Speed by product
Every number in this table comes from the product pages, which cite what our primary lender, Kapitus, the SBA, and Figure publish.
| Product | Decision | Money in your account | What the clock waits on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Term loan | In as little as 4 hours | In as little as 24 hours after you choose an offer | 3 to 6 months of bank statements |
| Line of credit | In as little as 4 hours | An active line in as little as 24 hours | Bank statements, sometimes ID or financial statements |
| Revenue-based offer | In as little as 4 hours | In as little as 24 hours | Bank statements |
| Equipment financing | In as little as 24 hours | Not published. The lender pays the dealer once you sign | The dealer’s quote or invoice |
| Invoice factoring | Based mainly on your customers’ credit | In as little as 4 business days | Your aging report and your customers’ credit |
| Purchase order financing | Based on your customer and supplier | In as little as 4 days | The purchase order and the supplier’s quote |
| SBA Express | Weeks | As little as 14 days | Tax returns, financial statements, a debt schedule |
| SBA 7(a), standard | Months | 3 to 6 months on average | The same documents, plus the SBA’s own rules |
| Business HELOC | In as little as 5 minutes | In as few as 5 business days | Your credit, your home equity, and a closing |
Two patterns run through the table.
The faster the product, the less it asks for. A term loan is decided on bank statements. An SBA loan is decided on tax returns, financial statements, a debt schedule, and a review against SBA rules. The paperwork is the wait.
The faster the product, the more it usually costs. Short-term financing is the fastest and the most expensive per dollar. An SBA loan is the slowest and usually the cheapest. The exception is the Business HELOC, fast and priced near bank levels because your home is the collateral.
What “as little as” means
Every speed figure a lender publishes is a floor, not a promise. Three things have to be true for you to see it.
The file is complete. The clock starts when the underwriter has the application and the documents, not when you fill out a form. For a term loan, that means 3 to 6 months of business bank statements. If the lender has to ask for a missing month, the 4 hours start over when it arrives.
It is a business day. Underwriters and the banking system keep business hours. A file completed at 5 PM on Friday is likely decided on Monday. Read “24 hours” as the next business day.
You act. On a term loan, the 24 hours to funding start after you choose an offer. One Kapitus application can return up to six. If they sit in your inbox for three days, the file was fast and you were not.
There are three clocks: yours, assembling the file; the lender’s, deciding it, which is the figure on the product page; and the funding clock after you sign. Ask the lender how it sends funds and when they post. A Business HELOC adds a closing before funding. In most states it is done with an online notary; in Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, New York, South Carolina, and Texas it is in person, and the product page says to expect a few more days.
Three notes the table cannot hold
The application is short. The statements are the file. Our form takes about a minute. The lender’s application, Kapitus says, can take as little as 10 minutes. The 4-hour decision waits on the 3 to 6 months of bank statements you upload with it.
Equipment and purchase orders depend on a third party. Equipment financing can decide up to $500,000 on the application alone, but the lender is financing a specific machine, so the dealer’s quote comes first and the dealer’s ship date sets the real timeline. Purchase order financing is as little as 4 days on the product page and days to a few weeks on our working capital page: the financing company checks your customer, your supplier, and the margin on the order, and the slowest of the three sets the pace.
An SBA loan is slow for a reason. Express in as little as 14 days. Standard 7(a) in 3 to 6 months on average, which is 13 to 26 weeks. The government guarantees part of the loan, and the lender has to prove it qualifies. If you need money this month, an SBA loan will not arrive in time.
What slows a file down
In our experience, three things account for most of the gap between the published time and the real one.
Missing or incomplete bank statements. The most common delay and the easiest to prevent. The lender wants every page of every month, from the bank, not a screenshot of a balance. A missing month sends the file back to you.
Unclear ownership. The underwriter has to know who owns the business and who is signing. If the application does not match the formation documents, or the person applying is not an owner of record, the file waits. Have your formation documents and a current ownership breakdown ready.
Tax liens. A lien against the business or the owner is something underwriters find and ask about. It does not always end the file, but it slows it. Say so up front and bring the payment plan or payoff documentation. A lien the lender discovers on its own costs more time than one you disclosed.
How to be the fast file
Arrive with everything the product needs. For a term loan, a line, or a revenue-based offer: 3 to 6 months of business bank statements, every page, downloaded from the bank, plus a government photo ID and your legal business name, tax ID, and ownership. For equipment financing, add the dealer’s quote or invoice. For factoring, your aging report, sample invoices, and customer list. For purchase order financing, the purchase order and your supplier’s quote. For an SBA loan, tax returns, a profit and loss statement, a balance sheet, a personal financial statement, and a debt schedule, gathered before you apply. For a Business HELOC, proof of income, your mortgage statement, and your homeowner’s insurance.
Then answer the lender the same day it asks for anything. Every question that waits overnight adds a day. The full list is in our guide to business loan requirements, and the funding estimator gives you a high-end figure in three questions.
Speed costs money. Decide whether it is worth it
Owners who go to online lenders go for speed, and they get it. In the Federal Reserve’s 2025 survey of small employers, 64% of applicants at online lenders said speed of decision or funding was a reason they applied there, against 29% at large banks and 28% at small banks. Only 8% of online lender applicants reported a long wait for a decision or funding; at large banks, 21% did. The same survey shows the price: 61% of online lender applicants reported a high interest rate as a challenge, against 28% at large banks. Fast and cheap rarely arrive together.
So ask what the speed buys. A deposit that holds a machine at a discount, an inventory price that expires Friday, a payroll you will otherwise miss: each has a date, and the date has a value. Convert every offer to total payback and APR with our factor rate vs APR guide, and weigh that cost against what the deadline is worth.
If the deadline exists because the business is losing money, speed is the wrong question. Fast money buys time, and if nothing changes during that time, you end up with the same problem and a payment. Our guide on what to do after a bank denial covers the three ways borrowing makes things worse.
If you need money this week
A term loan, a line of credit, or a revenue-based offer is the product on the table, with equipment financing close behind if the purchase is a machine. Everything else is measured in weeks or months. Pull 6 months of statements today, not 3, answer the same day, choose an offer when it arrives, and sign only if the deadline is worth the cost. Working capital is the need, not a product. The working capital page matches the common reasons for needing money fast to the product that fits each one.
Sources
- Kapitus pages for business loans and revenue-based financing, checked October 9, 2026; lines of credit, equipment financing, SBA loans, invoice factoring, and purchase order financing, checked October 12, 2026
- U.S. Small Business Administration: 7(a) loans, updated July 27, 2026
- Figure, HELOC approval and funding times, checked October 13, 2026
- Federal Reserve Banks: 2026 Report on Employer Firms, findings from the 2025 Small Business Credit Survey, published March 3, 2026. Lender choice factors are on page 17 and challenges with lenders on page 24. The survey uses a convenience sample of 6,525 employer firms.