The Guardian process

Between $5,000 and $2,000,000, depending which of the six programs fits. Five of them stop at $1,000,000 or below; only equipment financing reaches $2,000,000, and that is because the equipment itself secures it. What a particular business is offered comes down to revenue, how long it has traded and its credit profile — not to which box it ticks on a form.

Most approved applicants have funds within 24 to 48 hours of signing. A short-term loan can land inside 24 hours; equipment financing takes two to three days, because there is an asset to document. The slow part is never us — it is whatever you have not sent yet. Three months of business bank statements, ready to attach, is the single thing that moves a file fastest.

No. Pre-qualification is a soft inquiry and does not touch a personal credit score. A hard pull only ever happens later, with your agreement, if you decide to proceed with a specific lender.

Rates start at 5% for equipment financing and 6% for a term loan, and rise from there with risk. Those are floors, not quotes: they describe the best end of what the network writes, and most businesses are offered something above them. The merchant cash advance is not priced in interest at all. It carries a factor rate of 1.1 to 1.5, which means you agree to repay between $1.10 and $1.50 for every dollar advanced, and clearing it early does not reduce that. At the top of that range it is the most expensive money on this site, and it exists because it approves businesses the other five decline. Nothing is payable to Guardian by the business, at any stage, whether you accept an offer or turn all of them down.

Typically: six or more months in business, $10,000 or more in monthly revenue, and a US business bank account. Requirements vary by product, and equipment financing is the most forgiving of a thin credit file because the asset secures it. A decline from one lender is not the end of it. The network sits at different points on credit, time trading and revenue, which is the whole reason for applying to 80 rather than one.

One application goes to the network and comes back as a set of offers to compare, with an advisor who can explain what each one does to a normal month.

Nothing you do not already have.