For Michael Adam, it’s fitting that he lends to small businesses—he’s a small business himself.

Adam is getting back to his roots. He had spent ten years as a commercial lender. Now, as CEO of the Milwaukee-based Bankmybiz.com, he’s partnering with Brookfield’s Advantage+ to lend to small businesses all across the nation.

Of course there are other companies in the online lending business, but Adam differentiates Bankmybiz from the others out there by not charging “ridiculously high” interest rates. “We are still small business owner advocates, and we understand that getting access to money helps things grow,” Adam says.

Online lending companies like Bankmybiz have filled a need in the small business marketplace by making funds available to businesses that might not be eligible candidates for traditional loans.

But even so, some of the online lending companies still charge unusually high interest rates. Bankmybiz’s annual interest rates of between 10% and 15% are in some cases 1/3 or even ¼ of those of other online lenders.

And as an advantage over typical bank loans, businesses applying for a loan from Bankmybiz typically find out whether they’re approved in about a day and can receive the money in as little as two days.

So how can Bankmybiz’s keep its interest rates so low? The secret lies in being picky about whom to lend to. The loans, ranging from $5000 to $250,000, are only given to companies with decent credit and a reliable revenue model.

And for those Bankmybiz is unable to lend to, it will still work to help them by playing the “matchmaker” role in small business lending.

Bankmybiz screens loan applicants and sends possible companies to Advantage+ for underwriting.

Advantage+ first got involved with Bankmybiz when it offered itself as a lender on the website. Since then, both companies have really worked well together and realized the great benefits of partnering together.

“Our mission is to make business loans easy, and it takes less than five minutes to apply,” Adam said. “Even if you’re just looking around … it never hurts to have another offer, another answer.”

Author: Mike Elton