A Comprehensive, In-Depth Review of the Online Lender Streetshares

Funding is huge obstacle for virtually every small business. It can seem as if there is almost never enough. This is why having several options when it comes to small business funding is important. Most assume the first stop is a traditional bank or credit union. That isn’t always possible however. Sometimes you need to research alternative options. This Streetshares review should help you do just that.

Traditional lenders rely heavily on personal credit scores and are not set up to specifically help small businesses thrive. There are some non-traditional lenders that, while still acknowledging risk mitigation is essential, know that small businesses are a different breed that require special consideration.

Because of this, they are willing to take other factors into consideration rather than relying so heavily on the personal credit scores of the business owners. Factors such as business credit, time in business, annual business revenue, and more can come into play.

Is Streetshares one of those companies? In some ways yes, it is.  In other ways, not really.

Learn more here and get started toward building business credit attached to your company’s EIN and not your SSN.

About Streetshares

Streetshares is an online small business funding service that offers much more than traditional loans. It all began in 2013 when Mark Rockefeller and Mickey Konson both agreed that a small business financing solution for everyday small business owners was necessary. The idea for Streetshares was born.

The idea was to create a lender that would offer small business solutions for veterans and their communities. Today, Streetshares offers financial products to all types of small businesses. While you do not have to have military or veteran affiliation to take advantage of these products, they do maintain their dedication to their military and veteran roots.

What Do They Offer?

Streetshares offers a variety of financing and investment products with fast application processes and funds deposited almost immediately. Lending products never have a pre-pay penalty, and the credit check is a soft one, so there is never any impact on your credit score for applying.

Financing Products

Term Loans– These are lump sum, traditional style loans. They run from $2,000 to $100,000 with terms from 3 to 36 months.

Patriot Express Line of Credit– A revolving line of credit for amounts between $5,000 and $100,000. You draw only what you need, when you need it, and only pay interest on what you used. Terms run from 3 to 36 months.

Contract Financing– An advance on contract invoices. You can receive up to 90% of the total of unpaid invoices on a contract, and Streetshares will collect form the contractor. The beauty of this is that you get your cash right away, without having to wait for customers to pay their invoice.

Factoring– Similar to contract financing, accounts receivable factoring allows you to collect a portion of your receivables from Streetshares, while they collect the total amount from those who owe you. This allows you to receive your funds immediately without having to worry about collections.

Our comprehensive Streetshares review revealed that this is a flexible product rather an a one-size fits all. The company lets the borrower determine how many and which invoices to factor in the way that best suits their needs. The business does not have to factor all invoices.

You may be wondering how your credit score will react when you apply for a loan. With most lenders, you credit score can drop some due to the credit check made by the lender. However, while we were doing our Streetshares review, we found out that they do a soft pull when they check your credit score, so your credit isn’t affected at all by the application.

Learn more here and get started toward building business credit attached to your company’s EIN and not your SSN.

Repayment

They deduct a set amount from your bank account weekly, so repayment is easy peasy. They also do not have a prepayment penalty, so if you want to pay ahead, you can totally do that.

Investment Products

Veterans Business Bonds– These bonds pay a flat 5% interest rate with as little as $25 to start. You can withdraw from the bond in the first year with a 1% fee, and after one year can access your funds at any time without a fee.

Streetshares Pro Investing– If you choose, you can let the Streetshares pros build a portfolio that will help you reach your financial goals.

Financing Application and Requirements

Online application for Streetshares financing is quick and easy. If you want or need personal help, you can call and speak with a qualified professional who will walk you through the process. Approval typically comes the same day as application, and funds can be in your account within 3 days.

The basic loan pre- approval qualification requirements are:

• United States Citizenship

• At least one year in business (in some cases 6 months is enough)

• Minimum required earnings

• Business guarantor with reasonable credit

When you apply, you will need to have the following information ready:

• Business owner’s social security number

• EIN

• Total outstanding business debts

• 6 months of the most recent bank statements

• Most recent business and personal tax returns

In some cases, financial statements may also be required. These would include the Profit and Loss statement, the Balance Sheet, and other information as requested. If you use QuickBooks Online, their system can review your financial information directly from there, making the process even faster!

What Our Streetshares Review Revealed About Closing Cost?

In the course of our Streetshares review, we discovered that the lender changed how they accounted for closing costs mid-2018. Previously, these fees came from funds before they went into the borrower’s account.

The new policy allows for the disbursal of all funds to the borrower, who is then allowed to either roll them into the payment, or pay them back immediately. Streetshares says they made this change to allow borrowers to receive all their funds and have more control over how they used the money based on the needs of their individual business.

Other Perks

There are a few exceptional benefits when to being a Streetshares member that we came across during the course of our Streetshares review.

Discounts

Members of Streetshares enjoy discounts at various retailers. These include but are not limited to discounts on bookkeeping services, services offered by Amazon, and combat attire.

Best Price Guarantee

We also found, while doing our Streetshares review, that they are serious about offering the best deals and rates when it comes to small business financing. In an effort to do just that, they guarantee they will beat or match a competitor’s offer, or give you a $100 gift card. Here are the details:

 You must have a loan offer from Streetshares that has been fully underwritten. You must also have an approved and underwritten offer from one of the lenders listed below. There will need to be proof of the competitor’s offer.

This only applies to online lenders. These are defined as lenders that:

Are not a bank, credit union, CDFI, or thrift. They must operate as a for-profit lending agency. They can’t be brokers or ISOs (Independent Sales Organizations). And they must provide Merchant Cash Advance products or be one of the lenders in the following list:

• 1st Global Capital
• Advance Capital
• BFS capital
• BOFI
• Breakout Capital
• Business Backer
• EBF partners
• EIN CAP
• Flash Advance
• IOU Central
• Itria Ventures
• Kabbage
• LoanMe
• Mulligan Funding Knight Capital
• National Funding
• Ondeck
• Par Funding
• PayPal LoanBuilder
• Pearl Capital
• Prime Meridian
• Principis capital
• Quick Bridge Funding
• SFS Funding
• SOS capital
• Strategic Funding
• Swift Capital
• YellowStone

They must also, of course, provide small business lines of credit or loans as part of their normal operations.

Brass Tacks of the Best Price Guarantee

After reviewing your offer, Streetshares will generate an Annual Percentage Rate (APR) for the costs of your Streetshares offer in an effort to give you a fair comparison. They will then offer lower fees, a lower interest rate, or make other changes to their offer to beat or match that of the competitor.

Learn more here and get started toward building business credit attached to your company’s EIN and not your SSN.

If they, for some reason, cannot beat or match the offer, they will give you a $100 Amazon gift card.

Streetshares Foundation

During our Streetshares review, we also did some digging into the Streetshares Foundation. The foundation’s mission is to encourage and support veteran small business owners. In keeping with this, they present a grant to 3 veteran owned businesses each year.

There are three prizes as follows: 

• 1st Place: $15,000
• 2nd Place: $6,000
• 3rd Place: $4,000

To apply, a business must meet the following requirements:

• The applicant has to be a veteran or reserve or active duty member of a branch of the United States Armed Forces, or a spouse of an armed forces member.
• They must be at least 21 years old.
• The business must be legally incorporated or a formal partnership or sole proprietorship.
• There must be some sort of social impact on the veteran or military community either in conjunction with or in addition to the primary business function.

The foundation will choose 5 to 10 finalists based on the social impact, business idea, how they will use award funds and the social impact of that use, fit of the product market, and the history of the team and the company. 

The final selection process is one of the best parts. Once the finalists are set, they post a list on the website and the public votes on which businesses will receive prizes!

What is “Reasonable Credit? And What if My Credit Isn’t “Reasonable?”

As part of our Streetshares review, we saw as noted above, those applying for financing with Streetshares need to have “reasonable” credit to gain approval. It took a little digging around, but it turns out they define reasonable credit as a credit score over 650.

What If My Credit Score Doesn’t Meet that Definition?

There are some steps you can take to improve your score. First, pay your bills on time, every time. Also  take a look at your credit report. You can do this by obtaining a free copy. You can get one annually at no cost.

Review it with a fine-toothed comb. If you find mistakes, have them corrected. Do this by submitting the detailed request in writing with back up documentation of the correct information. Never send originals of backup. Always make copies.

In addition, you can request those that are not required to report payment begin reporting. A couple of examples include landlords and utilities. Hence if you are making your payments to them on time, you can ask them to report those payments to the credit agencies.

But they are not required to, and they may say no. However, it can’t hurt to ask. If they choose to do so, it could significantly improve your score much faster.

The Better Business Bureau: No Streetshares Review Would be Complete Without It

You really cannot review a company without checking out their profile on the Better Business Bureau. Our Streetshares Review is no different. It turns out, they have an A+ rating! Not only that, but here are only two complaints on file, and they are each in reference to unwanted solicitation. The company has responded that, in each case, the individual complaining was taken off of their list.

There are 3 reviews on file, and each of those relate to the investing option. One is a 3-star rating due to the fact that there seem to be no financials available for the past 4 years. The last ones are when they first filed with the SEC. Hence they note they would like to see how the investment money is being used.

Another 3-star rating is in response to the fact that they are not impressed either way yet. They note a few good things and a few not so good things and state they need more time to form an opinion.

The last reviewer gives a 5-star rating and says that their investing experience has been “as advertised.”

Streetshares Review: Our Conclusion

Therefore, after my Streetshares review, I can see the company prides itself on offering fast financing options with little hassle. They have lower interest rates than other online lenders, and while they offer their products to everyone, they take their original mission to use their business solutions to support businesses run by those in the military and veterans seriously.

The main drawback is that they are a newer company.  This inevitably causes some kinks, but they seem to be working them out nicely.

So I give them 4 stars. The lack of star is simply due to the fact that they are a newer company, and there is always room for improvement.