Loans with a click

Last year Shannon Schofield, the owner of Tampa small business CardQuest, needed $50,000 in capital to launch two new product lines. After having a bank turn her down for a loan request for her $2 million business, she started to look at other options. That's when she found OnDeck.

The technology-fused small business lender provides an almost instant decision to business owners who fill out a five-minute loan application online. OnDeck charges a short-term rate, drafted out of customers' accounts daily, that varies depending on the term of the loan. A typical rate for a six-month loan would be 20 cents for every dollar that you borrow, according to OnDeck CEO Noah Breslow. When annualized, the rates can range from 18% to 38%.

“Once I got comfortable with it, I liked the model,” Schofield says. “When you need money to keep doing what you're doing, that's when you just need money.”