AL · State guide

Business loans in Alabama

Alabama businesses can reach three separate pools of money: lenders that publish availability here, the state's own financing programs, and federal SBA lending through local participants. We have 5 state programs on file with published terms, and 2 still linked from live government pages that are no longer open.

7 cities covered Checked 14 Sep 2026
Get funding in Alabama See the shortlist

Where to start in Alabama

No lender here publishes a state-by-state availability list naming AL, so this is the directory ranked by how much each one puts on the record. Absence from a list nobody publishes means nothing.

  1. 100%

    Forward Financing

    $5K – $500K Same day Credit from 500
    9/9 on the record
  2. 100%

    ROK Financial

    $10K – $5M 1-3 days Credit from 500
    9/9 on the record
  3. 100%

    South End Capital

    $1K – $5M Same-day funding available Credit from 650
    9/9 on the record
  4. 89%

    Bizcap US

    Up to $2M Same day Credit from 550
    8/9 on the record
  5. 89%

    ByzFunder

    Up to $500K Same day Credit from 525
    8/9 on the record
  6. 89%

    Fora Financial

    $5K – $1.5M As little as 24 hours Credit from 570
    8/9 on the record
  7. 89%

    Fox Business Funding

    Up to $1M As little as 2 business days Credit from 550
    8/9 on the record
  8. 89%

    National Funding

    $6K – $500K As fast as 24 hours Credit from 600
    8/9 on the record
  9. 89%

    Straight Line Source

    Partner
    $5K – $10M Same day Credit from 500
    8/9 on the record
  10. 78%

    Biz2Credit

    $25K – $2M Decision as fast as 24 hours Credit from 650
    7/9 on the record
  11. 78%

    CAN Capital

    $2K – $400K As fast as the next business day Credit from 600
    7/9 on the record
  12. 78%

    Credibly

    $5K – $10M As fast as 4 hours after approval Credit from 550
    7/9 on the record
published not published Ordered by disclosure, not by what anyone pays us. The score is a count of what a lender publishes, not a rating of the lender.

What Alabama itself funds

LendAL (W. H. Wills Loan Guaranty, Collateral Support, and Loan Participation programs)Administered by Innovate Alabama (Alabama Innovation Corporation), with approved bank and credit union lenders. Credit enhancements that reduce lender risk on small business loans. Three enhancements: W. H. Wills Loan Guaranty - "Innovate Alabama will share in the loan loss and reimburse the lender 50% of their realized loss"; Collateral Support - "Innovate Alabama will deposit to offset the collateral gap up to 50% of the loan"; Loan Participation - "Innovate Alabama purchases 30% of your loan from the lender and will be subordinated to the lender." Excluded uses include delinquent taxes, trust/escrow taxes, owner reimbursements and purchasing ownership interests (limited ESOP exceptions). Published amounts: Loans "up to $5,000,000"; LendAL is funded with up to "$65 million" of Alabama's SSBCI allocation. Guaranty covers 50% of realized loss; collateral support up to 50% of the loan; participation 30% of the loan. Rates, terms and fees are set by the originating lender and are not published. Eligibility as published: Businesses with "up to 750 employees"; "The loan proceeds and benefits need to occur in Alabama" (the business need not be headquartered in Alabama); ranges from "new startups all the way to well-established businesses." Innovate Alabama's SSBCI page also states the business must be headquartered in Alabama or its founders must reside in Alabama.
InvestALAdministered by Innovate Alabama (Alabama Innovation Corporation). Early-stage venture capital: direct equity investments in high-growth, venture-backable startups, plus limited-partner investments into established venture capital funds (fund-of-funds). Published amounts: Direct investments "$100,000 to $1,000,000"; fund-of-funds/limited partner investments "$500,000 to $5,000,000". Eligibility as published: Startups must be Alabama-headquartered or founder-based in the state. "All equity and limited partner investments require a minimum of a 1:1 private investment" and must complete due diligence.
AssistAL (SSBCI Technical Assistance)Administered by Alabama Small Business Development Center Network (ASBDC). Free technical assistance to help business owners become capital-ready: "obtaining proper financial documentation, building business acumen, and cultivating business banking relationships." No direct funding. Published amounts: No direct funding - advisory services only. Eligibility as published: Entrepreneurs applying for or managing capital from Innovate Alabama SSBCI programs or other eligible federal/jurisdictional programs; SBA small business size standards. Targets businesses with fewer than 10 employees, rural residents, veterans, disabled persons and economically disadvantaged areas. Excludes speculation, pyramid schemes, and businesses deriving over one-third of revenue from gambling.
ADECA Float LoanAdministered by Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA). Short-term gap financing for business expansion, drawn against CDBG funds. Published amounts: "Up to $10 million ($35,000 per job)"; one-year loans, renewable once. Eligibility as published: Expanding companies creating new jobs that meet the 51% low-to-moderate income CDBG guideline.
Alabama Association of Regional Councils Revolving Loan Fund (RLF)Administered by Local/regional councils of government (Alabama Association of Regional Councils). Gap financing for "start-up and expansion activities" of small businesses. Published amounts: Not published on the state page; amounts vary by regional council. Eligibility as published: Small to medium-sized businesses and small manufacturing companies; terms vary by regional council.

Programs you may still see linked that are not open

Each of these is still reachable from a live government page, and none of them is currently accepting applications. A live link is not an open program, and finding that out after you have built a plan around one costs weeks.

State Small Business Credit Initiative (ADECA) - SSBCI 1.0EXPIRED BUT STILL LINKED. The state's live small-business portal atlasalabama.gov still lists this program with the 2011 SSBCI 1.0 allocation of "$31,301,498" and an ADECA contact. SSBCI 1.0 ended; Alabama's current SSBCI round is administered by Innovate Alabama with a $97.9M allocation (Treasury Capital Program Summaries; Innovate Alabama: "more than $97 million"). ADECA's own live 'Funding Opportunities' page does not list SSBCI. Treasury's SSBCI program list names Innovate Alabama, not ADECA, as Alabama's administering entity.
AlabamaSAVES Revolving Loan ProgramLIKELY EXPIRED BUT STILL LINKED. atlasalabama.gov still lists AlabamaSAVES with an ADECA contact. The U.S. DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center lists the AlabamaSAVES-funded 'Alternative Fuel and Idle Reduction Revolving Loan Program for Private Entities' among expired/repealed Alabama incentives, "Expired: 05/01/2020". ADECA's live 'Funding Opportunities' page does not list AlabamaSAVES. Could not find an ADECA page confirming the program is still originating loans, so treated as inactive; not fully confirmed.

Federal money behind these programs

Alabama was allocated $97.9M under the federal State Small Business Credit Initiative, which is what funds most of the credit enhancements above. SSBCI money reaches businesses through participating lenders rather than from the state directly, so the application still goes through a bank or a CDFI.

What we could not confirm

Census figures taken directly from QuickFacts BZA010223 for AL (vintage 2023). SSBCI allocation $97.9M from Treasury's Capital Program Summaries; Innovate Alabama says "more than $97 million" and Gov. Ivey's office said "nearly $98 million" - consistent. Two expired-but-still-linked programs found on the live state portal atlasalabama.gov: the ADECA SSBCI 1.0 listing ($31,301,498, 2011 vintage) and AlabamaSAVES. LendAL rates, terms and fees are set by the participating lender and are not published by Innovate Alabama. Cities are 2020 decennial census counts from the Wikipedia list of Alabama municipalities, extended down to 20,000 population. Multi-county municipalities have the primary county in `county` and the others in `county_note`. Northport's population was reported as 31,125 on the source page; an earlier partial extraction of the same page did not include Northport, so no cross-check was possible.

Cities in Alabama

AlabasterAuburnBirminghamHuntsvilleMobileMontgomeryTuscaloosa

More for Alabama

GuideSmall business funding in Alabama: state programmes, disclosure gaps and lien checks Alabama's own capital programmes sit behind a bank rather than in front of you, and the state asks a commercial funder to disclose nothing.

Business funding in Alabama — common questions

Can I get business funding in Alabama?

Yes. 12 funders in this directory serve businesses in Alabama, and 0 of them name Alabama explicitly in their published availability rather than being included by default.

Does Alabama require lenders to disclose the cost of business financing?

Alabama's position is set out on this page. As of 2026 only a small number of states require a commercial financing disclosure, and in the rest you will not receive one — which means you have to ask for the total dollar cost, the term and every fee in writing yourself.

Are there state programmes for small business capital in Alabama?

3 state-level programmes are recorded here with a link to the administering agency. Programmes open and close, so confirm the current position on the agency's own site before relying on one.

Is a merchant cash advance legal in Alabama?

Commercial financing generally sits outside the consumer credit rules most people have heard of, and most state usury caps do not reach business-purpose transactions. What varies is disclosure, broker registration and lender licensing. This is general information, not legal advice for your situation.

How do I check for liens filed against my business in Alabama?

Through Alabama's UCC filing office, which is named on this page. Search your exact registered entity name — a filing under a slightly different name will not come back, and neither will a stale one nobody terminated.

Which lenders will not fund in Alabama?

Where a funder publishes an excluded-states list, this page shows it. Many publish nothing, which is not the same as being available — it means you have to ask.

Does being based in Alabama change what I pay?

Not directly in most cases. What changes is what you are told before you sign, and what recourse you have afterwards, both of which depend on your state's rules and on the jurisdiction clause in the contract.

What should I have ready before applying?

Three months of business bank statements, your time in business from a verifiable date, average monthly deposits, your entity's good standing, and a clear figure for what you need and what for.

How current is this page?

Every figure carries the date it was checked. Where a check has passed its review date the page says so rather than presenting as current.