Business funding
Business funding for small business owners
Loans, lines, advances, SBA, equipment, receivables — and the options nobody places for you. What each one is for, what it costs, who qualifies, and the order to try them in so your file gets stronger rather than weaker.
What is the best way to fund a small business?
Start with the cheapest money you can plausibly qualify for and work down. SBA and bank term loans are cheapest but need good credit, two years in business and full financials; lines of credit and equipment financing sit in the middle; revenue-based products (working capital loans and merchant cash advances) fund the same day on bank statements alone and cost the most. Apply once, through one specialist, with three months of business bank statements ready, and compare every offer on total dollars repaid.
What “business funding” actually covers
Three different things hide behind the phrase. Debt is money you repay with a cost attached: a loan, a line of credit, an advance against future revenue. Equity is money you never repay because you sold part of the business to get it. Grants are money you neither repay nor sell for, and they are rare, slow and specific. RAN Funding works on the first of those, as a broker placing debt products with a network of funders, so this guide is honest about the other two and detailed about the first.
The order you try these in matters more than most owners realise. Every application leaves a mark, every product is priced on the risk the funder sees, and the file that arrives having already been declined three times is a weaker file. Work through the cheapest money you can plausibly qualify for first, and let a specialist tell you where the line actually is.
Which type of funding fits which need?
| You need money for | Best fit | Realistic speed | Cost direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Payroll or a bill due this week | Working capital loan or merchant cash advance | Same day to 24 hours | Highest |
| Recurring gaps between paying suppliers and getting paid | Business line of credit | 48 to 72 hours | Moderate |
| Customers who pay in 45 to 90 days | Receivables financing | Days | Moderate, scales with volume |
| A truck, machine or piece of equipment | Equipment financing | 48 to 72 hours | Low: the asset is the collateral |
| A planned expansion, buy-out or refinance | Term loan or SBA loan | Days to 60 days | Lowest |
| Several advances draining the account daily | Consolidation or buyout | Days | Depends entirely on the route |
The options, cheapest first
Amounts and rates below are the ranges available through RAN Funding’s lender network as of the date on this page; your offer is set on your file.
| Product | Amount | Cost | Typical requirement | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SBA loan | $50,000 – $10,000,000 | Prime + points | 680+ credit, 2+ years, full financials | 30 to 60 days |
| Business term loan | $20,000 – $10,000,000 | From 9% | Good credit, 2+ years | Days |
| Equipment financing | Full purchase amount | From 5% | Equipment invoice; credit read | 48 to 72 hours |
| Receivables financing | $20,000 – $25,000,000 | From 6% | Creditworthy business customers | Days |
| Business line of credit | $10,000 – $2,000,000 | From 1% / month | 650+ credit | 48 to 72 hours |
| Short-term loan | Up to $3,000,000 | Quoted per file | 6+ months, steady deposits | Same day available |
| Working capital loan | $10,000 – $1,000,000 | Factor from 1.08 | 6+ months, steady deposits, 500+ credit | Same day to 24 hours |
| Merchant cash advance | $10,000 – $1,000,000 | Factor from 1.08 | 6+ months, card sales, 500+ credit | Same day |
Two things the table cannot show. First, the bottom three rows are underwritten on your bank statements rather than your credit or your financials, which is why they fund in a day and why they cost more; revenue-based business financing explains the mechanics. Second, SBA’s $10,000,000 figure is the combined ceiling across the 7(a) and 504 programmes; a 7(a) loan on its own caps at $5,000,000.3
The options we do not place, honestly described
- Business credit cards. Fast and flexible for small, short needs. Most carry a personal guarantee, and revolving a balance for months is usually more expensive than a line of credit.
- Grants. Real money, but competitive, slow, and almost always tied to a specific purpose, place or demographic. Worth a search at grants.gov and your state’s economic development office; not a plan for this quarter’s payroll.
- Friends and family. Cheapest capital on paper. Put it in writing, with a repayment schedule, exactly as you would with a stranger.
- Angel investors and venture capital. For businesses that can plausibly grow ten times, and only those. Most main-street businesses cannot, and should not sell equity to fund working capital.
- Crowdfunding. Works for products people want to pre-order, rarely for services or capital needs.
What lenders actually look at
- Time in business. Six months opens the revenue-based products; two years opens most term loans and SBA.
- Deposits, and their consistency. A specialist reads three to four months of statements for average daily balance, deposit frequency, negative days and returned items. Steady beats large.
- Personal credit. Gating for banks and SBA; read but not gating for revenue-based products. Our guide to business loans with a 500 credit score shows what stays open at each band.
- Existing obligations. Every open loan or advance, disclosed. Undisclosed positions are the most common reason a file collapses after approval.
- Use of funds. Money that produces revenue (inventory at a discount, a contract, a machine) is easier to place than money that covers a gap.
Context from the Federal Reserve’s 2025 Small Business Credit Survey: only 42 per cent of applicants received the full amount they sought, and firms borrowing from online lenders were far more likely to report higher-than-expected costs — 60 per cent, against 32 per cent at large banks.1 Plan for a partial approval, and compare offers on total dollars repaid.
Documents, by tier
| Tier | What you will be asked for |
|---|---|
| Revenue-based (advance, working capital, short-term) | Last 3 months of business bank statements Some states require 4 months., one-page application, voided cheque |
| Line of credit, equipment | The above, plus a credit pull; equipment invoice or quote |
| Term loan | The above, plus business tax returns, P&L and balance sheet, debt schedule |
| SBA | All of the above, plus personal financial statement, business plan or projections, and ownership documents |
What it costs, and the three numbers to insist on
Term products quote an interest rate that stops accruing when you repay early. Revenue-based products quote a factor rate that fixes the total at signing: $50,000 at a 1.20 factor repays $60,000 whether that takes four months or eight. The two are not comparable at a glance; factor rate vs APR does the conversion with real numbers.
Whatever the product, ask every provider for three figures in writing before you agree to anything: the amount funded, the total repayment, and the payment and its frequency. A growing number of states now require exactly that disclosure for commercial financing.2 A provider who will not put all three on one page has answered your question.
How to apply without weakening your file
- One application, one specialist. Applying to five lenders at once produces five credit inquiries, five sets of questions, and nobody who owns the outcome. Our how it works page sets out the sequence we use.
- Statements first. Have three months of business bank statements ready before you start; the file that arrives complete gets an answer the same day.
- Ask for the cheapest product you might qualify for, and let the specialist tell you if you do not. The answer is often a step below what you hoped and a step above what you feared.
- Read the agreement at noon, not at five. Questions asked early get answered; questions asked at the wire cutoff get rushed.
Why owners get declined, and what to do about it
- Too new. Under six months of business deposits. Build three clean months in a business account and reapply.
- Negative days. A run of NSFs in the last thirty days. Stop the bleeding first; a month of clean conduct changes the decision.
- Stacked. Two or more advances already running. Consolidating may be the right move before any new money; see business debt consolidation.
- Personal account. Deposits running through a personal account cannot be underwritten cleanly. Open a business account in the entity’s name.
- Wrong product. Asking a bank for money that a revenue-based funder would approve tomorrow, or asking a funder for a five-year term. A specialist’s job is to point you at the right door.
Common questions
How much business funding can I get?
Products in the network run from $10,000 to $10,000,000. Revenue-based products are sized on your monthly deposits, typically a multiple of one month’s revenue; term and SBA loans are sized on cash flow, collateral and financials. A partial approval is a normal outcome, so decide in advance what you would do with a smaller amount.
Can I get business funding with bad credit?
Yes. Revenue-based products are underwritten on deposits and are available from a 500 credit score. They cost more than bank money, so use them for a dated need with a clear return, and read our guide to bad credit business loans without collateral before you apply.
How fast can I get funded?
Same day for merchant cash advances and working capital loans when the file is complete early; 48 to 72 hours for lines of credit and equipment; days for term loans; 30 to 60 days for SBA. Same-day business funding explains what has to be true for the fastest case.
Do I need collateral?
Not for revenue-based products, lines of credit or most term loans, which are unsecured but usually carry a personal guarantee. Equipment financing uses the equipment itself as collateral, which is why it is cheaper. SBA loans may require collateral where it is available.
Is RAN Funding a lender?
No. RAN Funding is a business financing broker. One application reaches a network of funders, and a dedicated specialist brings back the offers you qualify for with rate, term and total cost side by side. Our compensation is disclosed and paid by the funder, and it does not change the terms you are quoted.
Will applying hurt my credit?
Seeing your options through RAN Funding is a soft inquiry. A hard pull happens only if you proceed with a term loan, line of credit or SBA product, and you will be told before it does.
Sources
- 2026 Report on Employer Firms: Findings from the 2025 Small Business Credit Survey — Federal Reserve Banks, 3 March 2026
- State Commercial Financing Disclosure Laws — Venable LLP, March 2026
- 7(a) loans — U.S. Small Business Administration
See what you qualify for
One application, about five minutes, soft pull only. A funding specialist comes back with the offers you qualify for — and explains every term before you sign.