New Square Loan in 2024

[SPPhotography1]

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!

[Stacelyn24 · Accepted solution]

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.

[TheRealChipA · Accepted solution]

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.

[itisnotjustpiza]

I noticed our previous loans were closed or paid off between 6-8months in.  We have had 14 loans with our small location that we shut down.  The 14th loan was transferred to the new location which has had 1 loan after paying off the previous locations loan.  We process much more here than the first location so it was paid in 4 months.  We had an unusual week for the last part of our loan.  We shut down normal operations and serviced large customers.  Something we had not done in the past.  It finished off our loan with the processing.  It would look a little unusual because they were large transactions verses our usual smaller ones. 

[Twpchair]

Nice to hear you tried something new and it worked! Believe me if square had any concerns about it they would reach out. I had one big custom order and they had a tree go through their roof and needed all custom built cabinets upper and lowers and an island and table set built to match. No worries I ran that card for 9k then I think this triggered it she also bought items and used the same card for a little over 2k went right through no problem and my bank account. The next morning I wake up to email regarding the transaction and it looked suspicious and call this number. I did and she asked a ton of questions and I thought oh boy. I sent her the order with the customer's name and number she put me on hold and I knew she was calling her. A few minutes later she came back all good to go.

[Jjpainting]

I had one large transaction one time that went through but forced a review where I needed to fill out a form online with customers information and what the purchase was for. Froze my checking account for two days. 

[locksmithnick]

Good evening, everyone!

I’m posting here mainly to inform and compare loans with other merchants. Some info about my relationship with Square that I believe matters quite a bit when getting a loan offer will be included. 

I have used Square exclusively since 2013. I was in the pilot program for Square Capital in 2014 with a small $900 loan. Since then, I have received 20 (!) Square Loans. I have received them as early as 55% paid, but that’s been YEARS ago. I have also gone completely paid, but I believe this one occasion was due to me making pre payments on the loan. Typically, my loans are offered at 75%, like clockwork. 

My most recent loan was in November. A $30,800 offer and my yearly sales were $176,000 for 2023. I am now sitting at 67% paid, and yearly sales sitting at just under $120,000 from 1/1 to today. A 40% increase over last year.

I will update when I receive the next offer. If my calculations are correct, I’m guessing 1st week of August.

[Jjpainting]

I wish I would get an offer at around 17% of my annual sales. My current one is around 11% of what my yearly sales at that time. I just hit 88% paid today. If these two sales proposals go through today or tomorrow that I quoted today, I’ll be at 96% paid off which would be a huge couple of days in sales for me and I would think would be enough to trigger a loan offer 🤞

[locksmithnick]

I want to believe that I get better treatment than a lot of other sellers simply based off loan history and just business history in general with Square. While my total dollar amount is only $175-200k, which is peanuts to a lot of other sellers, I have a literal perfect transaction history with no charge backs or disputes or anything like that going back a decade. And while I don’t do as many transactions per day as something like a restaurant would, I still average 5-10 transactions per day, every day, since 2013. 

[Jjpainting]

Yeah your history alone should be enough for instant loans at 75%. I started my business two years ago and joined square in October of 2022.  I only do about 175 transactions per year which accounts for 75% of all sales. But I’m a painter, and my average sale is almost $2000 (ranges betweeen $100 and $10,000) with an average card sale of almost $1000. That’s cause I request a 50% deposit. But Im now on my 4th loan in just over a year. First one offered was late April last year which was $2500. So that took 3 weeks to pay off. Then they went up to $7500 (offered when first was 100% paid off) then  $8500 offered at 80% paid off then $14,700 at 66%. So based on that I figured my next offer would be between 66-80%. Nope. 

Anyhoo wish you the best of luck with an offer. What’s your current percentage of sales that goes to your loan.  Each time my loan went up, so did the percentage, I’m currently at 17.25%, which I don’t mind at all but I’ve been seeing more people post about loan offers being much lower with lower payback percentages.  

[Twpchair]

Good luck, and thank you for posting an update and definitely share when you get an offer!

[Healthyketo]

Anyone gotten anything today? 😓 not seeing anyone get anything lately. 😖

[Twpchair]

It's been a slow week posting. I saw 2. One guy posted he got an offer without scrolling down I believe half of his last offer or less if I'm not mistaken but he accept over waiting to see if or when the next on would be higher. He also said his "buddy" at 70-75% paid off was offered just enough to pay off that loan and left him 0.00 for the "magical" new loan? That is the first one for me, seeing that. He didn't say if it was 15k left or higher or a lower type thing 🤷 🤔 but since I've been here or at least people posting, I've never seen that one before. He didn't take the offer to pay off the previous loan and get 0.00 and pay 8% I wouldn't either. Pay it out by transactions or pay it off yourself. You would be further ahead. 

[Hawaiicraves]

Aloha,

Wishing everyone the best in there loan issues. Seems square has without a doubt tightened up there funding requirements for now. 

I’ve used square for 3 years , we do over 950k yearly in credit card processing with square. They make a lot of money off my establishment. 
Counter service style Resturant , open 7 days. 

We have had 3 loans, first 2 paid back much quicker than square requires. 50k 112k 165k . Offer was 187k I took 165k. Been offered loans as quick as 58 percent- 70 percent complete. Currently at 84% on 165k loan. No loan offer yet.  Our metrics have always been green. 

It’s unfortunate as square loans are very convenient. I think many will see low offers if any. As others mentioned our economy dictates a lot on lending. Hopefully things start heading in a better direction soon! TRUMP🇺🇸

[Twpchair]

Good luck to you and everyone waiting for an offer! 

[locksmithnick]

Just an update. My father is also a Square user and has a long history with Square Loans/Square Capital. 

He received a new offer this morning of $25,900 on sales of $80,000 so far for this year. He was 77% paid on his last loan. 

Hope this helps!

[Jjpainting]

Thanks for the update. May I ask, what was his last loan amount?  I’m currently at $80,500 also for the year in card processing. My current loan is $14,700 and 88% paid off.  $25,000 is about the loan size I was hoping for on my next offer…which would be about the same percentage increase from my last loan which was $8500. 

[ayazbey01]

Completion date

06/28/24

Loan amount

$13,500.00   i didn't see any offer

[Jjpainting]

Well that’s pretty much in line with my situation with the previous loan amounts being similar, same amount in sales. Only difference is I’m at 88% paid with no offer yet.  But that story gives me hope. 

[goldslinger]

Well, we have had 100k this year so far and our last loan was 14,700. At 87% paid they offered me 11k. It’s insulting considering we thought the same- we would get offered 25k. We have more than doubled our sales in the three months it’s taken to pay off the 14k. Never a charge back. Nothing. I’m still seething. Haven’t taken the loan yet because I’m hoping to be offered more if I don’t take it. 

[Twpchair]

I know and I am  sorry unfortunately for over a year now that's the same trend I'm watching and have been for over a year.  Best wishes to you ❤️ and all watching 

[Jjpainting]

As soon as my hopes get better about receiving a good offer, you has to slam those hopes lol. As I read more and more posts, and try to figure out at least how some of the algorithm works for how high of a loan one should expect, the more I think that the algorithm is totally just assigning random amounts 😂. Thanks for sharing though.  I’ll keep everyone posted if I get an offer and details of it.  Currently I’m just below 89% and will be between 91-92% by tomorrow after I complete a job.  Still waiting on if another quote I sent out a couple days ago will be accepted.  I’m thinking and hoping it will, and if that happens, I’ll be up to 98% paid by tomorrow. If a loan triggers before I pay off my loan I’ll take it, if not, I might just begin putting 20% aside for all transactions…and get away from paying $5000 in loan fees per year. But I haven’t decided.  I mainly want this loan to hire a marketing firm to begin marketing my company.  I get more work than I can handle with having a couple employees.   But now after two years and getting used to running my own business for the first time, it’s time to expand, hire more people, and I want to begin getting away from the physical work and concentrate on growing my company. I’d still do all the quotes, obviously constantly checking in on my workers at different job sites and help out a couple hours here and there  and then do a final inspection, but then just work on more marketing and finding leads. Ive been a painter for many years and its starting. To effect me more and more physically as time goes on. But in order for me to do all this and be able to hire and afford qualified painters, I need to increase sales, which I need a loan for. And hoping it’s for $20k+ to pay for that and a down payment for a new work truck for employees to use.  Sorry for the rambling here, just wanted to get my thoughts out this morning as I’m exhausted from working 7 days 10 hours a day without a day off this summer, aside from when I broke my rib I needed to take a couple days off. So come on square. I still have some faith in you that you will send me a solid nice offer this week. Lol

[Twpchair]

It's seems most aren't getting huge offers like prior. Of course, everyone is different, and we are all unique with different types of business. I have seen a few go up 5k or 7k but also the much lower than they anticipated. Good luck, and hopefully, they bump it up. 

[Twpchair]

Congratulations! Nice to see it is moving!