Founded in 2001, LenCred pairs businesses with lenders offering business credit cards with lines of credit from $25,000 to more than $150,000. The company — based in Bentonville, Arkansas, with corporate offices in New Jersey — boasts more than 21,910 credit approvals, worth more than $194 million.
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LenCred pairs business borrowers with lenders offering unsecured lines of credit through an online portal. The company focuses more on your personal credit score than on business finances to determine prequalification.
Gazaway says the company’s software checks more than a dozen data points to help determine creditworthiness without doing a hard pull on credit that could affect a business owner’s credit score. Once a potential borrower prequalifies, LenCred pairs him or her with a sales advisor who can review lender options with them.
LenCred also offers a portal that includes information about equipment and SBA loans. Gazaway says these loans can be the next step for businesses after they have established solid credit by using business credit cards responsibly.
| Loan product | Loan amount | Loan term | APR range/ factor rate | Fees | Time to funding |
| Unsecured Line of Credit | $25,000 to $200,000 | Revolving credit | Varies depending on lender and borrower’s creditworthiness; 12 percent to 15 percent is average | Not provided by the lender | As few as 5 days to 7 days or longer than 40 days; 30 days is average |
Rates current as of 7/16/2018
LenCred provides extensive information about business financing on its site and offers to work one-on-one with business owners to improve their credit histories after they apply through its online portal or over the phone. The company also pairs up business owners with experts in preserving personal credit and separating personal finances from business finances.
LenCred has no additional eligibility requirements, although the lenders it works with might. In general, your personal credit history should be at least five years old and you should have at least one personal credit card with at least a $5,000 credit line.
Your established personal credit will help lenders see how you manage credit card debt over time. You’re unlikely to be approved for an unsecured business line of credit if you haven’t responsibly managed a personal credit card.
LenCred does not list any ineligible businesses, although the lenders it works might haves restrictions. Business owners who have never had a personal credit card and a solid credit score likely won’t qualify.
LenCred provides an online application form for assessing a borrower’s eligibility to work with its lenders. Following the pre-application, the company assigns people to help applicants through the rest of the process, including working with them on ways to maintain and improve their credit scores. The form asks for the following information:
| Pros | Cons |
| No requirement for time in business | Not a lender, so can’t make immediate decisions |
| No revenue requirement | Rates could vary widely, depending on lender |
| Online tools for managing credit | Not for those with challenging personal credit histories |
LenCred is best for a business owner with solid personal credit and less established business credit who is willing to maintain and improve his or her credit.
Understand that LenCred is not a lender. It facilitates obtaining unsecured lines of credit by matching lenders with borrowers. This kind of credit can have high interest rates — Gazaway says the average is 12 percent to 15 percent — but they can be much lower if you have excellent personal credit and manage the card responsibly.
LenCred is a solid option for those with good personal credit who need flexible options to obtain working capital for their businesses. Just be aware that it can take time to work through LenCred’s process and, if your credit isn’t the best, you could wind up paying rates as high as you would with any unsecured line of credit.
