How We Make Money
Right now, Lender List makes no money. It's free for business owners and free for lenders. We don't sell ads, we don't sell placement, and we don't earn referral fees when you visit a lender.
We think you should know how a directory gets paid before you trust its rankings. Here's how ours works today and the rules we'll keep if that changes.
How we make money today
| Source | Today |
|---|---|
| Fees from business owners | None. Browsing is free, with no sign-up required. |
| Paid or sponsored listings | None. |
| Advertising | None. |
| Referral or affiliate fees from lenders | None. |
| Selling your information | Never. We don't sell personal information. |
Rules we'll keep if this changes
We may add ways to make money in the future, such as sponsored listings or paid profile features for lenders. If we do:
- We'll update this page first, before the change goes live.
- Anything paid will be labeled on the site.
- Payment won't change the facts. A lender can't pay to change its rates, terms, estimated APR, pricing transparency score or reviews.
- We still won't sell your information.
How listings are ordered
Every lender is listed under the same rules, and no lender pays for its position. On the home page you can switch between Trending, Popular and New views, and filter by financing type, rates, repayment terms, eligibility and speed.
How we research each lender
Every listing uses the same set of fields, so you can compare lenders side by side:
- Rates & cost: estimated APR, pricing as quoted by the lender, the cost to borrow $100,000 for six months, fees, early payoff terms and a pricing transparency score (0 to 3).
- Repayment terms: term length, repayment schedule and how flexible payments are in slow months.
- Eligibility & access: funding amounts, minimum revenue, minimum time in business, credit check, personal guarantee, and collateral or liens.
- Speed & service: time to funding and whether the lender is active.
We take figures from lenders' own published materials first. When a lender doesn't publish something, we use reputable third-party sources and label them "third-party reported." When we calculate a figure ourselves, such as an estimated APR, we label it "Lender List est." Each listing shows the date it was last verified.
Terms change often, so always confirm details with the lender before you apply. See something wrong? Tell us and we'll fix it.