US Bank Loans Review 2023

Before you submit a loan application to US Bank, let’s make sure you understand the products, pros, and cons of this traditional lender.

We love how many different business loan options US Bank has, from terms loans to real estate loans to franchise financing. And you can even find financing options, like investment property loans, that most banks don’t have―all with long terms and (presumably) good interest rates.

But you’ll need to make sure you can do business with US Bank, since it only operates in 25 states. Plus, we think you need to read about its negative customer reviews.

Ready to learn more?

US Bank has a lot of different loan options―more than we see from most lenders (including both other traditional lenders and online lenders).

We’ll break down everything we know about its financing products in just a minute. But first, let’s chat about what we don’t know.

US Bank doesn’t list any interest rates―a practice we really dislike. That said, it is a traditional bank, which means we expect it has very competitive interest rates (likely starting somewhere around 5%). Banks always do.

Likewise, US Bank doesn’t publish its borrower requirements (another frustration of ours). But again, because US Bank is a traditional lender, we can make an educated guess about its eligibility requirements. We expect you need (at least) the following to have a chance at a US Bank loan:

• A 680 credit score
• $200,000 in annual revenue
• Two years or more in business

The only requirement we know for sure? You either have to have banked with US Bank for 12 months, or your business must be located within 50 miles of a US Bank branch.

Not concerned about that or other potential borrower requirements? Then let’s look at US Bank’s business funding products. Buckle up―like we said, there’s a lot.

Let’s start off with the basics.

US Bank has a variety of term loan options. Term loans can work for many business needs―as long as they’re planned expenses (since it takes a while to apply for and get approved for a business loan).

For smaller financing needs, you can go with the US Bank Quick Loan. As the name suggests, this loan gets processed and approved faster than other loans. How fast? US Bank doesn’t say. Just faster.

You can cover larger expenses with a business term loan. US Bank offers virtually no details about this loan, except that you can get loan amounts up to $1 million.

If you’re in the market for business equipment, you might want US Bank’s equipment financing. You can use this equipment-specific loan on all kinds of business equipment, from vehicles to furniture to software to medical equipment. Note that US Bank lets you finance up to 125% of the equipment cost so you can cover soft costs―a nice feature.

US Bank also has a couple types of SBA business loans. It has SBA 7(a) loans for working capital, equipment, and real estate purchases (or refinancing). Or you can get an SBA 504 loan for heavy equipment, construction, and real estate costs. Either way, you’re getting a well-regulated loan with competitive interest rates.

Then you’ve got business lines of credit. Credit lines work a lot like credit cards, in that you can borrow over and over again as you repay the money you borrow. That makes them great for cash flow needs and unplanned expenses (though you can certainly get one for a planned project as well).

Cash flow manager is US Bank’s basic credit line, for smaller credit limit needs. You can apply for this one online, and you should get a relatively fast decision (though again, US Bank doesn’t promise any particular speed). Credit lines under $50,000 will have an annual fee of $150 (not unusual). And while larger lines have to get secured with collateral, US Bank offers unsecured lines up to $100,000.

You can get a higher credit limit (up to $1 million) with US Bank’s business line of credit. It suggests using this credit line for things like inventory or equipment purchases.

If you’ve got commercial real estate to borrow against, you can try US Bank’s business equity line of credit. This line can get you a higher credit limit than the cash flow manager line―but not as high as the business line of credit.

Rounding out US Bank’s line of credit offerings is its business reserve line. Unlike its other credit lines, you don’t really use this to finance purchases or anything. Instead, it gives you a cushion to protect you from overdraft fees on your US Bank small-business checking account. (You’ll have to link your credit line and your bank account.) As such, the business reserve line has a very low credit limit (just $5,000).

US Bank also has a couple types of commercial real estate loans.

First, it has a pretty standard owner-occupied commercial loan. You can use this to purchase, remodel, or refinance your business’s real estate (as long as you’re occupying most of it).

US Bank is also one of the only banks that has an investment property loan for mixed-use, multi-family, or multi-tenant buildings. Most banks stick to owner-occupied real estate, but US Bank will fund your investment rental properties.

Medical practices can apply for US Bank’s practice financing. These funding packages can help vets, dentists, and optometrists (but not doctors) finance their businesses. You can use medical practice loans to acquire, buy into, refinance, or expand, or reven relocate your practice.

And finally, US Bank offers McDonald’s franchise financing. Again, it’s the only bank we’ve seen that offers this. With this franchise financing, you can acquire, build, remodel, or relocate your franchise―and you can buy equipment for it too.

Now that you’ve made it through the long list of US Bank’s financing options, we can tell you what we like about it.

Unsurprisingly, that number of products is one of our favorite things. US Bank offers funding for many, many different business needs and situations. Whether you need a business line of credit for cash flow or a long-term loan for a real estate purchase, you can turn to US Bank. It’s like the Swiss Army knife of traditional lenders.

And to sweeten things even further, US Bank offers some very specialized financing solutions:

• Investment property loans
• Medical practice financing
• McDonald’s franchise financing

You don’t see those offered by just any bank (or alternative lender, for that matter). But thanks to US bank, you don’t have to turn to private lenders to fund your rental property.

Plus, we expect US Bank has the usual features we love in traditional lenders―like very low, very competitive interest rates to keep your borrowing affordable. And we know it has long repayment terms, which keeps your monthly payments down.

Given its business loan options and features, how does US Bank compare to the competition?

Well, as we said, US Bank offers more financing choices than most other banks. It has those specialized products we talked about, like franchise financing and investment property loans. So that means that US Bank may work for even more businesses than other traditional lenders.

Otherwise, we expect US Bank to work pretty much the same as other banks―with low busness loan interest rates and high borrower requirements.

What about online lending companies? Lending marketplaces like Lendio also have tons of different loan options. But Lendio can work with business owners with bad credit or with very young businesses, while US Bank probably won’t. Even so, Lendio can offer very low interest rates to qualifying borrowers on some loans.

And once you read about some of the downsides to US Bank, an online lending company like Lendio might look a lot more appealing.

As we discussed much earlier, we don’t like how US Bank hides its interest rates.

Because it’s a bank, we expect US Bank has very competitive rates―so it has even less reason to hide them than pricey online lenders do.

And in the same vein, we want US Bank to publish its borrower requirements, such as credit score, business age, and annual revenue requirements.

That way, you never have to waste your time on a loan application that will never get approved.

US Bank also has some of the problems that come with traditional banks, like limited availability. US Bank only does business in 25 states, meaning business owners in half the country simply can’t use it. (In contrast, most online lenders serve the vast majority of states.)

Similarly, US Bank doesn’t accept online loan applications for many of its business loans. You can apply for small term loans and lines of credit online, yes, but for most larger loan amounts you need to visit a physical branch―like it’s 1998 or something.

Of course, you can decide that these inconveniences and bad reviews don’t matter to you. We just want you to know all about US Bank―the good and the bad.

We won’t spend much time on them, since this is Business.org, but US Bank also offers a full suite of personal lending products:

• Personal loans
• Home improvement personal loans
• Personal lines of credit
• Home improvement personal lines of credit
• Reserve lines of credit
• Conventional mortgage loans
• FHA loans
• VA loans
• Auto loans
• RV loans
• Boat loans

As with its business products, we find the wide variety of loan options pretty impressive. And as far as we can tell, you can get great interest rates and long loan terms on these personal loan options too.

Remember, though, that US Bank’s personal banking customers have plenty of bad things to say about it.

US Bank has a lot of different business loan products, which can make it an appealing option for many business owners in many industries. It even has specialized loans, like franchise financing and investment property loans, that you don’t typically see from banks. And all US Bank’s loans have the long terms and (we expect) good interest rates that make bank loans so nice.

But US Bank also has some troubles, like very low customer reviews. We also think its limited availability and in-branch applications make it less than ideal. Plus, US Bank doesn’t publish key information about its loans, like eligibility requirements and interest rate ranges.

The bottom line? If you want one of US Bank’s more specialized loan options, then go ahead and apply with this traditional lender. But for generic business loans, you may want to look for a better-liked lending company.

Want to see some online competitors to US Bank? Check out our favorite online lenders on our rankings of the best small-business loans.

US Bank is a fairly trustworthy bank, insofar as it doesn’t have the kinds of big scandals and lawsuits that banks like Chase, Citi, and Wells Fargo do.

But US Bank does earn pretty negative customer reviews, and we saw complaints about US Bank hiding fees and not fulfilling promotional offers.

So US Bank is probably more trustworthy than many banks―but probably not as trustworthy as your local community bank or credit union.

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.