CDC Small Business Finance Historic Decatur Rd, San Diego, California

CDC Small Business Finance Reviews

4.5 stars based on 43 reviews

Featured Comments:

• J

  Jason Simpson

  5.0

  I received a loan from CDC Small Business Finance to open my coffeeshop. As a new business owner it was difficult to find funding through traditional banks. My experience was great with CDC from the beginning, from their customer service to the loan process. I highly recommend them. Jason, Camp Coffee Company, Oceanside CA

  ---

  Response from the owner

  Thank you for the great review Jason! We are so grateful to have been able to help your business. We look forward to working with you in the future!

• H

  Host Home

  1.0

  I applied for a small business loan with this agency in may 2021. I provided my agent—Miriam-with all the details of my financial situation and was quickly given a pre-approval. What followed was 6 months of filling out over 100 hours of paperwork and an agent who took weeks to respond to any and all communication. When we did speak or communicate she often made uncomfortable remarks about “how much money my husband made” in response to my concerns that I wouldn’t ultimately be approved for a small business loan because we were living on his severance from a job where he did in fact make a good salary. I continued filling out the forms she threw at me—making several appointments with financial professionals to make certain everything was to her specifications. In the end after many many months of waiting and many many precious hours spent doing paperwork she sent me an email telling me she couldn’t pre-approve me. The photo is an excerpt of the email she sent explaining why. Honestly it felt like some kind of odd personal revenge because early in the process I called her colleague when she went missing for weeks in my application process. Her continued emphasis on “the amount of money my husband made” also felt uncomfortable and targeted. I would think carefully and make sure you have good connection with your agent before you spend the tens of hours needed to apply with these people. In retrospect I would have been better off with a collection of business credit lines since the amount I was requesting was relatively small—in fact she commented that she had never processed a loan for as low an amount as that I was requesting. I definitely had a poor experience here.

  ---

  Response from the owner

  Thank you for your feedback. As a mission driven lender, we are focused on helping small businesses and are so sorry to hear you did not have a good experience. In lending, it is a common process to gather data such as spousal income to determine eligibility. We will share your feedback with the team as we are always looking to learn and improve.

• C

  Courtney S.

  1.0

  Don’t let them fool you, these guys are loan sharks, they’re not here to help you. They don’t care what’s in your best interest, I’d seek out other avenues before coming to them. A few highlights from my experience with CDC Loans: - If you’re new to loans, they won’t guild you through the process. I offered to meet in person to understand more of the expectations (precovid) but they refused. Phone calls were brief, going through the motions. - I originally needed 3x the loan amount that I applied for, they told me it would be no problem getting funding later and to take the smaller amount now. When the time came they said it was impossible for more funding, even though I’ve always been in good standing. - They force you to meet with a “business advisor,” who knew nothing about my industry, tried to advise me on how to run my business and overall not helpful at all. I’ve been getting advice from the wonderful mentors at SCORE for years, highly recommend them, but the CDCs “advisor” gave me detrimental advice that he expected me to take. - When they need something from you they will send an email demanding it in a very short timeline. But when I needed release of funds I basically had to track people down, ending up reaching out to someone’s higher up. - When covid hit, the only possible relief program that could apply for my business was simply pausing loan payments. I applied for that one which the loan officer denied me (again my loan has always been in good standing). This has been a huge burden on an already struggling startup. My whole experience with the CDCs loans has been demeaning and honestly detrimental to my business. They’re only there to provide funding in one of the worst experiences I’ve had to deal with in my life. Avoid if possible, if not at least you have a better idea of what you’re getting into.

  ---

  Response from the owner

  Hi Courtney, thank you for your feedback. As a mission driven lender focused on helping small businesses, we are so sorry to hear that you were disappointed with your experience. We are always looking for ways to learn and improve and will share your feedback with the team.

More reviews (40)