Intuit has introduced Intuit QuickBooks Fund, which is designed to improves the chances of small businesses in obtaining financing. The company, which says it has already facilitated $150 million in loans in a test program, said it has established a $100 million fund.
SVP Dan Wernikoff said at the Scaling New Heights conference this week that the company will introduce the fund program this fall. "The goal is we get through this in three to six months," Wernikoff said. He added the goal is to establish a $1-billion fund after the $100 million is exhausted. Wernikoff said Intuit and a lending partner are contributing to the fund.
Intuit says that usually two thirds of all business loan requests are rejected. Under the test program, that has changed to a two thirds approval rate. The interest rate is below 15 percent APR, Wernikoff said.
A clients' financial data represents the foundation of the process. "The application is all of your QuickBooks data," he said. "We have a lot of data in the QuickBooks file that facilitates the loan."
Bob Scott has provided information to the tax and accounting community since 1991, first as technology editor of Accounting Today, and from 1997 through 2009 as editor of its sister publication, Accounting Technology. He is known throughout the industry for his depth of knowledge and for his high journalistic standards. Scott has made frequent appearances as a speaker, moderator and panelist and events serving tax and accounting professionals. He has a strong background in computer journalism as an editor with two former trade publications, Computer+Software News and MIS Week and spent several years with weekly and daily newspapers in Morris County New Jersey prior to that. A graduate of Indiana University with a degree in journalism, Bob is a native of Madison, Ind