Is Credibly Legitimate? 5 Places the Public Record Answers

Short answer: yes, Credibly is legit, it’s a real lender. Since 2010 it has funded over $3 billion to 55,000+ businesses. It legally calls itself Retail Capital LLC. But legit is not the same as cheap. Its own products are merchant cash advances and working capital loans that it collects via daily or weekly debit, so they have many of the drawbacks that those categories carry. So before you sign anything, it’s worth checking out what the public record actually says about them.

1. The company’s own website

Here’s what Credibly says about itself. It said up front that for long-term loans, an SBA loan, a line of credit, and business equipment financing, you had to go through one of their outside partners. Credibly itself directly funded only working capital loans and merchant cash advances, it said. Credibly says it does not call its merchant cash advances loans but purchases of a piece of future sales and that it does not price them with an interest rate, but a factor rate, which is at least one positive note about the company.

Credibly advertises factor rates as low as 1.11. You need excellent credit to qualify for the best rates. That’s $111,000 repaid if you take $100,000, whether you pay it off early or not. The fixed payments are not subject to rebate if you pay early, and you pay daily or weekly, which can make cash flow management difficult. Those partner products are the cheaper ones. The two products Credibly offers itself are the two most expensive products.

Credibly funds $5,000 to $600,000 and advertises approval in as little as two hours, and funding in four. But the advertised 1.11 is not your number. Tell them to give you the total dollar amount you would pay back on, say, $100,000. Take Credibly’s total payback amount and compare that total to what any other lender would charge.

2. Federal trademark records

But the company may not legally be called Credibly on all documents. Credibly is a registered trademark of Retail Capital LLC, ID 5138215, registered in 2017. Retail Capital is likely to be the name on court records and UCC liens. Its Facebook handle is RetailCapitalUS. If you are trying to find information, you need to search both Credibly and Retail Capital.

3. The Better Business Bureau and reviews

Credibly’s BBB profile showed the company at Southfield, Michigan, with a second in New York. It said the company had earned a high rating and had been operating since 2010. One problem: The BBB is a private group, not a regulator, and as such it’s a bit of a weak authority. The company had a 4.8/5 rating on Trustpilot. Beyond reviews, Credibly only makes a soft credit pull to prequalify, which doesn’t hurt your credit score. Credibly openly publishes minimum requirements: six months in business, $15,000 in monthly revenues, personal credit score of 500 or more.

4. Court records

It’s useful to check PACER, the federal courts’ online record database, for lawsuits and bankruptcies, though it does not cover state-court cases. The site is free for searches and free to download up to $30 in documents in a quarter. In 2017 a New Jersey bankruptcy trustee sued Retail Capital LLC d/b/a Credibly and other funders, claiming the debtor’s cash advances were really usurious loans. The result is not stated. A lawsuit is just one side of the story, though, not a verdict or even an accusation by the government. And Credibly is a large funder. You’ll find plenty of merchants’ lawyers advertising services for fighting merchant cash advance companies. That’s what happens when you’re big in the sector.

5. Regulators’ enforcement records

Finally, a review of records of federal regulators did not find any record of any enforcement actions against Retail Capital LLC or Credibly. Other players in the merchant cash advance space, like RCG Advances LLC and Yellowstone Capital, have been hit with federal or state enforcement actions. Here’s what one looks like: In June 2022 the Federal Trade Commission banned a lender and its owner from the industry and required them to pay over $2.7 million for refunds. In January 2025 the New York Attorney General obtained a $1.065 billion judgment against Yellowstone Capital, that included wiping out about $534 million in debt small businesses still owed.

Check Your Agreement

If you got financing in New York after August 1, 2023, for $2.5 million or less, check your agreement to see if you got the detailed “consumer style” disclosure NY now requires. If you got financing in New York, at any time, your agreement might contain a confession of judgment, but since a 2019 New York law, clerks cannot enter those against out-of-state businesses. More recently, California’s AB 2116 requires a DFPI license from July 1, 2028 for most financing of $500,000 or less. Whatever state you got financing, check your agreement to see which entity is named and pull out a calculator. Calculate the factor rate, total payback in dollars, payment amount in dollars and number of payments, so you can see how much it’s going to cost. Is there a confession of judgment? Is there a personal guarantee?

So Credibly is real, and it states upfront which financing products it’s selling itself and which it’s marketing others’ loans. But the critical questions are: Is it the most affordable choice? Which product suits your needs? Does your business have the cash flow to repay it on time?

A free contract review costs nothing and takes a day or two. Call (888) 837-7053, or send the agreements to Delancey Street for a straight read on your options.