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New Square Loan in 2024

I’m at a bit of a loss for what else I need to do to be offered a new Square Loan at this point. I’ve been with Square for over 10 years, had 7 loans now that I’ve have paid back early every single time. Metrics are all in green, record sales year. In 2023, record numbers across the board, no refunds, no complaints or issues of any kind in our entire history. Current loan is 80% paid off, but no new offer in site. This is the kind of stuff that causes businesses to find someone else to process through! Please help! I’m sure I’ll get the same old excuses that you guys send to everyone about looking at every aspect of the business. But there isn’t a single aspect that isn’t way up. I’m not sure if there is a new process they are using now, or if there is some kind of issue with my banking or something else I’m not thinking about or aware of. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks, because I could really use some new capital to start the year off with and reinvest into my business!

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Square Champion

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I'm really sorry to hear about your frustration with the loan offers. I understand how important it is to feel valued, especially as a loyal customer. Let me try to address your concerns and provide some clarity.

Loan Offers and Qualification Parameters

Square’s loan offers are based on a variety of factors, and while past trends have shown offers at certain thresholds, the exact parameters can change over time and are not always disclosed in detail. Here are a few points to consider:

  • Dynamic Criteria: Square uses a complex set of algorithms that take into account not just the repayment percentage but also your recent sales history, account health, and overall business performance.
  • Market Conditions: External market conditions and internal policy changes can also impact when and how loan offers are extended.

Value Beyond Transaction Fees

I understand that a 3% card transaction fee can seem high compared to other providers, but Square offers several features and benefits that help justify this cost:

  • Integrated Ecosystem: Square provides a comprehensive suite of tools that work seamlessly together, from point-of-sale systems to online stores, invoicing, and inventory management.
  • Ease of Use: The user-friendly interface and intuitive design make managing your business simpler and more efficient, saving you time and reducing the need for extensive training.
  • Reliable Support: Square offers robust customer support and resources to help you resolve issues quickly and keep your business running smoothly.
  • Secure Transactions: Advanced security measures protect your business and customers from fraud and data breaches.
  • Analytics and Reporting: Detailed analytics and reporting tools help you understand your business performance and make informed decisions.

 

I understand the disappointment regarding the loan offer, please know that Square regularly reviews its criteria and your status. I recommend reaching out to Square’s customer support for a more personalized review of your account and to express your concerns directly.

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Square Champion

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Good news, bad news, eh @cmeshine.  There are a number of reasons that COULD be part of why your new offer was lower.

 

  1. Square might be slowing down on how much loan exposure they want to have on their balance sheet.  They are, after all, a publicly traded company that has to answer to their shareholders and investors.
  2. If our sales are flat or at least not growing at a good rate to cover inflation and higher interest, then Square’s algorithm understands that inflation is eating into our available cash to pay bills, etc.  Flat sales (or very slowly growing sales) are always red flags to lenders, Square or not.
  3. Sometimes how long it takes us to pay off our current loans can be a factor.  Let’s say that previous loans were paid off with automatic payments in 8-10 months in the past.  But for this current loan it took us 12-15 months.  That tells Square that our card processing volume can’t keep you with higher loan amounts.  Yes, they give us 18 months to fully pay a loan, but they obviously prefer that we pay them off closer to the 12 month mark.
  4. If our cash/card ratio drastically changes, and cash spikes or is consistently higher than historical for our business, that is another red flag.  Since Square must only consider card volume when calculating repayment rates this can become a problem.

Of course, I’m not saying that any of these contributed to your lower offer.  I’m just throwing out a few reasons why this CAN happen.

Chip

If my answer resolves your issue, please take a minute to mark it as Best Answer. That helps people who find this thread in the future.

Piper’s Ice Cream Bar, Covington KY USA
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Click here to see a list of third-party apps I use to add functionality to my Square account!

जो है सो है

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Congratulations! I am sorry it's lower than expected but you are correct about daily swiping vs not. That's one of the metrics. I'm retail furniture and I process daily. If 90.00 or 900.00 a swipe is a swipe and they each add up at the end of the day. Hopefully, the next offer will go up! I don't know if the algorithm picks up how your business processes I hope it will or maybe that's something that should be addressed to square. You are not alone and a big market for venues and events. The same goes for contractors who send out invoices and how fast the customer pays. Congratulations on at least getting one and thanks for the update and details about it.

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Currently on my 8th loan at 58% and starting to get to the point where I make sure to check the dashboard more! Lol, last offer was in the 60% area so would definitely love to have that again, the loans are always so helpful. All of my offers have come between 60-85% so I try not to get too excited in case it ends up being in the 80% area, but it's hard not to because it's always a great feeling when a new offer comes in. Fingers crossed!

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Square Champion

Good luck to you and everyone waiting!

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I’ve been paid off for 1 month now. Never ever have I not received a loan. Longest one was 91% last year.  Last new loan offer came in at 82%. We always pay off our loans within 3-4 months. Something’s going on.

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Yes, I 100% agree!  I have never had to pay a loan off.  I have, but have had offers I just didn't take.  76% was the most paid with a new offer.  Now that I really need one, I have been 100% paid off since 6/8 and no offer.  Mind you, I didn't even take the max offer last time. 

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Ughhhhh, I am pulling for you unfortunately, right now it's trending higher to completely paid off. I hope soon we can get back to normal or more consistent! Good luck and I'll be watching out for you to keep track of!

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I feel you are right about something different is happening. I'm currently on my 16th loan since 2016. I have to agree with many of you I have come to rely on Square as a business partner. We are small staffed operation but we have grown substantially each year and now are facing some challenges with needs for equipment and office relocation capital requirements and could use a new loan offer. Are current loan is $33K + fee. We are at 78%+ and ready for a new loan offer. We have never missed a payment and always met t he minimum 60 day payment requirement well in advance. Square has been a great partner and platform and we hope we can continue our relationship and need them to continue being consistent with these loan programs for us. Best of luck to everyone!

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You will! It's been trending higher percentage paid back for most but square is lending out daily non stop world wide! I've been watching the trend for over a year and except for a small handful it's trending higher. Keep pushing and doing business and that Ole algorithm will pick you off. It's world wide and doing loans all day every day and up 17% percent each quarter but unfortunately there is a lot of us. Good luck to you and hopefully 🙏 it comes soon!

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I was 91% last June and did not need it then that's our busy time. My last offer was March between 81/84% after a busy weekend it came in on a Saturday that's why 81% was Friday and Saturday 84% and offer came in around 7pm eastern time. They are trending higher percentage to completely paid off. One on here a couple of weeks ago 3mths paid off and got an offer.

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Ok guys I just got an offer at 86%, it was not even half or close to my last offer of 30,700. Processing has gone up since that offer in October. We clear 25000+ a month. My offer was 13,100.. I'm disappointed but grateful flr

something atleast. Stay hopeful guys. 

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I know my last offer in March was 2k higher last June 5k lower. Unfortunately, there are many factors involved. We could be 200% in sales, but the overall economy does play a factor as their new release. Unfortunately, it's not just square but ALL lenders. It's gonna take some time for those double the offers to come back. We are lucky as most POS promise the moon, but be careful as it's 6 months, and you start from the bottom and work up, and they are capping it off. Reps will promise the moon, but they have investors to answer to as well! Congratulations ❤️ and keep small business alive!0

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Yes good luck to everyone waiting! 🙏 my account was updated at 1:56pm central time  and no offer 😞 but still hopeful lol 

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Hey guys. Here to give THE UPDATE everyone wants to read. Get popcorn. 

Backstory

a year ago July 8th I was 2 weeks into a capital loan of nearly nothing. Very small. I had paid almost half by this time. I got a request to update information and submit some things. After submission they said my account was good to go but they put a rather large payment limit on one of my customers. I repeatedly asked them if it would affect any of my capital potential and they said no. Fast forward to August 4th. I finished paying off my square loan in full. No offer. All green. Metrics great. Called got the same automated crap everyone else gets. Repeatedly was told the limit didn’t make a difference. I was also told after 90 days if no issues with said client and that transaction, the limit would fall off. I figured it did. Mind you, it takes MULTIPLE calls to get ONE PERSON to be able to answer anything. No new offer last year. 

We get into the new year. I inquire several times what is going on I’ve never had to wait for capital. Nothing. No new responses. I got to March 1 and the new metrics show up in the eligibility page. It popped up red that I had a limit on my account. I FREAKED THE F OUT. I was told the limit fell off. I was told it didn’t affect anything. LOTS OF LIES. Immediately I call square support. Get to someone in account services somehow after several attempts. We are talking days of attempts. That person told me not to worry my account was due for an “automatic” review on April 1st. So I wait. Nothing. I wait til mid April, nothing. Finally get ahold of someone again and they said it updated but sorry no change to the limit. At this point I’m LIVID. I immediately go through the steps to get someone on the phone again. She patches me through to a “manager” via email. After rounds of emails of her giving me the same bogus scripted answers she quit responding all together. She actually CLOSED the case. This is where it gets interesting. After that I got a little email asking me to rate my experience. So I wasn’t kind. In response they sent me a follow up to schedule a call with an account specialist. 

By this time we were into the first of May. A specialist calls me and this is the first time ANYBODY AT SQUARE gave a lick about any of my concerns. He spent probably in total a couple of hours on the phone with me through this. He finally gets someone on the horn that says we need to do a manual review. He said rest assured it should be a simple review and I can initiate it and get it going. I did not want to go through this again bc if they did another automated thing I couldn’t request one for another 3 months and we were stuck. He said it should be simple I shouldn’t need to connect an account or provide sensitive info like statements. So I said ok go ahead. It took them all of about 8 minutes to send me the request that was another 12 questions wanting EVERYTHING THEY SAID THEY PROBABLY WOULDNT NEED. The limit they had in place was on ONE customer and they said they just wanted to review the account to make sure it was good to go. When they sent the more information request it DID NOT EVEN REQUEST ANY INFO on the customer it originally placed a limit on. It wanted info one someone else completely. I knew this meant it wanted to impose another limit on that customer. I just knew it. 

 

So I get back in touch with him and he was stunned. Told me he was sorry he wasn’t expecting that. I said well, now you know what I’ve been dealing with. Square just literally lied to you and me both. 

Moving forward he told me that my account processes enough to qualify it for an account manager. Someone assigned to my account that could be my main POC. At that point we were in touch with the POC. This is where the tables turned. After hearing my issues I think he was stunned. My account has NEVER had a chargeback etc. almost no returns. Positive feedback. Hundreds of customers. We are well into June at this point and I get an information request to do a “periodic review” and it was mandatory and if I didn’t provide info within 5 days they were suspending my transfers. So they had me in a choke hold. I contacted my manager. He was a little annoyed they sent me another review on top of the one they told me to do to review the limit. 

LONG STORY SHORT- I gave them the info they wanted. He worked with me every step of the way. When they reviewed it they sent an email that said “your account is secure you are good to go” followed by an email that said I now had a NEW ACCOUNT LIMIT on my entire account. The limit was MUCH ABOVE what I normally process in a quarter. My manager was confused and shocked. I said what’s the point I never process that much any way. So he said to me, let him work. He calls me back and tells me that the limit will not affect my capital eligibility. I said oh yes it certainly does. He looks through my account. Screen shots a bunch of stuff, sends it up the ladder and lo and behold I think they realized, well yes that actually does make me ineligible. 

I’m not sure how the rest went but the manager must have ruffed some feathers because the very next day (YESTERDAY, Wednesday of this week) I got an email the limit was TOTALLY REMOVED. I do know they got the account team and management from capital involved at some point. The manager was cheeky and didn’t divulge how that exactly happened with the removal. I think he’s the only reason I had a fighting chance. Within 2 hours of the removal I got a capital offer yesterday. It was around 4 pm cst. This is the first time in a year I’ve been offered capital after going in circles. July 8th is when the limit was first put in place. I was hesitant to accept but I did because I didn’t know what in the world to expect. I thought it was too good to be true. The offer was at 6.5% payback. Something else I’ve never seen before. Usually it’s 16.5%. I normally always got immediate approval. I didn’t get approval until today at around 2:30 pm. I didn’t have to submit more info. 

so- for everyone:

 

 Check your eligibility page if you don’t you might find the first step to an answer there. I think the offers are lower than the norm because they can only offer 18 month notes and they’ve lowered the percent payback on sales. I was ready to give up. It shouldn’t have been this hard. The manager was I think honestly shocked at the runaround I’ve been given. 

so- I’m thankful that I got an offer. I’m thankful for my new account manager. I’ve hopefully given square a lot of feedback they can use. I don’t think they truly knew the limit was imposing an issue on the capital end of things. 

So, yes square is still lending. They’ve definitely changed their algorithms in the past year. 


shoutout to Jack and Bernard- thank you. This was a lengthy process but you helped me. 

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Glad to hear it! I know you've gone through it the last year and I remember seeing your posts.

 

We're patiently waiting ourselves and are closing in on the amount used from our previous one. Hoping any day now as we really could use the help for marketing as it's slow season.

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Ughhhhh, hun I posted yesterday and wasn't logged in and thank you so much!! I am beyond excited and happy for you finally! Having your our rep is a life savor! Mine has helped me more than I can count and he wasn't getting off that phone until it was done! I hadn't seen you in awhile and was wondering what was going on. This ❤️ made my day! You go and keep pushing forward! You just have to reach that right person who is going to listen and understand and you found him! Congratulations to you!!!

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Yes! 💯 agree and I am so happy to see this! I understand I really do that people get frustrated and don't understand why or what they are doing wrong but most honestly are just just waiting for the algorithm to pick them off but @GlitzyCow was caught in the system and just needed the right person to help and did! I've been following for over a year and baffled but it's all good now and glad they stuck to it!

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Yessssssss! I am so happy for you, and I will say an account manager is the best go-between and stops all those generic responses. You have to reach a certain dollar. I do believe, but the guy I have, I've only had one issue with a deposit and square posted earlier that day issues. Mine is set for 5 pm Eastern and nothing? By 7pm, I called him, and he's like, no biggie hun I got this! Walk me through manually and nothing, then changed it to 8 pm, and he never got off the phone. 8pm, nothing tried instant deposit, and then he said put me on speaker log into your bank and see if there are any issues there? Yep! My credit union was down, and he said, "Let's give it a few minutes they said 8 pm and then boom done! All that time, it was my credit union down and nothing to do with Square, but he wasn't getting off that phone until my deposit went through. I am so happy to see this post! There is so much relief off your shoulders, I'm sure. 

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It's been so rough and baffling for you it's like I personally feel your struggle 😪 but I am truly happy for you finally! You go and get it. Keep working with your personal rep over the one client and it might take him/her to the top but a legit customer is a lose on their end with good fees and he just needs to work it out. That is what they are there for and my guy is amazing and yours sounds the same. Most would have given up and left and you didn't you stuck with square and keep pushing up the ladder! Good for you!

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Big week processing for us and hoping we'll be rewarded with another offer. We're struggling to keep up with our competitors in marketing and could definitely use the boost to help advertise. Fingers crossed for both us and everyone else waiting. Have a good pre-holiday weekend everyone!

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Good luck and I'll be watching for you! Advertising is a great investment! It's trending higher than normal so hold tight and keep processing hard!

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Appreciate it! We're going to remain hopeful but we've seen a huge drop off compared to some major competitors as a smaller business versus a multi-location conglomerate. 71.5% after a solid week so just hoping. Wishing the best for all the small businesses out there 🙂

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I've been watching this thread for a while. Today I had 81%. Everything was in the green and I finally got a loan offer so they are still giving out loans. It was $2,000 less than my last offer. But just keep processing and make sure all your stats are in the green and hopefully alone will come through for all of you. 

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