New Square Loan in 2024

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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.

[Twpchair · Accepted solution]

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.

[Twpchair · Accepted solution]

Hello, I apologize I've tried 3-4 to reply, and the boom screen locks up, then under maintenance. Not a good few days on here! When I get to your percentage especially, if I run a sale Thurs-Sun and do 10% off storewide, I use Facebook and Google for this. They are powered tools and are free. I take loads of pictures and post a few times a day with sneak peeks of new arrivals, older furniture, floor models, etc, with further markdown. Our business neighbors have a doughnut and bakery store. I usually get 20-25.00 worth of baked goods and now I would do hot cider and coffee. They or we give each other deals. I post the events that going on. Coloring contest for the kids, pumpkin coloring contest. A gift certificate live drawing on Saturday. All week prior I posted daily on both and boosted some of the posts for 9.95 for 5 days usually in a 100-mile radius and these women came. Last Saturday we tripled to very close to 4x our busiest day. I spent roughly 60-75.00 dollars. It jumps you up and in sales and this is just imo that boost kicks in something in the algorithm again imo. I went back and looked and 85% of my offers were Saturday night usually 7-10 pm after I updated. Thurs is another day again I have done Monday -Wed early bird specials and it kicks it in. I'm retail furniture and it is a little easier to do sales and deals than other industries. Just don't forget the power of free advertising for myself 95% of my first customers are women and then they bring in their spouses. Good luck, I hope you have received a loan offer by now! Hopefully, all the bugs will be worked out.

[Twpchair · Accepted solution]

Oh, yes! You do not need to meet your 60 days or whatever your minimum payment is. I have many times after I my minimum payment was meet and only paid a couple more days received an offer. After 12 years you kinda pick up the big do’s and don’t. I meet my minimum amount way ahead of time but definitely meet that! If not that means their last offer was too big for you to handle. 2. Try not to do too many, especially in a 4 mth-6 mths span of multiple refunds, and disputes. We have a zero return policy and our furniture already has a warranty and the rest we take care of in house. Those disputes and refunds trigger a person to physically do it and investigate why, who, and what type of thing and then back and forth with card company. The rest are important to stay green but I have been offered loans when one of metrics said needs works. So have many others. But definitely, if you have a slower period or a week or 2 of cash and checks. Just watch one or two big transitions will eat that up. I'm retail furniture so I see a week of cash or checks and then boom all cards. Keep swiping away what line of business are you in? Whenever I run a good 3-day sale on Thurs -Sat. And if I am around 70%ish. Usually, Saturday night it triggers an offer. Just lucky, coincidence? I don't know 100% not with an algorithm but I can pay down over 20% of a loan in 3 days it's triggering something to look at. I have done it before at 13% of my loan paid off and nope not happening. But in the 70s I have had it more often than not. But, like I said it is not a guarantee and honestly nothing is without a human connection. All POS systems use an algorithm type system that picks off or triggers something to look at it. 

[Lynix123 · Accepted solution]

Thank you for being here and answering everybody’s question. 
We got an offer at 95% yesterday but it’s only 20%of my current loan. Do you know anybody did not accepted loan and got another loan offer. How long it takes to update to another offer. 
It’s our busiest season. I generate $5-10k everyday till Christmas. I hoping that will trigger bigger loan if I wait. Thank you again 

[Healthyketo]

I also just received an approval email from pipe. I’m not sure if I understand how to do the instant transfer though. 

[Jjpainting]

You have to wait until square verifies the account with pipe. Then you can do an instant transfer 

[Healthyketo]

How do I know if square verifies? Should I push reconfigure again? I already got the approval email. Sorry to bother I just want to be sure I’m doing it correctly. 

[Jjpainting]

Did you manually enter in the account information into your square account?  You have to go to businesss banking, add external account, enter in the routing number and account number. 

if you go to reconfigure, go to the bottom and it will tell you how to do it. 

[Healthyketo]

Did you get funded by chance? I’m just waiting now for square to verify. 

[Jjpainting]

No. Still waiting on square to verify. My email that they sent me the day I did it said by end of Monday.  So I’m guessing on Monday I’ll have em. Once it verifies, and I send the instant transfer then they send the funds and from the sounds of it, they arrive same day and quickly 

[Jjpainting]

square finally finished verification.  I transferred the $1 and emailed them. I’ll let you know from here how long it takes for my funding. I just emailed them. 

[Jjpainting]

About 5 minutes after I transferred the $1 i received an email stating my funds were on their way to my square account.  

[Twpchair]

Congratulations and thank you for sharing your experience step by step. I see many others like myself that's not familiar with these companies.

[Twpchair]

From what I read on other forums that are using a different company than Pipe it took about a week for the first time. They said after that and a good relationship they did offer to increase their line of credit. It went much faster after that. I am just repeating what a lot of other people are saying I've never used one before besides my credit union. I think like anything else new it seems to run a little bit slower and work out any bugs. I do know personally with mine at the CU they offer a couple of times a year to automatically increase mine. I haven't done it but it said just hit the button and you are all set no need to miss out on time in your busy schedule. That would be more like the old days with square and the offer comes in almost instant approval and depending on the time money in the bank the next day!  Good luck with you all waiting for this. It looks like you are round one and keeping each other informed! That will help others kinda get an idea!

[Jjpainting]

My funds are on their way to my account 😁. I just got into a bad car accident and, being that I hadn’t been in one, I never paid attention but I found out that I never elected for rental insurance. So between that and my deductible and  all of a sudden my business slowing down, this is very timing for me 

[Twpchair]

Great to hear! I am so sorry to hear about your accident! Are you ok? I know it seems like when it rains it pours! Please keep everyone posted you seem the closest to the finish line. You might be the first to see if they increase your line of credit with your big drops at one time. Good luck to you and i hope everything goes smoothly with the insurace, body shops and the good ole rentals!!

[Twpchair]

I had to look them up and I am on the same page as you. I don't think it is a scam just a newer start-up go-between. Their rates compared to others online wow 10% vs a couple I saw in the upper 20s! Good reviews except if you didn't get an offer type thing. No 100% guarantee you will get one either. The other comments were from started 1-4k and built up with them as I went along. Definitely, if you need it and struggling to keep the doors open. Here is 2nd option. Thank you for sharing all your information! Users to users are the best way to get a better understanding of how or what is going on. I would rather hear your account of what's going on with you than a generated response. 

[Alexis321]

I tried to go through Pipe. Sent all the info and statements they needed and waited about a week, nothing. So I called. They are waiting for *funders* to look at my account. So nothing yet. 🙄

[1683Cooks]

My loan from square has been paid off since May 2024. I had 4 loans in 6 months from square and haven’t received an offer after paying off the final one in May . Crickets since , I’m processing close to 500k annually 

[Luluskitchen]

We are 87% paid off on $48,956.00 ( including Fee) been with square since 2018. We have paid back 42,600.00 in 9 months. We are up about 20% from last year. The last few months have been slow but we are still beating our last year sales. This is our 13th Loan and we have always had a new offer in or before the 70% paid off range. I am totally lost on how this whole thing works. At this point I'm just ready to get the remaining $6300.00 paid off and get to enjoy the extra $1200.00 a week of my sales that go back to square to repay the loan and look for a company that takes less of my money in transaction fees. We have had a hard summer as we are a vacation town and people are just not traveling as much. It just kinda hits ya hard that when ya actually need Square all you hear is crickets from their end. 

[Twpchair]

It does and it has been a rough summer for consistent loans, offers lower, what percentage, the list could go on. I went from the same as you 4/5 years ago guaranteeing an offer at 70-75% paid off. Now, I went from 84% to 91% then threw in 69%. It's all over! There's a big handful of people who are completely paid off for months. It's not just you but what is going on in the loan world. Good luck to you and hopefully we are seeing more and more with offers!  

[Twpchair]

Ugh, there are a few completely paid off for months and waiting also. It's been a rough summer but im seeing more and more lately. I am hoping it pushes out the loans. Good luck to you and everyone waiting!

[Koleen1234]

It didnt offer me anything as well 

i have 5,000 more to pay on my square loan . Loan with square was 31,000

[Twpchair]

Hold tight it looks like this is round 1 and possibly the test pilot group! I have been with Square long enough to remember I believe 2014 and I received this email that your account is available for a loan. I was in the first rounds of loans going out. Then test round or not it was boom boom and done with money the next day! I was so excited to get that 1k and the rate was low. Hopefully, all goes smoothly, and they start busting them out. So far at least posted on that thread the most I've seen has been $4,600.00 so it looks like and I am just guessing and going off other forums that have pos and they use a different 3rd party loan company and their line of credit was increased or they offered an increase. I guess we will see! Good luck to you in everyone waiting on both now!

[Jjpainting]

Pipe has been around for a while, but I think you’re right about them just starting to begin lending to people like us. Before they only lended to a different kind of business (or something like that). I’ll definitely keep all of you posted on my experiences with them.