The FINANCIAL — Wells Fargo on May 10 announced the launch of FastFlexSM Small Business Loan, an online, fast-decision loan that is funded as soon as the next business day and offers a competitive interest rate to small businesses with short-term credit needs. An innovation built in-house by Wells Fargo, the new loan product will be available in late May to existing customers, and joins the Wells Fargo family of small business products and comprehensive support offered through Wells Fargo Works for Small Business.
FastFlexSM Small Business Loan builds on Wells Fargo’s focus on small businesses, a market in which the company has set a five-year $100 billion lending goal. Since setting the goal in 2014, Wells Fargo has provided $40.7 billion in new loans to small businesses1 (Jan. 2014 – March 2016).
“Because small businesses want faster, more convenient loan options, online and at competitive rates, we created Wells Fargo FastFlex Small Business Loan,” said Lisa Stevens, Wells Fargo’s head of Small Business. “With a $100 billion lending goal, we want to make every responsible small business loan we can. FastFlex Small Business Loan will help by offering short-term credit through an easy, fast-decision application process that includes competitive interest rates, clear terms and as-soon-as next day funding. This will put short-term credit within reach for many small businesses seeking to achieve financial success.”
The FastFlex Small Business Loan was developed by Wells Fargo Business Direct, a team that provides small business loans under $100,000 each. The typical FastFlex Small Business Loan customer is expected to have strong cash inflows, and short-term credit needs for funding ranging from facility expansion to cash management. The FastFlex Small Business Loan will be available with one-year terms, at amounts ranging from $10,000 to $35,000, with required payments made on a weekly basis automatically deducted from the customer’s business-deposit account. It will be available to Wells Fargo business-deposit customers who have been a customer of the bank for at least one year. Beginning in late May, existing Wells Fargo customers can apply for the FastFlex Small Business Loan online or by phone, according to Wells Fargo.
Since August 2015, a version of the FastFlex Small Business Loan has been offered as part of a limited pilot to a set of pre-qualified existing Wells Fargo customers. Among the current FastFlex Small Business Loan customers is John Armstrong, Clothier, a custom-clothing business based in Vestavia Hills, Ala.
“As a small business owner, I have found that capitalizing on good opportunities sometimes requires acting quickly. But securing funding is often a lengthy, time-consuming process,” said John Armstrong of John Armstrong, Clothier. “I learned about Wells Fargo’s FastFlex Small Business Loan at a time when we needed additional capital to purchase inventory and increase our marketing efforts. The loan application and approval process couldn’t have been simpler and we received funding very quickly.”
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