What you Need to Know to Avoid a Business Loan Scam

Whether you are starting out in a business, building and growing it, or just shoring up funds, business loans can prove a vital aspect to growth and success. This mainly means they can be a wonderful resource at times. More often than not, loans from online sources are convenient, and can also offer the quick capital needed for day-to-day business operations.

However, nowadays, several business owners are concerned about scams, including various ones which target small ventures in particular. As a result, owners are generally skeptical about seeking something as commonly essential as a small business loan. Thankfully, there are security signs which enable spotting and recognizing potential swindles. Security here falls into two main categories: technical and operational.

SSL Certified Site

• When a website uses an SSL certificate, it means the data transferred between computer and website is kept encrypted. A legitimate vendor would always have this feature on their site so that their clients’ information would stay protected at all times.
• The EV (Extended Validation) SSL certificate provides the highest level of security. Although it is possible for a fraudulent website to get this verification, that is fairly rare; certification is still a relatively good sign that you are looking at a legitimate website.
• To confirm that a site is certified in this way, look at the URL shown in the address bar of your web browser. While this is a bit different for each browser, you would basically see a padlock as well as a bit of green color lighting up the address bar, and sometimes also the lock symbol.

Social Security Number (SSN) Information

Your SSN is an important aspect which constitutes your identity. As such, a reputable lender realizes how significant this is, and takes the needed care to respect the privacy of their client at all times. If you got a random e-mail asking for your SSN, and gave it over without a second thought, that would be a mistake. A legitimate vendor’s website might ask you to enter such information, but only into a secure web form.

Guaranteed Approval

This is one more easy-to-spot red flag. A lender should not be able to guarantee loan approval at the get-go, and if they say they can, that is a sign they are not to be trusted. A decent lender would only make out a loan which was not a big risk to them from a financial point of view, and would deny any applicant who did not meet their lending and risk criteria. When someone says you will get a loan without questions asked, it is best to just walk away.