SmartBiz Loans
ConsumerAffairs Accredited BrandFounded in 2009, SmartBiz Loans provides SBA Loans through a quick and easy three step process. The first step is to prequalify using the secure software. Once you are prequalified, you will work with a SmartBiz Relationship Manager to plan the use of your funds and provide financial information. After confirming your business’ financials, funds can be imported into your account in as little as 7 days after your completed application.
The SmartBiz platform was created to reduce high cost APRs for small businesses making it easier for those businesses to receive loans. The SmartBiz team is committed to providing quality customer service.
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118 SmartBiz Loans Consumer Reviews and Complaints
SmartBiz Loans was willing to do what was necessary to make my business debt consolidation happen and the process of applying for and receiving my financing was magical. I was expecting to do crazy amounts of work, but it really wasn’t. They had me describe my business online and the next thing I knew was my account rep literally took the helm and drove it to the end zone. It was amazing. She asked me questions and we met a few times, but she did everything.
The team at SmartBiz was hands down awesome. Whatever she did and whatever amount of hours she put into all the prep work and all the submissions, it was well worth it. And whatever fees SmartBiz Loans took, it was money well-spent. SmartBiz Loans is helping my business quite a bit. We were able to consolidate and we still have $25,000 in working capital right now which we're toying what to do with. SmartBiz has really helped a lot.
I had a Funding Circle loan and SmartBiz Loans contacted me. They said that their standards for an SBA loan were similar to Funding Circle so I could consolidate some stuff and make my life better. And that’s what I did. An SBA loan involved a lot of documentation and red tape that I gotta go through, and the guy at SmartBiz who I worked with was very helpful, informative, and patient. It was a long experience, but it was good. Without their help, I would have never gotten through the whole process. SmartBiz consolidated a lot of high-interest loans into a manageable payment and I got a light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully, by the end of the SBA loan, I’d be debt-free and everything will be good.
Resolution In ProgressI began the lengthy application process with SmartBiz in mid-April 2018 and found out yesterday that 7/25/18 that my business financials would not meet the loan criteria for the SBA. I was not happy with that outcome, but understood as our business had a difficult 2017 financially. We made some bad hires that affected our profitability very negatively. I was prepared for this outcome and honestly as we went through the process our financial fortunes were improving. So the money was not really needed as much as wanted for expanding the company and accelerating our growth. However, in going through the process there were 2 things that bothered me greatly about the whole deal.
1. I dealt with 3 different account reps (?) during this very lengthy and time consuming process. None of the 3 reps Jon, Jefferson or Phillip were very good at communicating. It took as long as almost a week in one instance to respond to an email requesting status of the loan application. There were several other instances that took inordinately long periods of time for responses as well. Usually after a couple of these instances I was changed to a different representative. This proved to be frustrating especially when SmartBiz is going to get 2.5 to 3 percent of whatever amount you end up borrowing. I don't begrudge them getting paid for their efforts but I do not appreciate slow and even arrogant responses to legitimate questions.
2. The second problem which bothers me the most is the fact that the issue that according to SmartBiz prevented our eligibility for the loan existed and was disclosed very early in the loan application process. The issue was our profitability in 2017, which as I stated earlier was due to a couple of very bad hires that greatly affected my company. Prior to 2017 my company was growing for over 5 years with 30% to 50% sales increases annually.
Additionally, we maintained a six figure bank balance prior to the rough year and I anticipate reaching that level again in the 1st quarter of 2019. By any definition my company is a good and growing small business that hit a rough patch due to a couple of bad decisions. I think almost every small business goes through something similar at one time or another. The insult here was the waste of dozens of hours of my time and the time of my bookkeeping staff in working to secure a loan that the "3 stooges" knew from the beginning would not be approved.
When I asked Phillip why they decided to waste so much of my company's time, effort and money in having go through the entire process his response was "we were hoping the numbers would improve". Did Phillip and the other stooges think we would somehow find another couple of hundred thousand dollars under a rock? Perhaps they thought the tooth fairy would look kindly on me and give me the money I didn't get for a tooth when I was 5 years old with accumulated interest.
I was not informed when this information was disclosed that our 2017 numbers were such a deal breaking problem. It seems to me that their actions belie a very selfish and uncaring company that only seems to be truly concerned with collecting a fee rather than the amount of resources people have to put into seeking an SBA loan. They're marketing is very good in leading you to believe they’re here to help but like a lot of marketing out there it's as full of hot air and hypocrisy as just about anyone else.
I recommend you look to your own financial institution first when seeking an SBA loan and don't believe the hype. Make very sure they are upfront with you about your actual possibilities of getting the loan. The primary issue with us is our perceived ability to repay the loan with very little consideration of the circumstances and how they may have changed. If you had a bad year just prior to seeking the loan I suggest you find another source of funding.
Thank you for taking time to leave your comments. We take customer feedback very seriously. The SmartBiz team looked into your applications. One was submitted on 4/23 and withdrawn one month later on 5/29. Your second application was started on 7/17 and declined 10 days later on 7/27. We were initially unable to refer you to our SBA bank partners due to their credit requirements and later unable because of their financial requirements. We apologize that you did not receive a consistent and streamlined customer service. We’ve taken steps internally to make sure this doesn’t happen again. We wish you and your business the best of luck.
I had an SBA loan before and I thought that I would try that again since I wanted to expand my business. I found SmartBiz Loans on Google as it popped up under SBA. Applying at SmartBiz wasn't easy and the process took three months, which was longer than I thought it would. My credits gotta be perfect and my bank accounts gotta be good. Also, I had to have all my ducks in a row before the SBA is gonna loan to me. Still, my experience with SmartBiz was great and working with them helped me get my business expansion up and running.
My accountant recommended SmartBiz Loans to help me as I expand my business. I got the small business loan. When I applied they asked me for a lot of paperwork. And then I had one little hiccup. My green card had expired but they gave me some extra time so I could take care of that. So I took care of that and then we continued the paperwork. They told me that the bank approved the loan and then a week after that I got the funding.
The rep at SmartBiz was excellent. I dealt with Pamela and she was very helpful and very clear all the time. She was a huge help because I deal a lot with her versus my broker here. I'm so glad that my accountant told me to go with them. I'm so grateful that they were able to help me with this and made the experience so pleasant as I went through the paperwork and everything. It wasn’t intimidating.
I sought financing as I was planning ahead, looking for what our year's bringing and figuring out where we need to be. I made sure that we were in a comfortable position to do that. Knowing the financial market with the interest rates rising I wanted to make sure that we tried to do that before things change one way or another. We looked in the past when we first opened and that process can be a very long and cumbersome process, if done the old-fashioned way through a local bank. It was a nightmare.
But the process at SmartBiz was straightforward. There was a lot of paperwork but we had a representative that walked us through a lot of it and what was needed. We had everything prepared, working with our accountant to make sure we had the proper financials and everything else laid out, as needed. It was a simple process getting everything ready and uploaded in the system, reviewed and packaged on and then submitted to the lenders to approve and review.
I only spoke with two people for the most part along the way, mainly just a sole individual that kind of spearheaded it for us and questions from the beginning as far as what was the proper amount based on what we wanted to do. Some of it was debt consolidation, some was working capital and some future anticipated needs. SmartBiz has given us a little bit more comfort going through this year with some unexpected challenges from our market in our industry. It allowed us to kind of keep stable and focused on execution versus cash flow.
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If anybody ever needs a loan, I'm gonna recommend SmartBiz. They were very efficient and it was rapid-fire getting the job done in a very short period of time. With the SBA loan we got, we then bought the commercial printer and we're ready to start manufacturing. We had a great experience with the representative as well. His name was Michael and he was very knowledgeable and absolutely terrific in every way. If I had a question, he got the answer right back to me.
I wanted to do an SBA loan and the gentleman who got me the other loan put it through SmartBiz Loans. The process was a little difficult but we got it in the end. It took me five months and the fees were a little exorbitant. Also, even though the rates were good, it should have been told that they were not a fixed rate but a prime plus rate. But the representatives were very professional.
At first, I thought SmartBiz was fake but as a business, we had some debt consolidation that I wanted to do and needed a working capital. I've worked with banks before and I know a lot of people but they were just so picky. When I did the process with SmartBiz Loans, I felt like they could help me better. I got a working capital for $200,000 from them. We went online and uploaded every little piece of information we could ever think of for our business. Luckily, our records were in order and we were able to get everything to them relatively quickly. Over the next week or so, they would need this or they would need that. We got declined by one of their providers and then another one of their providers approved us so it was good.
I worked with James and he was a smart kid. He was able to help me with some workarounds and to get some things done. I felt like he was on my side and he fought hard with the underwriters to get us our loan. He did a fantastic job. I was very happy with him and with SmartBiz Loans. It's an incredible company. They made the process very smooth. It did require a lot of paperwork but it's understandable with the type of loans that people are trying to do. We had a down year and then we're back up this year but we were able to still get funding. I've told so many people about SmartBiz Loans and about James in particular. I hope he can help some of these other people that I know. It was a long process and you're stressed out and your back's against the wall. But two or three weeks was nothing compared to a regular lender so, it was definitely worth the process.
My son was researching online and he was doing a lot. Somebody from the bank told him that because of the type of business and the time we had in the business, we may qualify for a loan. The process with SmartBiz Loans was kind of long at the beginning trying to find and understand what we were going to do and how we can apply for the VA loan. It was the tax season and we had to wait to have the taxes done before we can continue. After that, it was very smooth.
Ken guided us and communicated very well all the time. Every single step we were doing, he was telling us why, when to expect an answer and he was giving the answer to us and researching for that. Until the very last day, he was very helpful. We did everything from our office and that was nice. Also, working with SmartBiz Loans helps a lot because we can keep the employees. We get more of the tools, loans and debt done. In that case, we can have a cash flow to continue doing this and then get more projects done.
I was looking through another loan service and SmartBiz Loans came out in my research. I called them and did the application. They turned me down, but another gentleman called me back and told me that he had something that would work for me. I applied online and they got in touch with me again to tell me all the paperwork that I needed to send in. Once I sent all that in, they told me I was approved. The process took about two months but they finally got me funded.
Everybody was very nice and polite. They helped me out with everything I needed. If I needed time to get the paperwork for them or anything from the people that I was leased to, they were very patient with me. Everything was great with them. SmartBiz should keep up the good work. I took out a business loan and my business is going very well because of their help. They're an excellent loan company and I'm sure that everyone that works with them will appreciate them like I do.
I needed a short-term capital so I went with SmartBiz Loans as recommended by my friend. I applied online, got responded to, got some documentation and then they approved. I really like their reps. They were courteous, very professional and they knew what they were doing. They were very helpful with what kind of document that I needed to complete and in putting together the package. Working with SmartBiz Loans has been great. They did a good job and I'd recommend them.
I wanted to expand a little and SmartBiz was one of the first people to respond so I went with them. Their rep, Mike, was super responsive and great about answering questions. He was extremely pleasant and really easy to work with. I filled out an online application and their reps told me a bunch of other paperwork that I needed to email or fax over to them. And then, they got back to me with stuff that they thought the bank might look for that I haven't answered, so it seemed like when the paperwork went to the bank and we got approval, it was quick and easy.
The process took a month but part of it was because I changed my mind in the middle. We had a misunderstanding about their fees. There was a girl that emailed me and then turned it over to Mike. Normally, Mike talks about the fees in the first call, but because it was turned over to him, he thought she had already covered it and she hadn't. It was on the email but it was lost in the top. And so, I needed a larger loan. We were gonna start from scratch with a different bank and then SmartBiz went to the bank and told them and they said, "Yeah. No problem." So they just suggested the amount. I received a working capital business loan and it has been a positive experience working with SmartBiz because now, I can move forward with what I had been needing to do.
I needed an SBA loan as a working capital as it was the key to not only doing some financial restructuring but increasing our business revenue as well. SmartBiz had a good mailer, plus I went on Trustpilot and I looked at all the reviews. The whole experience was great. The people that I was working with were very attentive and they understood what we were trying to do, and they got it done very quickly. I'm very satisfied.
I was seeking financing for a working capital, product development and marketing. SmartBiz's process was similar to every loan I've gotten. I had to apply and write all my financial statements and projections then do all the paperwork. If you’re reasonably computer-savvy, uploading the documents is easy too. But I'm not that computer savvy and I had to go through links and upload stuff. Then it went into the process and they came back to say it's been approved and to give the details. It didn't take that long when I actually got it going. The team at SmartBiz was great too. I didn’t have any questions that couldn’t be answered or any issues that couldn’t be resolved very quickly with a single call. Things are better now that I got the SBA loan and I would tell others to go for SmartBiz as well.
I’m very satisfied with the experience I had with SmartBiz. I did an SBA loan with them as I wanted to refinance a couple of things and grow my business. I went with SmartBiz after having read the reviews online and since my financial broker put a good word out that they are the best at SBA loans. SmartBiz proved that as their team is amazing. They’re very professional and always there for the whole process with me. It was a long process but everybody was on point. They gave me strength and something to look forward to in building a business. I trusted them from the beginning till the end. They didn’t let me down and I was pleased. For anyone who's trying to finance, SmartBiz is definitely a team to work with.
SmartBiz Loans was the first one that I got to in Google and I got a working capital and refinancing from them. It was easy to apply however, the enrollment took forever. I had two different agents. The first four months was a guy that didn’t seem to do a very good job following up. So, nothing happened much in the first four months. After that, he quit or got fired and then a lady took over, and we were done within a month and a half.
We wanted to grow our business and SmartBiz provided a quick, easy and painless way to get an SBA loan. During the application process, there were a lot of questions on what we needed the money for, as well as financial analysis of the business. There was a whole lot of paperwork and then finally, there was approval after. The application took eight weeks total.
The person I interacted with was great. I worked with Hunter and he was very thorough. He helped me out through the process, walked me through everything. I enjoyed working with him. I was able to get a working capital loan with a debt refinancing. I'm working on marketing strategies and able to have the working capitals to work on advertising and marketing. It has definitely affected me positively, so I'm definitely happy about that. SmartBiz made the SBA process, which is usually extremely daunting, much easier, smoother, and more feasible. I don't even know that I would have gone through the SBA process if it hadn't been for SmartBiz.
I had been working with Break Off Capital and I was seeking less expensive financing. SmartBiz worked with me on the SBA. The SmartBiz team was always very responsive. Some of the interactions that I had with them were through phone calls and others were through emails. SmartBiz sent me an online application. They also asked for a lot of documentation separately. Some of it was uploaded into their portal and this process was very easy. Then, within a few days, they had my approval and a few days after that, I was funded. It took 11 days from application to funding. SmartBiz very quickly secured the financing that I needed.
The SmartBiz reps were knowledgeable, helpful, and accurate in what they said and what they represented. It wasn't a bunch of fluff and empty promises, unlike my experience with other financing places. When I spoke to the SmartBiz rep, we went over the financial data, all the tax returns, and told me what else was needed. They packaged it up where there were no questions left and everything had been covered. It was a little tedious because of so much information that they required. But once I provided them all that, everything went smoothly. And getting the loan has really helped with the working capital, which is the blood of any business. I'd use SmartBiz Loans again when I'd need them and I would recommend them.
SmartBiz Loans seemed to offer the best and seamless solution out of everybody that we looked at. We were trying to consolidate some debt and do a little bit of growth in our company, and from the beginning, they were incredibly helpful then it all took off from there. We started off by using their custom form that walked us throughout the steps of the process. We filled out and provided a bunch of documentation and other information. Their user interface was great and uploading the required documents was super easy. When we had finished the applications, they called us and walked us through the rest of the way to the finish line. We couldn’t have done it without them. SmartBiz Loans certainly positively affected our business and helped us with our cash flow. That reflects on our lives too.
We were dealing with a couple of other financing companies that were just really sloppy and somebody recommended me to SmartBiz Loans. They were much more thorough in preparing an extraordinarily large amount of paperwork when we got a working capital loan from them. And then, they just sent the money afterwards. My interaction with their team was mostly through email and a couple of telephone calls which was all business and straightforward.
I was looking around online at different funding options. I have a small business so I get some of the keywords I used towards just a small business funding and SmartBiz Loans, along with a couple of other options, came up. I had applied for a smaller SBA loan a few years back so I was familiar with the process and I know that the SBA loans are good for small businesses. That drew me to look into SmartBiz Loans right away.
I had already researched some other different financing options and what I needed was some flexibility in terms of payment options. I wanted a longer term and some of the other funding options would give you a significant amount but they expect you to pay back in less than a year. When I submitted for a pre-approval through SmartBiz Loans, the terms that I saw that popped up were exactly what I needed - longer payback time, lower interest rate.
I did an SBA loan the first time and I submitted a request to see which banks would be interested in giving me an SBA loan back then. I was given a list of banks but then, a rep directly from the bank contacted me and then I did the whole application process through the bank. It was very labor-intensive and time-consuming. It took about close to two months to get through everything and I was going back and forth with the bank rep on the phone. It was a grueling process.
However, when I applied for a loan through SmartBiz Loans, it was ridiculously easy. Before they even took anything to the bank, they made sure that I had everything I would need to get the funding and get the approval. The SmartBiz Loans rep was on top of everything and I was able to go on at my timing and submit all the documents that they needed. He knew exactly what I was gonna need in order to submit everything to the bank. He made sure that everything was in order before even taking it to the bank and then the process from there. That didn’t take a ton of time. I was able to upload them right to the application online and I didn’t have to play phone tag, going back and forth with a rep at the bank. Once the application was done and we submitted everything to the bank, funding came in a matter of days. It was much easier than the regular process.
Working with SmartBiz gave us exactly what we needed. I went into this because my businesses were pursuing a big growth opportunity and we needed some capital on-hand to do it and SmartBiz gave us an easy access to this funding and got a quick approval and turnaround time. SmartBiz gave us the opportunity to go and grow our business. Without it, we wouldn’t have been able to jump on those opportunities.
I restructured to more cost-effective, better terms and SmartBiz Loans was extremely easy to work with. They were able to get it done. I applied on Lendio, got a call from a Lendio person, Lendio reached out to a handful of people then SmartBiz was the one that responded, worked through the process with them, getting all the financial reporting done and a super smooth closing and it was done. I dealt with primarily one gentleman and he did a fantastic job. Any time we had difficulties, they made it ridiculously easy to get it to him.
My website needed redoing. It's from 2009, so it's way out-of-date. It didn’t have a search feature and we're making some major changes with it but I needed money to do it that I didn't have. And the bank agreed with us that we could have that fund. I had just started trying to work on an SBA loan through a local organization. We have a question area on our website and they had a marketing guy who posted the question. I have nothing to lose, so I thought I'll give these SmartBiz Loans a call. I talked to Susan and we had a great conversation. And then she passed me to Tim and he was great. I liked the platform that SmartBiz has for providing information to them. I upload everything and if they needed additional things, they put it as an additional requirement and we worked through things. A lot of what he needed I already had because I'm an accountant and I do those things. So, it worked pretty fast and we were both pleased.
They sent me a link to an area that I signed in on and answered a lot of questions about myself, my finances, the business and its finances. They wanted to know that our company was a healthy organization that didn’t have any obligations or outstanding problems and I provided all of that. Also, they wanted to know what I wanted to spend the money on and we went through the process step by step.
Tim got down to choosing the bank and they had more questions. That was a bit more behind the scenes and he would contact me and I would answer whatever questions that needed to be answered. I was given paperwork to sign and resolutions to update and once the bank was satisfied with that, I was funded. I had the money in my bank account. SmartBiz Loans was very professional. Everybody is nervous when they go through a process like this, but SmartBiz made it run smoothly and it was a great experience. I have somebody I'm going to recommend SmartBiz to who has an ongoing business but need some additional equipment.
We sought financing for operating capital and cash flow and SmartBiz Loans had a really easy process. It's a lot of uploading taxes and different forms but their whole system was fairly automated so it made it easy. I just got the loan but it was a good loan. It was a fair rate and I'm happy with it. Business is good.
I sought financing from my business perspective on what I needed to get into a studio space. I’ve tried a couple of banks. My friend who went through the same process had the same issue as a small business. She went the SmartBiz route and she told me to try them if I had problems going through my bank. I went through their website and filled out all of the information online. And then they had a representative reach out to me to keep me notified if there was any other paperwork that needed to be turned in to them. And also, the rep kept me informed of the loan process on where it was and the progress of it. They did an amazing job. SmartBiz turned my life around as far as giving me an opportunity to make that next step in my business that other people wouldn't give. If not for that opportunity, I wouldn’t have been able to offer more things to my clients and I could have gone out of business.
I had the need for a loan and I received a working capital loan from SmartBiz. Their process was a lot of work, but it was smooth and the website that they built made it neat and pretty easy. I had a couple of calls with the loan officer whose job was to gather the data and it was sent to the actual decision maker. Working with them made it easier to get a loan, but the fees incurred were hefty. You have to pay them as getting business loans and working through the SBA are not easy. But the fees were worth it for their efficient systems and having the kind of advocate helping you out.
SmartBiz Loans is a good company. For a while there, we had a pretty bad business and in 2008, we got almost killed. So I invested capital for the business to keep it going and when the business started doing better, our credit went up again. We were making more money again and we had better credit references. But in the interim, I went to a couple of really good companies and their banks had a hard time seeing past our minor problems. They didn't have time to deal with me but SmartBiz did.
We had a lot of credit card debts and we wanted to get one smaller thing and lower our payment. SmartBiz Loans did an SBA loan for us. The other companies couldn’t make that happen for us but SmartBiz made it work. The process was the same with everybody. It’s always to give them half your life in paperwork and then they decide if it's true and they find out if you qualify for the loan. The loan officer we worked with was really good and very helpful. I'm a pretty busy guy but they kept on me to get the thing going. They never let me lag by a couple of days. They called me up to ask what they can do to help and they were relentless in keeping in touch with us, which was good.
I've been working with loans with banks and compared to SmartBiz, it's like night and day. I was looking for financing for working capital and a broker directed me to SmartBiz Loans. Originally, we started with the broker then I dealt with SmartBiz directly because they had to ask me questions about how I intend to utilize the fund. They also asked for some documents and some personal tax returns, company tax returns and IDs. We submitted those then they came up with a couple different offers and we went for one of the possibilities. It was a lot simpler than it is to work with banks. They have more parameters that are geared to small business than banks normally have.
Unfortunately, small businesses cannot give guarantees that big businesses can give, such as budgeting and a track record of consistent sales. We are much more affected by swing in the consumer demand. We go up and down, and banks unfortunately are not geared for that. I would recommend SmartBiz. I've been working with them for just one month and it has been a straightforward relationship. They provided coordinates so that we can wire extra money and they have a minimum monthly that we're supposed to pay. But we are managing to pay more than that so we expect to pay off our loan not in five years, but in two.
The application process claims to provide pre-qualifications and then pre-approval status. You will be spending a significant amount of time providing all of their requested documents, after which you will be assigned a "specialist" that will review all of your financials and other misc documents for a 2nd time (collect more personal data), and advise you whether you are in fact "qualified" or not. This means nothing unless they can find a lender that will fund your loan, which is contingent on another department's recommendation to "move forward" or not.
SmartBiz Loans gathers all of your information while making you do a lot of leg work, including having your insurance broker provide certificates of insurance naming their referred bank as additional insured. They THEN try to solicit the loan to these partnered banks in hopes to make money by way of a "referral" fee. Too much time spent and a false sense of hope given throughout the entire process. NOT RECOMMENDED... Better off going through a local bank.
Thank you for taking time to leave a review. We’ve investigated your case in detail and it appears that you did not meet the financial requirements of the SBA banks on our platform.
SmartBiz packages and “stress tests” SBA loan applications according to standards of our preferred SBA lending bank partners. Approximately 90% of all loans referred to our partner banks get funded, increasing the likelihood of getting to a “yes”. However, there are the 10% who do not get funded and unfortunately your application was not approved due to credit and cash flow issues. Because the federal government guarantees SBA loans, there are strict credit requirements in place and additional documentation may be requested after you’ve completed the initial application.
Your Relationship Manager did go over several ways you can qualify for an SBA loan in the future including paying down business debts. We wish you and your business the best in the future.
The SmartBiz Loans Team
SmartBiz Loans expert review by Barbara Friedberg
SmartBiz is headquartered in San Francisco. The company was founded in 2008 to help businesses secure small business loans.
SBA loans: SmartBiz structures their website and application process to simplify the process of applying for an SBA 7(a) guaranteed loan. The company works with SBA lenders to help small business owners find the best choice for their business. If a business does not qualify for an SBA 7(a) loan guarantee, SmartBiz can help the owner find another financing option.
Quick pre-approval: Interested customers can fill out an online application to be pre-approved for a loan. This process takes less than five minutes and will not impact their credit score. They should note that the pre-approval and application processes are different.
Time to funding: Business owners can receive funds as soon as one week after their application is approved. For many customers, the entire process, from applying to receiving funds, takes about two weeks.
Success stories: SmartBiz’s website features the stories of their successful clients, so interested consumers can see how other business owners benefited from a loan.
Blog: Regular posts on SmartBiz’s blog are useful and informative for all business owners. Topics include understanding a credit score, office decoration and insurance. They also post tips about small business loans, legal matters and hiring practices.
Best for: SmartBiz caters to business owners interested in securing an SBA guaranteed loan between $30,000 and $350,000.
Personal Finance Contributing Editor
Barbara Friedberg, MBA, MS is a former investment portfolio manager with decades of financial experience. Friedberg taught Finance and Investments at several universities. Her work has been featured in U.S. News & World Report, Investopedia, Yahoo!Finance and many more publications.
