Avoid Business Funding Pitfalls and Let Our OnDeck Review Guide You
Itching for funding? Our OnDeck review helps you make your best possible business decision.
OnDeck is one of several online lending companies. They offer short term loans and lines of credit. We look at the specifics and drill down into the details.
This review was updated on March 3, 2022.
OnDeck Review: Background
OnDeck is located online here: www.ondeck.com. Their American physical address is:
1400 Broadway
New York, NY 10018.
You can call them at: (888) 269-4246. You can email them at: [email protected]. There is no contact page but you can chat with customer service directly on their site. They have been in business since 2007.
OnDeck Online also has a Canadian division, located online here: https://www.ondeck.com/. There is, in addition, an Australian division, located online here: www.ondeck.com.au. There is even a French version of the Canadian site.
They will not work with certain industries. See: https://www.ondeck.com/restricted-industries.
OnDeck Review: Term Loans
Amounts available range from $5,000 – $250,000. You can get terms of up to 24 months.
Your company must have gross annual revenue of $100,000 or more. Your own personal FICO score has to be 600 or better. And your company must be in business for 1 year or more. Plus, your company must have a business bank account.
OnDeck Review: Fees
Interest rates vary, and you can get a better deal if you already have a business relationship with OnDeck. The total cost of a short term loan will vary based on a number of factors, including personal and business credit scores, time in business and annual revenue and cash flow.
OnDeck Review: Lines of Credit
Get a line of credit from OnDeck for $6,000 to $100,000. The term for an OnDeck line of credit is 12 months.
Withdraw up to $10,000 with Instant Funding.
Your company must have annual revenue of $100,000 or more. Your own personal FICO score has to be 600 or better. And your company must be in business for 1 year or more. Plus, you will need to have a business bank account.
OnDeck Review: Fees
Interest rates vary, with a discount possible if you already have a business relationship with them. The total cost of a business line of credit will vary based on a number of factors, including personal and business credit scores, time in business and annual revenue and cash flow.
OnDeck Review: Advantages
Advantages include the rather low FICO score requirement for term loans. Plus there is some flexibility when it comes to term lengths. In addition, few United States-based online lenders will loan outside of the country. But OnDeck will loan to Canadian and Australian businesses.
OnDeck Review: Disadvantages
Disadvantages are the interest amounts vary and you will not know what you would be paying until your application is pretty far along in the process. However, OnDeck seems to no longer require a personal guarantee.
OnDeck Review: Upshot
Companies with owners with bad personal credit would do well to take a second look at the OnDeck online lending company. However, with qualification comes a hard to initially calculate APR price tag.
Borrowers in Canada and Australia can also work with OnDeck.
Entrepreneurs would probably do better building business credit and/or trying for unsecured business financing or microloans if their financial requirements are small.
Building Business Credit Instead
Company credit is credit in a small business’s name. It doesn’t connect to a business owner’s consumer credit, not even when the owner is a sole proprietor and the solitary employee of the company. Accordingly, an entrepreneur’s business and personal credit scores can be very different.
The Benefits
Business credit helps to safeguard an entrepreneur’s personal assets, in case of court action or business bankruptcy.
Another benefit is that even startups can do this. Heading to a bank for a business loan can be a recipe for disappointment. But building business credit, when done right, is a plan for success.
Individual credit scores are dependent on payments but also various other elements like credit use percentages. But for company credit, the scores really only hinge on whether a corporation pays its invoices in a timely manner.
Growing company credit is a process, and it does not occur without effort.
Business Fundability
A company has to be Fundable to lenders and vendors. Consequently, a business will need a professional-looking website and email address, with website hosting bought from a company such as GoDaddy.
Also business telephone numbers must have a listing on ListYourself.net.
At the same time the company telephone number should be toll-free (800 exchange or the like).
A business will also need a bank account devoted purely to it, and it has to have every one of the licenses necessary for operation. These licenses all must be in the identical, accurate name of the company, with the same company address and phone numbers.
So keep in mind that this means not just state licenses, but potentially also city licenses.
Setting off the Business Credit Reporting Process
Begin at the D&B web site and get a free DUNS number. A DUNS number is how D&B gets a small business in their system, to produce a PAYDEX score. If there is no DUNS number, then there is no record and no PAYDEX score.
Once in D&B’s system, search Equifax and Experian’s web sites for the corporation. You can do this at www.creditsuite.com/reports. If there is a record with them, check it for accuracy and completeness. If there are no records with them, go to the next step in the process.
In this way, Experian and Equifax will have activity to report on.
A Word about Building Business Credit
Always use credit responsibly! Don’t borrow beyond what you can pay off. Keep track of balances and deadlines for repayments. Paying on schedule and fully will do more to raise business credit scores than virtually anything else.
Growing corporate credit pays. Excellent business credit scores help a company get loans. The small business’s EIN connects to high scores, and credit issuers won’t feel the need to call for a personal guarantee.
Business credit is an asset which can help your corporation for years to come.
OnDeck Review: Some Final Thoughts
And finally, as with every other lending program, whether online or offline, remember to read the fine print and do the math.
Go over the details with care, and decide if OnDeck small business loans or OnDeck interest rates will be good for you and your company. In addition, consider alternative financing options that go beyond lending. And these include building business credit.
This is so you can best decide how to get the money you need to help your business grow.
