Fundation Review 2024

Fundation is an online lender that offers excellent financing solutions for well-established businesses. Although it might be difficult to meet Fundation’s lending requirements, the loan offerings here can be a good choice for borrowers with higher credit scores.

Fundation Application Process

The application process for a loan starts at the lender’s website. To begin, you’ll need to fill in all the relevant information about your business and submit it to Fundation’s customer service team.

The questionnaire is straightforward and it takes only a few minutes to fill out. It includes basic information like your name, business name, email address, and phone number. You can also contact a lender representative via phone and give that information to him or her directly.

Fundation’s detailed application-review process usually takes a few days to complete. Fundation provides relatively fast financing services compared to traditional banks, but there are much faster online lenders on the market.

Still, it’s worth remembering that the slightly longer application process might actually be beneficial for your business. If you have a good credit score, you have no open bankruptcies, and your business fulfills all the requirements, you can expect a great loan offer with fair terms and rates.

As part of the underwriting process, you’ll need to speak with a Fundation representative. This is obligatory for business owners who apply for loans of more than $100,000. The representative will ask you a range of questions about your business and how you intend to use the borrowed funds.

The representative will assess your responses together with the data collected about your business to calculate what loan – if any – the lender can offer you.

What Information Do I Need to Apply?

Although the application process is fairly long by online lender standards, it’s not difficult. The company requires the following information about your business:

• Owner’s credit score
• Annual revenue
• Years in business
• Number of employees
• Type of business

After you submit this information, a representative will send you a preliminary quote. Note that if you have a low credit score, there is only a small chance that you’ll qualify for a loan. However, Fundation has polite agents who will check your credit history again and give you advice on how you can improve your score.

For small business loans higher than $100,000, you’ll need to talk with your Fundation relationship manager and provide the following documentation:

• Your tax ID
• Bank statements from the past three months
• Two years of business tax returns

Your relationship manager will also help you understand how repayment works, how your rate is calculated, and how long the repayment period will be.

In-Depth Presentation of Fundation Features

Fundation is a proven online lender that provides medium- and long-term loans for small businesses. The company is well known for its high standards, which is why we recommend this lender only to established businesses. Fundation offers medium- and long-term installment loans as well as lines of credit, which range in size from $20,000 to $500,000.

The lender sets rigorous criteria for borrowers. For business loans higher than $100,000, the lender will ask for additional documentation before approving a loan. The amount you can borrow, as well as the loan term, depend on how successful your business is.

Businesses that have been in business for a long time, that generate regular income, and whose owners have good credit scores might expect higher loans with a repayment term of up to four years.

Fundation’s application process isn’t necessarily complicated, but it does involve a lot of documentation and interviews with the relationship manager the company assigns to your account. For established businesses, this is not a problem. If your credit score is fine and you have a stable business, there’s a good chance you’ll get a loan. Moreover, your APR might be as low as 7.99%.

Fundation’s clients are generally satisfied with the company’s services. Indeed, during our research we couldn’t find any outright negative reviews. The only downside is a perceived lack of transparency on Fundation’s part. This means you’ll need to contact the lender directly to see what type of loan you can get, rather than getting an estimate using a loan calculator.

Fundation makes up for this partly with its excellent customer support. The agents we contacted while writing this review provided detailed answers to our questions in a polite, timely manner. Fundation assigns each borrower a relationship manager to guide them through the funding process. Your relationship manager will help you prepare documents and will explain all about how you can best repay your loan.

Loan Amount and APR Details

Fundation loans are divided into two categories: installment loans and lines of credit.

Installment loans are popular among established businesses because they can qualify for high-value loans much more quickly and easily than they would at traditional banks. Here are some features you need to know about the lender’s installment loans:

• Borrowing amount ranges from $20,000 to $500,000
• Origination fee is up to 5%
• APR ranges from 7.99% to 29.99%
• No collateral is required, but you must sign a blanket lien and a personal guarantee
• Loan term of 1-4 years
• Loan installments are automatically deducted from your bank account every two weeks
• No penalty for early payments

A line of credit is the second type of financing available at Fundation. This type of loan works particularly well for businesses that need up to $150,000 in cash that they can use as they wish. The most important line of credit features are as follows:

• Borrowing amount ranges from $20,000 to $150,000
• Withdrawal fee is 2% per transaction
• Closing fee is $500
• APR ranges from 7.99% to 29.99%
• No collateral, but there is a blanket lien and a personal guarantee
• Loan term is 18 months
• Monthly payments

Eligible and Non-Eligible Businesses

Fundation lends money to small businesses whose owners have excellent credit scores. Indeed, if you want to borrow money from Fundation for your business, you must have a credit score of at least 660. Additionally, your business must be in operation for at least one year and generate an average annual gross revenue of $100,000.

For businesses that are looking for loans of more than $100,000, the Fundation team will require further details, like the business tax ID and bank statements for the past three months. You can authorize the representative to collect these documents instead of you.

However, even if your credit score is sub-par or you don’t meet some of the other conditions required to get a loan, we still suggest you contact the company. Fundation customer support officers are really helpful and may help you qualify for a loan. Even if you have a bad credit score, the representative will allow you to explain why that’s the case and then decide whether or not you are a good candidate.

The company's services are open to most types of small businesses, but there are some industries the company especially favors:

• IT
• Lawyers
• Engineers
• Manufacturing
• Healthcare
• Child care
• Pet care
• Hotels and motels
• Restaurants/bars
• Funeral homes
• Auto repair services
• Liquor stores
• Gas stations

Your business must have at least three employees to be eligible for a loan.

The company's financing services are available only to businesses in the US, excluding Nevada. Like other lenders, Fundation doesn’t provide funding to businesses in certain industries: gambling, marijuana, non-profits, government institutions, insurance, mortgage providers, lending firms, and religious organizations.

Fundation Repayment Terms

If you’re borrowing money for the first time, you’ll probably have a lot of questions. Before applying for a loan, you should know how much money you actually need, what type of loan is appropriate for your business, and how APR is calculated. And before agreeing to a loan, you should fully understand the repayment terms you’re signing up for.

At Fundation, a company representative will explain the conditions of a term loan to you in full before you sign anything to ensure that there are no nasty surprises in store.

This lender doesn’t offer short-term loans. The minimum periods for repayment are one year for installment loans and 18 months for lines of credit. The repayment period is calculated using a range of factors, including the borrowed amount, credit history, and time in business.

The interest rate for installment loans is fixed and includes origination fees of up to 5%. The lender will charge you a fixed amount twice a month via deduction from your business bank account. For lines of credit, there’s a fee of 2% each time you withdraw money. The closing fee is $500.

The lender will allow you to refinance your debt after nine months if you make payments regularly.

The Bottom Line

We recommend Fundation for well-established small and medium-size businesses with a minimum annual gross of $100,000, assuming their owners have maintained a credit score of at least 660. The qualification terms Fundation sets might seem too rigorous for many small businesses owners, but remember that that can be a good thing.

After all, you don’t want to be accepted for a high-interest loan that you might struggle to pay back.

Although the requirements can be difficult to meet, we still advise company owners to try Fundation’s financing services. After all, this is one of the most reliable online lenders, and the company has years of experience in financing all sorts of businesses – from healthcare and child care to restaurants, bars, and hotels.