“The very worst customer service I have ever encountered. First of all this company falsely advertises that decisions can be reached and funds released in 24 - 48 hours, this is completely incorrect it took 3 weeks of constant back and forths for them to come up with an offer so the timelines advertised are unrealistic and designed to reel you in.
My company was applying for an advance with forward advances and a few other lenders to see what was available and what was the best deal out there. Forward advances had all of our information from the start, bank statements, filed accounts, access to the payment gateway, access to PayPal access to the bank. They had free rain to check all of the information and give an informed decision on an advance, three agonising weeks of back and forths passed with constant promises of deadlines for a decision not met and follow-up phone calls, voice messages, and emails ignored. We answered all their questions and sent them all the information they requested.
After two weeks of getting nowhere, I had a conversation with their lead underwriter who asked me questions about the business for 30 min. He was happy with the answers and signed it off and advised that we would have an offer by the end of the day, big surprise nothing came. Three more days of waiting later an offer arrived, we had already had multiple offers at this stage from legitimate lenders. The offer seemed good however so we decided to proceed, we were promised we would receive a contract straight away and the funds would be dispensed later that week, it took days for the contract to come, and like everything else they had said along the way a lot later than what was promised.
The contract finally arrived, it was signed straight away and sent back, It took days for them to sign the contract themselves, I was beginning to think it was a scam at one stage due to the erratic emails we would receive at random times even as late as 12 o'clock at night. They had a lot of sensitive information so we began to worry that it was a scam company as the manner was so unprofessional. They eventually signed the contract however which was a legal agreement with us for the amount that was agreed on, finally, I thought it was progressing but the date they said they would put the funds in came and went Suprise surprise we received nothing.
We were now four weeks down the line the contract had been signed by both parties and we were awaiting funds that would never materialise. A week after the contract was signed they, started to ask us qualifying questions again and asking for more documents going right back to the start of the process when the offer had been accepted and signed on already. Four weeks of completely wasting our time later they said they couldn't do it because of the current website performance, which was exactly the same as it was when we had first started the process 4 weeks earlier.
We had already turned down a lot of good offers from other legitimate lenders as we had signed the legal agreement with Forward Advances that they have failed to deliver on. They have completely strung us along for four weeks and wasted everybody's time.
They have no fundamental understanding of payment gateways and how they work, they do not listen to customers, I had to explain things multiple times, My conversation with the lead underwriter was obviously never relayed to the rest of the team as all questions we were being asked after the contract had been signed had already been answered multiple times.
I would think carefully about pursuing an advance with this company as you will have your time wasted they are not professional, you will have emails and phone calls ignored for days. They will string you along for weeks when you could go with another legitimate lender who delivers on what they say. We ended up going with an alternative lender who put the funds in the account 1 hour after the contract was signed. Go with a legitimate lender who delivers and does not back out of legally signed contracts.
Forward advances are not to be trusted with your personal or business information or your trust. The last communications were not responded to at all. Avoid at all costs. All in all they are the most unprofessional company we have ever dealt with.”
