SmartBiz Loans

After the initial application, a loan officer was assigned, and there was also an underwriter behind him. I mostly spoke with the loan officer and he was very professional. There were a series of exchanges between him and me because of the process and went into very details. Every time I responded to his questions, he would come back to me very fast, sometimes in the same day, and go in deeper until his question is crystal clearly clarified.

SmartBiz provided the SBA loan for us and it definitely changed our business. With additional funding, I was able to consolidate the short-term loans, so the business is much healthier. They're one of the best lenders I have ever dealt with. From the date that I applied until the day we actually got the funding, it was within 30 days.

SmartBiz didn't make it clear to me during the application process that the landlord would need to sign a waiver. They also downplayed the importance of it a little bit. Then, sure enough, my landlord didn't wanna sign the waiver and all hell broke loose. But in the end, the landlord did sign the waiver and everything went through. But it was a touch-and-go week because had they made it more clear, I could have negotiated that before we had signed our new building lease. But then, I lost the leverage because we signed the lease thinking that if they said no, it was not gonna be the end of the world. Then it turned out to be the end of the world. So, we skirted through.

Working with SmartBiz was fantastic. At a time when traditional lenders are not offering any options, I'm really pleased with the way that they've performed. When dealing with somebody virtually and not having a direct banking relationship, you never know if they are gonna respond. But they were always in touch and they definitely took the stress out of it. Their platform is very simple to use. It's nice to see a company do what they claim to do. I've recommended them to a colleague who's now working with them on getting his own 7(a) loan.

I was pleasantly surprised how the flow went, after being disappointed by my own bank. And then having applications that went nowhere with big lenders like Kabbage, I was really happy that they asked for something, I sent it, they confirmed that they had it. There was very good communication and accountability for the process. It saved my business. I am thankful I found them and that it was just easy to work with them in the world where things for business owners got pretty stressful. SmartBiz Loans exceeded expectations.

To collect the reports that SmartBiz needed, we had to get in touch with ADP, and ADP had to download it into our system, it took us a while to get those printed or get that downloaded. It was a little bit of a work, but something we learned ourselves. Because there were a lot of documents that were required to be uploaded, but we got it. Once I was able to do it for one, then it was easier to do it for the second one because I already knew the process. So, that delayed the process a little bit.

SmartBiz's requirements were similar to everybody else's because that's what the FDA required, but once we got the system down, we were able to download whatever is it that SmartBiz asked for. Once SmartBiz had everything in their system, it took another three days. I was even able to speak with somebody at CenterState after that, once SmartBiz finished their part of the end and went to CenterState again and they were able to get the clarification, how soon the funds will be in the bank.

I called SmartBiz a couple of times to find out as far as they needed some information regarding the franchise agreement that we had with 7-Eleven, that's my business and that was something I signed 10 years ago. I had to request a copy of that from the corporate, which they finally emailed, but it took a while. I have those now. But I have not submitted because they said they just wanted to make sure that I have it because they were writing these loans based on all this information that I provided.

Because of the loans, I'm able to keep all my employees working. We were essential so we have to stay open. We are open 24 hours. We couldn't close it. We weren't making any money at the time, but we have to stay open. And I couldn't let any of my employees go because they have their family to take care of. The PPP helped.

People have been commenting under SmartBiz's social media posts on Facebook and Instagram for weeks just to receive some form of communication from this company. SmartBiz appears to be deleting commenter's posts! They should use that same energy to process loan applications!!! SmartBiz is not equipped to handle PPP loan applications and really should just stop accepting any new ones. Yes, they are posting on social media inviting people to apply for PPP loans! Please do not trust the positive reviews of SmartBiz on this site as it relates to PPP loans.

I have reached out to Bernard ** at **, Nathan ** at **, loansupport@smartbizloans.com, support@smartbizloans.com, partners@smartbizloans.com, info@smartbizloans.com, and no one has returned my emails. I have been waiting for an answer since January 2021. There has been no respect for my time or my business. As a courtesy, I should have received a concrete answer to my loan application by now. It has been almost 3 months. If they are having a problem verifying my identity, they should at the very least, let me know what I can do to fix the issue. But again, my emails remain unanswered.

I've heard good things about this company in the past, but now, after reading the hundreds of other negative reviews about their lack of communication and consideration for small business owners, I wish I'd done more research before applying with them. Would be happy to write a positive updated review stating that the issue was resolved, I was approved, and funded. PLEASE RESPOND. APPLICATION #**.