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ForwardLine

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5.2

Overall Score

LAST UPDATED: September 9th, 2020

Founded in 2003, ForwardLine is a data-driven FinTech company dedicated to improving the financial health of America’s small businesses. As an industry leader in direct lending, ForwardLine strives to build long term, value-added relationships with small business owners, which the company believes is oftentimes under-served by traditional banks.

Today, ForwardLine offers both business loans and merchant cash advances, although they focus on business loans. These loans are based on a business's monthly sales volume.

To qualify for a merchant cash advance from ForwardLine, clients must have been in business for at least one year and earn over $150,000 annually. Consumers that choose ForwardLine Financial should remember that they must have a credit score of 550 or higher. 
 

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The Good

  • Fast Funding
  • Straightforward Requirements
  • Nationwide Availability

Fast Funding

According to the claims on the ForwardLine website, they use non-traditional credit algorithms that allow them to provide financing for 98 percent of small businesses that traditional banks would consider either too small or too risky. The process for a merchant loan or cash advance is much faster than traditional business loans. The application approval process typically takes one business day. Once approved, it takes another day to get the funds, so the whole process can be as short as two business days.

Straightforward Requirements

ForwardLine's requirements are fairly straightforward: make $150,000 in annual revenue and be in business for one year. There is also no collateral needed, and no prepayment penalties. Repayments are simply deducted automatically from daily sales for maximum convenience.

Nationwide Availability

ForwardLine's services are available in all 50 U.S. states, as well as the District of Columbia.

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The Bad

  • Undisclosed Rates
  • User Complaints

Undisclosed Rates

ForwardLine is vague on their website about the interest rate they charge. All they say is that the interest will be based on many factors, including the type of industry your business is in and the length of time the business has been in operation. They also state they issue a small origination fee, but the amount/percent is undisclosed.

User Complaints

There are several ForwardLine complaints about company representatives being difficult to get ahold of. One reviewer said he worked with ForwardLine, and that the company had very high-interest rates.

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The Bottom Line

ForwardLine is a nice alternative to traditional business loans that works well for smaller businesses. With a range of loan options and relatively few minimum requirements, ForwardLine's Merchant Loan or Merchant Cash Advance can provide funds quickly to meet most small business needs.

View Best Business Loan Lenders

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Star Rating

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3.2

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10 Reviews

Review Breakdown

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30%

4 grade

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2 grade

10%

1 grade

30%

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Dave Vejvoda Jackson, WI

They where great to work with until they sold off their credit card processing to their bank. The credit card company is now going to charge a $12.00 a month fee if you have anyone who uses a debit card. Well guess what a lot of people are not using debit cards. So go figure. Now we are not able to resolve payment batches that are not processed because of the lack of ability to process our payments in the 24 hours that we have setup with Forward Line. We also asked about getting another loan and they are not willing to process any more loans until the end of the year. Even though we have been with them for 4 years Being a good customer we should not have to deal with this at all.

3 years ago

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Reply from ForwardLine

At ForwardLine, we pride ourselves on consistent excellent customer service and regret your recent experience with our payment processing product. While we have recently transitioned certain payment processing services to a processing partner, we remain committed to continuing to provide excellent customer service to all our customers. We will be in touch with our processing partner to elevate your concerns. Sincerely The ForwardLine team

Sep. 11th, 2020