"We were interested in Clearbanc because…"

We were interested in Clearbanc because of the focus on business growth and marketing. The "cash back" for payments to certain marketing vendors was attractive. We have definitely used Clearbanc funds for Facebook ads, and we also used #Paid for influencers. But the #Paid wasn't a good fit. I also find that the way funding is charged and the cash back is confusing and maybe somewhat deceptive, so I don't think I'd be inclined to recommend this to other entrepreneurs.

"Clearbanc has been a great partner to…"

Clearbanc has been a great partner to help us scale our D2C business! Clearbanc came along when we were in a period of strong growth and required more capital for advertising, particularly on Facebook and Google. They've been able to provide funding as needed as we've continued to scale. Our account manager Nan has been proactive and extremely helpful along the way. I would definitely reccomend Clearbanc!

"Honestly I was skeptical."

Honestly I was skeptical. Like really really skeptical. I was wrong.

We ended up pulling the trigger on a trial basis and could not be happier with that decision. The deal is exactly what they say it is, and we’ve scaled our spend profitably with them. Our account manager is very responsive and I consider him a partner in the same way I do my attorney. They were absolutely crucial during BFCM for us to spend.

"It's been great and knowing Clearbanc…"

It's been great and knowing Clearbanc is a quick and easy option should I need the funds has given me so much peace of mind and extra time to really focus on my business.

"I have been funded by Clearbanc for…"

I have been funded by Clearbanc for over a year and couldn't be happier. The platform is very user-friendly and the repayment model works great for an ecommerce and subscription based business like mine.

"Excellent service"

Excellent service. Great to finance growth for a startup

"Easy to use program very helpful staff…"

Easy to use program very helpful staff just wish the dashboard was a little more transparent on what payments were for what. Also wish there was more options on amount of money taken out. Especially when you do a refund to a customer but you already have been charged a % on that sale so you lose even more money which doesn't seem fair. However my rep is outstanding and is always there to answer my questions and help me out.

"Our best working capital experience yet"

We had a wonderful experience working with Clearbanc. They took the time to understand my business, Thread Society, and provide us funding options and repayment options that made sense for us. We look forward to a continued partnership with them.

"Getting funded has never been easier"

Getting funded has never been easier, quicker and more affordable than using Clearbanc. Robby makes it super convenient to communicate when I have any questions, and it's been a great experience!

"If you're careful about what you're getting, Clearbanc may be worth it"

** UPDATE: it got worse ** I tried Clearbanc again when other lenders were not available. They did what they said, with the usual limitations (see below). Then when I got a better offer, I paid off the Clearbanc balance but they still kept withdrawing thousands of dollars from my account and I had to contact them repeatedly to explain that they had already been paid. The first few times they just said nothing had changed and they were going to keep making withdrawals. Add another downside... there are still (much) better options.

** Original review **

Clearbanc does what it says for the most part. It can be a good option for paying marketing costs when you have profitable campaigns. However it has some downsides. Even a regular credit card can be a cheaper alternative to Clearbanc. I switched to Thinking Capital after talking with OnDeck and LendingLoop as well.

The first major caution is that Clearbanc does not give you a loan or a direct deposit, even though most of their ads and their website imply this. Instead you get a credit card number you can use to make payments up to the limit you are approved for.

This means you will most likely start repaying this before you have even used it. Repayments start on the first day but you probably won't have any charges going through that same day.

Using this for Google and Facebook ads is simple enough. It's like any other credit card. For other vendors it may be harder, and for anything outside of their short list of "approved" vendors you pay double the cost (through a complicated rebate system).

Another thing to watch out for is the repayments based on your daily sales. If your sales are increasing quickly this means you will repay the total much faster. On the other hand if your sales are going down, or their algorithm predicts that will happen soon (it was very wrong in my case), they will cut off further funding.

The one benefit is that if your sales go down, you don't have to repay it as fast. But if you're investing more in marketing and your sales are going down you're probably doing something wrong and you should fix that before considering Clearbanc or any other alternatives.

If you're going to have the advance repaid in just 2 months you are much better off putting the expenses on a credit card. Even if you wait a couple of months before paying off the balance, you'll only pay 2 - 4% compared to 6 - 12% with Clearbanc.

Clearbanc looks more reasonable if you take 4 - 6 months to repay the advance. But if your sales increase a lot that is unlikely. And it means you need to wait a while before you can get another advance from them.

These things were not clear up front. When I contacted them they made me sit through a weird one hour presentation on the phone and then rushed me through the actual details (which is the first time I learned that it was not quite what the website made it sound like), offers, and contract. If I had understood this properly and chosen something that's repaid with 5 - 10% of daily sales it might have worked out a little better.

If you go with Clearbanc I would start with the smallest offer available, and then talk to them about increasing that once it's used up. Stick to the lower repayment rates, never 15 - 20%. That will limit what you can get but it works out better.

In the end I switched to Thinking Capital. They provide a direct deposit for the full amount so you have the cash on hand on the first day. The daily repayments are fixed so I know the cost is worth it based on the length of time (it actually is cheaper than carrying a credit card balance for the same amount of time). They have a set schedule to add more to the loan before it's fully paid off. They approved a far higher amount than anyone else, so I only took a part of that.

Thinking Capital was the most willing to work with my business, although OnDeck and Clearbanc had decent offers as well. They were all better than LendingLoop, the BDC, and traditional banks. You can use the first 3 to grow a business when you have profitable marketing campaigns, and once it's more stabilized look at the others for long-term options.