Is On Deck Capital Shutting Their Doors?

**Update 12/16 4:00 EST

The answer is ‘no.’ The only internal struggle going on at On Deck is their struggle to grasp why this blog is speaking of their catastrophic demise. While it does appear that there were some difficulties reaching their office by phone yesterday, there is no story beyond that. Internet rumors have a way of spreading quickly and sometimes the details get distorted. A puzzled spokesperson for On Deck Capital reached out to us just hours after our story was published, with the tag line “Call me.”

Gordon Brott, the Director of Marketing for On Deck Capital had apparently not heard the rumors but responded with an e-mail: “Thanks for getting back to us. In short, On Deck has never been stronger. We are on track for another record month and are seeing more partners, more applications, and more booked loans than ever before.” He is extending the opportunity for anyone to contact him to reaffirm that position. “We are happy to speak to anyone with questions about the state of the company – please have them give us a call directly at 888-269-4246 x 114”

Furthermore, Mitch Jacobs has been serving the role of Vice Chairman since August, 2011, not CEO.

Oops!

We’re happy to hear that all is well with them as they have brought incredible value to small businesses and to resellers of Merchant Cash Advance. Next time we’ll call them first.  🙂

**The original story we circulated about this is below:

Rumors abounded on Thursday about renowned micro lender, On Deck Capital and their apparent demise. While there is no official indication that anything has changed, loan brokers raged about them on industry message boards throughout the day. The portal to submit new clients is apparently not functioning and calls to their office are not being answered or returned. Word has also leaked about a sudden departure of their long time CEO and co-founder, Mitch Jacobs.

While we can’t confirm any of this, the Merchant Processing Resource also received a few e-mails from On Deck’s resellers reiterating the same issue. Clearly something is going on.

On Deck Capital has brought a lot of value to the Merchant Cash Advance (MCA) industry by providing financing to businesses that don’t fit the MCA mold. They are constantly mentioned in the mainstream press and are one of the few bright spots in an otherwise ugly lending environment.

This is of course in contrast to a guest article that first appeared on our site back on October 24th, 2010: On Deck Capital – Lipstick on a Pig. While the author has pleaded to keep himself anonymous, it coincidentally put the Merchant Processing Resource on the map, garnering over 300 views in the first few hours it went live. When we changed web hosts in August of this year, we restored the article to our server but it affected the publication’s original timestamp.

We look forward to seeing if On Deck makes an immediate announcement to prove or dispel the rumors. We’ll keep you posted.

Sean Murray is the President and Chief Editor of deBanked and the founder of the Broker Fair Conference. Connect with me on LinkedIn or follow me on twitter. You can view all future deBanked events here.