| Lender | User ratings | Best for businesses that… | Max. loan amount | Min. funding time This is the quickest each lender is likely to fund – some borrowers may have a longer time to funding. | Term length | Min. interest rate | |
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User Ratings & Reviews
Ratings and reviews are from real consumers who have used the lending partner’s services. | Need same-day Funding | $100,000 | Same day | 12 to 24 months | 40.00% Minimum APR offered to at least 5% of customers (not the lowest rate offered) | Get business loan offers |
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User Ratings & Reviews
Ratings and reviews are from real consumers who have used the lending partner’s services. | Need recurring funding | $100,000 | Next day | 12 to 24 months | 3.30% monthly | Get business loan offers |
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User Ratings & Reviews
Ratings and reviews are from real consumers who have used the lending partner’s services. | Have fluctuating revenues | $1,500,000 | Within 24 hours | Varies based on sales volume | 13.00% Fora Financial's minimum rate is a 1.13 factor rate. This means you'd repay 13.00%, plus any additional fees, on top of the amount borrowed. | Get business loan offers |
 | User ratings coming soon | Have unpaid invoices | 90% advance rate | Same day | N/A | 0.75% of each invoice | Get business loan offers |
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User Ratings & Reviews
Ratings and reviews are from real consumers who have used the lending partner’s services. | Want a traditional banking arrangement | Not disclosed | Not disclosed | 12 months | 9.25% | Get business loan offers |
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User Ratings & Reviews
Ratings and reviews are from real consumers who have used the lending partner’s services. | Are startups | $250,000 | Two business days | 12 or 24 weeks | 4.66% | Get business loan offers |
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User Ratings & Reviews
Ratings and reviews are from real consumers who have used the lending partner’s services. | Have high credit card sales | $600,000 | Same day | 3 to 24 months | 11.00% Credibly's minimum rate is a 1.11 factor rate. This means you'd repay 11.00%, plus any additional fees, on top of the amount borrowed. | Get business loan offers |
Learn more about how we chose our picks.
Ratings and reviews are from real consumers who have used the lending partner’s services.
Ratings and reviews are from real consumers who have used the lending partner’s services.
$6,000 to $100,000
40.00% Minimum APR offered to at least 5% of customers (not the lowest rate offered)
24 to 24 months
When you need same-day funding, consider OnDeck. The company offers an “Instant Funding” feature that allows line of credit borrowers to have draws deposited into a supported business checking account in as little as 30 minutes.
Plus, OnDeck offers perks that make applying simple. For one, it’s transparent about its eligibility requirements, which helps you know if you’ll qualify. For another, applying only requires a soft credit check, so your score won’t be impacted.
Still, borrowing from OnDeck isn’t cheap. Its advertised starting rate for a line of credit is 40.00%, Minimum APR offered to at least 5% of customers (not the lowest rate offered) so you’ll need to plan for that added expense. In addition, the company limits how much money you can borrow through instant funding to one draw worth up to $10,000 per day. Depending on the size of your payroll, that may not be enough to keep your company afloat.
Read our full OnDeck review.
In order to qualify, you’ll need to meet OnDeck’s criteria of:
In order to access instant funding for OnDeck’s line of credit, borrowers must also keep a working debit card on file with the company. The debit card’s information must also match the information provided for your OnDeck account.
Ratings and reviews are from real consumers who have used the lending partner’s services.
Ratings and reviews are from real consumers who have used the lending partner’s services.
$5,000 to $100,000
3.30% monthly
12 to 24 months
If you know you’ll need to borrow money for payroll on a regular basis, check out Headway Capital’s business line of credit. This line of credit works similarly to a credit card, allowing you to borrow against it as needed and make weekly or monthly payments against your cumulative balance, re-amortizing when you make a new draw.
Plus, with rates starting at just 3.30%, borrowing may be fairly affordable — though the rate you qualify for will depend on your personal and business financial history.
At the same time, funding from Headway Capital isn’t available in every state, specifically Arkansas, Connecticut, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota or Vermont. What’s more, a 2% draw fee is imposed in some states, which can add to your total costs. If you live in Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, New Jersey or Oklahoma, you won’t be subject to the draw fee.
Read our full Headway Capital review.
In order to qualify, you’ll need to meet Headway Capital’s criteria of:
Ratings and reviews are from real consumers who have used the lending partner’s services.
Ratings and reviews are from real consumers who have used the lending partner’s services.
$5,000 to $1,500,000
13.00% Fora Financial's minimum rate is a 1.13 factor rate. This means you'd repay 13.00%, plus any additional fees, on top of the amount borrowed.
Varies based on sales volume
Businesses that have fluctuating revenue may want to think about using Fora Financial’s revenue advance. In this case, your repayment amount is based on a fixed percentage of your daily or weekly sales, meaning you’ll owe less when business is slow. As an added bonus, the company boasts a 24-hour funding time for this product and offers a discount if you’re able to pay off your advance early.
That said, Fora Financial charges a sizable 3.00% origination fee on its advances. Plus, since they advertise a factor rate rather than a simple interest rate, it can be much harder to estimate how much borrowing will cost in total.
Read our full Fora Financial review.
In order to qualify, you’ll need to meet Fora Financial’s criteria of:
75% to 90%
0.75% to 3.50% of each invoice
If your company does a lot of invoicing, you may want to work with altLINE. As an invoice factoring company, altLINE will advance you up to 90% of any unpaid invoices you factor with them and then work to collect payment from your customers on your behalf. Once payment is received, you’ll be given the remaining invoice amount, minus any fees.
Invoice factoring is a popular option, particularly for business owners with bad credit, because your customers’ creditworthiness matters more than your own when qualifying for an advance. However, factoring can get expensive, especially considering that altLINE charges an origination fee on top of the traditional initial service fee.
Learn more about altLINE.
As an invoice factoring company, altLINE doesn’t impose the traditional minimum credit score, annual revenue and time in business requirements. It will, however, run a background and credit check on you to look for financial felonies and review your invoices to determine your customers’ credit quality.
Ratings and reviews are from real consumers who have used the lending partner’s services.
Ratings and reviews are from real consumers who have used the lending partner’s services.
Not disclosed
9.25%
12 months
Those who want to be able to do all their business banking in one place may want to consider Bank of America for their payroll needs. The banking giant offers tons of business products, but in particular, its unsecured business line of credit (LOC) doesn’t require collateral and boasts an affordable starting interest rate of just 9.25%.
Yet, this LOC’s strict qualifying criteria mean it’s likely the best fit for established businesses with long operating histories and decent annual revenues. Plus, this product is subject to an annual review and you’ll pay a $150 fee for the privilege after the first year.
Read our full Bank of America review.
In order to qualify, you’ll need to meet Bank of America’s criteria of:
Ratings and reviews are from real consumers who have used the lending partner’s services.
Ratings and reviews are from real consumers who have used the lending partner’s services.
Up to $250,000
4.66% for 12-week terms
8.99% for 24-week terms
12 or 24 weeks
Startup businesses may want to look into using Fundbox for their payroll financing. The company offers a line of credit of up to $250,000 with only a three-month time in business requirement. As an added bonus, its starting interest rate of 4.66% for the 12-week repayment plan is pretty affordable, and funding is available in all 50 states.
Be advised, however, that Fundbox financing has short repayment terms, only offering a choice between 12 or 24 weeks. In addition, payments must be auto-debited from your account on a weekly basis, unless you subscribe to Fundbox Plus. Funding can also take longer with Fundbox than with some competitors.
Read our full Fundbox review.
In order to qualify, you’ll need to meet Fundbox’s criteria of:
Ratings and reviews are from real consumers who have used the lending partner’s services.
Ratings and reviews are from real consumers who have used the lending partner’s services.
$5,000 to [mmps name='sbloan.165.max_loan'
11.00% Credibly's minimum rate is a 1.11 factor rate. This means you'd repay 11.00%, plus any additional fees, on top of the amount borrowed.
3 to 24 months
If your business takes in mostly credit card sales, consider Credibly’s merchant cash advance (MCA). An MCA lets you pay back what you’ve borrowed using a portion of your daily debit or credit card sales, which may explain why the company’s revenue requirements are on the higher side.
Beyond that, though, this type of financing is relatively easy to qualify for. Credibly requires just six months in business and a credit score of 500 or higher. While this type of financing is traditionally more expensive, it may be worth considering, especially if you need same-day funding.
Read our full Credibly review.
In order to qualify, you’ll need to meet Credibly’s criteria of:
In addition to wages and salaries, payroll loans can help with employee benefits, taxes, commissions and bonuses.
There’s not one single loan type called a payroll loan — a lot of different funding options can be used to cover payroll. Which one is best depends on how your business operates and what its cash flow looks like.
Short-term business loans provide a lump sum that is typically repaid in fixed daily or weekly installments over three to 24 months. They often come from online lenders, which have more lenient requirements than traditional brick-and-mortar banks, and you can get your funding as soon as the next day. They may also come with higher interest rates, ranging from about 7% to 50% or higher. Make sure to compare the total cost of borrowing when comparing lenders.
Short-term business loans can be particularly useful for covering one-time payroll expenses.
A business line of credit is a revolving line of credit your business can borrow from on an ongoing basis. You only pay interest on the amount you use, and your line of credit replenishes as you make payments.
They can be particularly useful for businesses with seasonal slowdowns that might need to cover payroll during downturns, with extra cash to pay it back when the season picks up.
Terms typically range from 12 weeks to five years, and lenders often charge higher rates for longer terms. You may pay an origination fee, maintenance fee or draw fee in addition to interest, so pay attention to the total cost when comparing lenders.
A merchant cash advance (MCA) is a lump sum that is repaid as a percentage of your future sales. Merchant cash advance companies typically use a factor rate to express the cost of the advance and collect daily or weekly over the course of three to 24 months, or until the loan is fully repaid, based on your credit card or debit card sales.
These rates are typically higher than the interest rates on other forms of financing, but merchant cash advances are quicker to obtain and easier to qualify for than other forms of credit. This means they can be a good option for businesses that primarily make credit card sales, especially if they can’t qualify for other financing options.
With invoice factoring, businesses can sell their unpaid invoices to an invoice factoring company and receive up to 90% or more of the uncollected total. The invoice factoring company turns a profit by collecting payments for the invoices and keeping the difference. However, if a client fails to pay a disputed invoice, the invoice factoring company may require the business to repay the advance.
If your business relies on invoices for cash flow, this option can help you predict exactly when you’ll get paid.
One advantage of invoice factoring is that it doesn’t come with the same requirements as a business loan, so you can often get an advance on your unpaid invoices even if you have bad credit and no additional collateral.
When shopping around for a payroll loan, it’s a good idea to consider a few different factors, including:
If your business violates state payday requirements or other employee payment laws by failing to pay, you’ll be committing wage theft. While the consequences vary by state and other factors, you may need to:
Note that you could be exempt from penalties and fines if your nonpayment is not found to be willful due to a “good faith legal justification.” But you’ll still be responsible for the employee wages owed and you may lose the trust of your employees in the meantime.
Since payroll loans can be costly, it’s best to manage your business finances to avoid cash flow issues that might lead you to borrow. Follow best practices, including:
If you’re still having cash flow issues, you may need to find ways to reduce your expenses or raise your prices. You may also need to evaluate your products and services and eliminate offerings that aren’t making money for your business. Identifying and correcting these issues may help you generate positive cash flow and reduce the likelihood that you may need to take out short-term financing in the future.
The alternatives available to you will depend on the amount you need and how quickly you need the funds to cover payroll, but you can explore the following options:
We looked at over 30 payroll loan lenders to come up with the seven best picks. Here’s a closer look at the criteria we used to make our selections:
