunately, Fundbox can help.

Fundbox lends to businesses younger than any other lender we’ve seen. It asks for at least six months in business (which some other lenders accept too), but Fundbox will work with younger businesses than that―as young as two months old. That means your young business doesn’t have to miss out on emergency funding. In fact, Fundbox can approve you almost instantly and fund you the next day.

Just note that Fundbox’s lines of credit max out at $150,000―making them smaller than loans from most other lenders. And like many other online lenders, Fundbox charges high fees and gives you short repayment terms.

Still, Fundbox funds younger businesses that other lenders won’t, allowing even new startups to find emergency business loans.

Do you need an emergency business loan to buy equipment? Take a look at Balboa Capital.

Balboa Capital offers equipment-specific loans. (In fact, it makes our list of the best equipment financing lenders.) And Balboa Capital knows that many businesses have urgent equipment needs―which is why it offers fast approval (within just a few hours). And in many cases, Balboa Capital can get you money the very same day. Maybe that’s why Balboa Capital gets such positive customer reviews.

Unfortunately, Balboa Capital doesn’t list interest rates or loan fees. It simply calls its rates “competitive.” And sure, equipment loans usually have fairly low rates (because they use the equipment you buy as collateral). But we still wish Balboa Capital would offer more transparency about its loan pricing.

All the same, Balboa Capital’s quick funding, large loans, and good reviews make it a good option for emergency equipment loans.

If you need an emergency business loan for a declared disaster, we highly recommend SBA disaster loans.

Unlike any other loan on this list, SBA disaster loans come from a government agency―the U.S. Small Business Administration. That means they offer rock-bottom rates (maxing out at 4% interest for businesses that can’t get financing elsewhere) without the ultra-high borrower requirements of banks. They also give you a long time to repay your loan―decades, in some cases.

Of course, as you’d expect from government loans, SBA disaster loans take a long time to get―weeks at least. And you can only get them if your business is in an area with a government-declared disaster (like a hurricane, flood, drought, or even COVID-19). So you can’t use these loans for just any emergency.

But if your business faces a widespread disaster, SBA disaster loans offer one of the most affordable, accessible loan options out there.

If the lenders above won’t work for your business financing needs―maybe because of borrower requirements or loan type―then we have five other lenders worth looking at for emergency business loans.  

Even if you’ve got a less-than-ideal credit score, you can still get financing through Lendr. Lendr offers two financing options: invoice factoring and merchant cash advances. 

Both types work well for business owners with bad credit. In the case of invoice factoring, it’s because you use unpaid invoices as collateral. And with merchant cash advances, lenders just care about your credit card sales. So Lendr can work with your low credit score―and it can work quickly.

Watch out though―merchant cash advances cost a lot and have confusing repayment structures. We don’t recommend them to most business owners. But at least Lendr has better customer reviews and more fee transparency than most merchant cash advance providers.  

Even if you can’t qualify for a business loan (maybe because your business is too young or has too little revenue), you can still use personal loans for your small business. If you go that route, we recommend Rocket Loans.

Lots of personal lenders don’t let you use their loans on your business. Rocket Loans does. And Rocket Loans accepts lower credit scores than many other personal loan companies. Plus, Rocket Loans recently began offering same-day funding.

Rocket Loans' personal loans top out at $45,000, which can make them too small for many business expenses. If you don’t need much money, though, Rocket Loans’s personal loans might help your business get through an emergency.

Want a merchant cash advance and want it today? Apply with Forward Financing. It offers same-day funding on its business cash advances.

As we said above, we don’t really like merchant cash advances because of their high costs. And Forward Financing doesn’t even list its financing fees―which makes us worry they’re even higher than average. But Forward Financing accepts low credit scores and can get you funded the same day you apply.

So while we still suggest avoiding merchant cash advances if you can, Forward Financing isn’t the worst option out there. 

If you run an ecommerce business (using sites like Amazon, eBay, NewEgg, Shopify, or Walmart), Payability can help you get emergency funding.

Payability has cash advances specifically for e-commerce sellers. It analyzed your platform sales to decide if you qualify for funding―which means your credit score doesn’t matter all that much. And unlike other cash advance companies, Payability lets you save money by repaying your advance quickly.

Still, don’t expect super-cheap funding from Payability. And note that Payability has the highest revenue requirement of any lender on this list, so you’ll need to sell plenty to qualify.

Only Square payment processing customers can qualify for Square Loans. But if you’re already a customer, Square offers an easy, fast way to get a business loan.

Square analyzes your Square payments to judge your creditworthiness. That means young businesses and business owners with bad credit can still qualify for Square Loans. But it also means that Square decides when you get a loan offer―you don’t get to apply for one manually.

So check your Square dashboard to see if you have a Square Loans offer. If you do, you’ve got access to a fast emergency business loan. But if you don’t, you’ll need to turn to another lender. 

When you need emergency funding for your small business, we suggest turning to Bluevine. Its low starting interest rates and same-day funding option mean you can get quick funding without breaking the bank.

If you strongly prefer term loans to lines of credit, you can opt for an OnDeck short-term loan instead. Businesses six months old and under will do best with Fundbox. For emergency equipment loans, you can turn to Balboa Capital. And if your business faces a true disaster (whether natural or economic), the U.S. Small Business Administration can help you with SBA disaster loans.

Want your loan application process to be as quick and seamless as possible? Prepare yourself with our guide on how to get a small-business loan.

We found the best emergency business loans by researching dozens of business lenders. We narrowed things down by focusing on lenders that offer same-day or next-day funding (or that respond to disasters, in the case of the SBA). To pick and rank our featured lenders, we scored lenders on factors like loan sizes, interest rates and fees, and customer reviews.

To buy into a small business, you need a business acquisition loan. You can find the best options on our rankings of the best business acquisition loans.

Getting SBA business loans can be easy, but it depends on your borrower qualifications. If you have a decent credit score, a business that’s at least two years old, and plenty of revenue, you’ll have an easier time getting an SBA loan.

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.