Articles by deBanked Staff
PayPal: Business Loan & Working Capital Merchants Have Higher Retention Rate
October 27, 2026Businesses that use PayPal’s Working Capital or business loan products have a 15% higher retention rate with PayPal’s payment processing product than those that don’t. That’s according to a study they conducted on 2025 data that they revealed in their Q3 2026 earnings report. The company also shared that their merchant lending business is growing.
Stripe had previously made a bid to acquire PayPal this summer but a deal never happened. PayPal has been trying to turn its business around ever since it brought on a new CEO earlier this year. AI is part of that strategy.
“We have reduced headcount by more than 2,000 and removed three organizational layers across most areas of the company,” said Enrique Lores, the CEO of PayPal during the Q3 earnings call. “We are also using AI and automation to drive productivity. For example, our AI chat agents now support customer service across 190 countries and six languages and have resolved more than 24 million contacts year-to-date.”
SoFi Originates $27 Million in Small Business Loans in Inaugural Quarter
October 27, 2026“I would say the SMB business is at a very nascent stage,” said Anthony Noto, CEO of SoFi during the Q3 earnings call. “It is still a startup business.”
SoFi originated $27M in small business loans in Q3, its first quarter generating business loans internally. It has a lot of room to grow especially considering its $3 billion partnership with Basepoint Capital for this product.
The company says that it will ease into it.
“It has great prospects and one we will invest in over time and will continue to grow,” Noto added. “Now, getting the credit right is important. Building relationships and the unit economics are important. Why? Because these are high repeat customers. Businesses need capital to grow. When they take out a loan, it helps them grow. That gives them motivation and economic incentive to take out another loan and then another loan. Just like the largest corporations in our country, that capital fuels the growth. So we want to make sure we build relationships first and foremost, achieve the right unit economics, and we continue to expand that over and over on a nice linear line. So we are really pleased with where we are, but it is nowhere near where it will be in the future.”
SoFi previously referred all small business loan inquiries to third parties but they have since rethought that approach.
Enova: SMB Loan Originations of $1.8B in Q3
October 26, 2026Enova generated $1.8 billion in small business loans in Q3, up from the previous quarter and up 28% year-over-year. The company said during their earnings call that charge-offs have remained stable, that the environment is strong, and that they see very stable to improving credit overall across their portfolio which has supported their ability to continue to grow nicely.
Enova CEO Steve Cunningham also said that the company may expand its product line. “We’ll explore expanded offerings such as a deposit advance product, secured consumer lending, and SMB-embedded finance offerings,” he said.
There was virtually no mention of last month’s decision to withdraw its bid to acquire Grasshopper Bank. The company and analysts have already moved on from it.
B2B Finance Expo Experiences Record Attendance
October 23, 2026The third annual B2B Finance Expo in Las Vegas was officially the most attended since the conference launched in 2024. Organized by deBanked in collaboration with the Small Business Finance Association, B2B brought together folks from across the B2B finance and fintech industries.
The official photo album can be viewed here.
Welcome to Las Vegas – B2B Finance Expo
October 19, 2026B2B Finance Expo kicks off Tuesday, October 20 at 8am at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.
WHERE: Level 3 – Chelsea Tower – Gracia Ballroom. (See agenda)
HOW: With your pre-purchased ticket. Don’t have one? Uh oh, better get it now here!
WHEN: Check-in to the conference starts at 8am on Tuesday and 9am on Wednesday.
WHO and WHAT: Check out who’s speaking and all the great panel discussions HERE!
See you there!
DEBANKED?
October 14, 2026
Imagine our surprise when it looked like another issue of deBanked Magazine had just been published…by a federal banking regulator. What actually happened is that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) published its final report on debanking, where its investigation determined that banks terminated or turned away customers on the basis of perceived reputational risk. OCC hopes to reduce or eliminate such practices in the future. “DEBANKED” is the signature headline printed on the cover. It would’ve fit in really well on our bookshelf had it been ours.
deBanked’s last magazine issue was published in January of 2022. All previous issues have been archived digitally here and print copies are still on display at our headquarters.
CFPB Reaffirms Excluding Merchant Cash Advances From Section 1071
October 13, 2026The CFPB recently published its annual Fair Lending Report. Under the section about small businesses, it reaffirmed its decision to exclude MCAs from the Section 1071 rule.
On May 1, 2026, the CFPB issued the final rule. The rule reduces the scope of “covered credit transactions” by limiting the types of transactions subject to reporting in order to focus data collection efforts on core lending products—loans, lines of credit, and credit cards—that are most utilized by small businesses. Accordingly, the rule sets forth certain exclusions: merchant cash advances, agricultural lending, and small-dollar business credit.
It further reiterated its decision to make other modifications to Section 1071.
In addition, the rule revises the definition of “small business” by reducing the gross annual revenue threshold from $5 million to $1 million. This will allow the CFPB to focus on collecting data related to micro and small enterprises, which are most relevant to section 1071’s goals. The rule also reduces the number of collected data points, extends and adopts a uniform compliance date of January 1, 2028, and simplifies the time and manner of data collection in order to allowinstitutions flexibility in how they comply with statutory requirements.
The rule updates are necessary to ensure reasonable implementation that does not restrict credit availability for America’s small businesses. The 2023 rule imposed a significant number of requirements that were not needed to advance the purposes of section 1071 of the Dodd-FrankAct. This rule recognizes those concerns and takes a more reflective approach, including just what the statute requires. The updates will result in cost savings for institutions and reduce the burden of data collection without sacrificing data availability.
Wells Fargo-supported Fund Aims to Refinance MCAs
October 8, 2026Sixty-one percent of all deals funded by Founders First Capital Partners went toward refinancing merchant cash advances. That’s intentional, according to the company, which just announced a capital raise of $19 million for one of its small business financing funds. Investors in the fund include Wells Fargo Foundation, Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation, Sunrise Banks, Community Reinvestment Fund USA, and others.
Founders First offers revenue-based financing, term loans, and hybrid loans that combine both. The company says borrowers that refinance their MCAs with Founders First experience an average effective APR decrease of 15 percentage points.
“To help meet that demand [of refinancing MCAs], Wells Fargo contributed $500,000 to Founders First, fiscally sponsored by Realize Impact,” a press release said.
Founders First does not advertise its own APRs, but according to a hybrid loan contract it originated in 2023 that deBanked obtained, it said that amounts collected from the revenue-based financing component of the loan should be excluded from interest and interest rate calculations and should not be considered when determining whether the loan exceeds a state’s maximum allowable interest rate.
Many of the company’s case studies tout the benefits of revenue-based financing. In one case, a borrower received $500,000 and grew revenue by 90% over 12 months. Founders First said that “revenue-based financing was ideal as the payments were increased during stronger revenue months.”
The company has deployed more than $20 million in capital, and 70% of its customers have increased their revenue. Its financing has also contributed to the hiring of more than 2,700 new full-time employees. Businesses can obtain funding of up to $2 million. In Founders First’s 2025 Impact Report, the company says its financing is better than SBA loans because borrowers do not need strong credit or assets. It also touts how more than half of its portfolio consists of refinanced MCAs.
