The specs
BluevineSunTrust Business Loan (legacy brand, now Truist)
Product typeLOCMulti-product
Amount range$10K – $250KLegacy SunTrust products consolidated into Truist in December 2019. Current Truist equivalents: $10K – $100K (Truist Business Banking Express); $25K – $1M (term + LOC); $250K – $5M (SBA 7(a))
Cost (factor / APR)APR 6.2% – 27% (LOC)Current Truist pricing: APR 8% – 14% (term + LOC, relationship-priced); SBA Prime + 2.25 – 2.75%
Speed to fund1 – 3 business days3 – 7 business days (Express ≤ $100K, existing customers); 7 – 14 business days (term + LOC); 30 – 90 days (SBA — Truist is PLP)
Min time in business12 months24 months
Min monthly revenue$10,000$15,000+/mo typical for unsecured products
Min credit score625+680+
Products
- Line of credit
- Invoice factoring
- Truist Business Banking Express
- Business term loans
- Business LOC
- SBA 7(a)
- SBA 504
- Equipment financing
- Commercial real estate
Verdicts by use case
- Former SunTrust Atlanta or Florida customer with 24+ months TIB and 680+ FICO needing ≤ $100K — Winner: SunTrust Business Loan (legacy brand, now Truist). As of 2026-06-28 the current Truist Business Banking Express (legacy SunTrust replacement) at 9 – 12% APR closes in 3 – 7 business days for existing customers — meaningfully cheaper than Bluevine. Bluevine LOC funds in 1 – 3 business days at 6.2 – 27% APR (realistic middle quotes 14 – 18%). For former SunTrust customers with preserved Truist relationship history the bank channel is structurally cheaper despite the slight speed gap, and the gap is narrow enough that most merchants will prioritize the cost savings.
- Newer business between 12 and 24 months TIB — Winner: Bluevine. Truist's 24+ months TIB floor (which applies to former SunTrust customers post-conversion) declines sub-2-year merchants. Bluevine's 12+ months TIB floor is reachable for businesses in the 12 – 24 month window. For merchants in that band Bluevine is the only structural option in this pair.
- Revolving credit with consistent standing capacity above $100K — Winner: Bluevine. Bluevine LOC is a true revolving line — draw, repay, redraw without re-underwriting, up to $250K with consistent committed capacity at the approved limit. Truist Business Banking Express caps at $100K and is a fixed-amortization term loan, not a revolving line. Truist's standard Business LOC scales to $1M but operates with periodic review. For genuinely flexible revolving capacity in the $100K – $250K band Bluevine's product shape is structurally cleaner.
- Out-of-footprint merchant (e.g. CA, TX, IL) needing fast small-ticket credit — Winner: Bluevine. Truist's branch network is concentrated in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic — out-of-footprint merchants operate through national correspondent channels at quotes near the upper end of the relationship-priced range, with timeline stretching to 10 – 14 business days. Bluevine is footprint-agnostic — fully digital approval and 1 – 3 business day funding regardless of state. For merchants outside the Southeast/Mid-Atlantic corridor Bluevine is materially faster and similarly priced once Truist's out-of-footprint pricing is factored in.
- SBA 7(a) deal in $250K – $1M range — Winner: SunTrust Business Loan (legacy brand, now Truist). Truist (legal successor to SunTrust's top-25 SBA franchise plus BB&T's top-15 franchise) originates SBA 7(a) loans up to $5M at Prime + 2.25 – 2.75% as a top-10 SBA lender with PLP authority. By far the cheapest cost of capital available in this pair for SMB borrowers willing to absorb the 30 – 90 day timeline. Bluevine caps at $250K LOC and doesn't offer SBA paths. For SBA-eligible deals Truist is structurally the only option in this pair.
The honest takeaway
Bluevine and SunTrust Business Loan (legacy brand, now Truist) solve overlapping but distinct problems. The right choice depends on three things you already know about your business: how fast you need the money, how long you've been operating, and whether the capital need is one-time or recurring.
Frequently asked questions
- I'm in Atlanta with a Bluevine LOC and my business banked with SunTrust before the merger — what's my best path now?
- Apply through Truist — that's the legal successor to SunTrust. Your converted Atlanta SunTrust branch is now a Truist branch and the multi-year SunTrust deposit-relationship history was migrated to Truist RMs in 2019 – 2022, so the relationship still counts toward Truist RM pricing. Practical setup if you qualify for both Bluevine and Truist: Truist Business Banking Express for predictable larger one-shot capital needs at 9 – 12% APR (relationship-priced — the former SunTrust tenure helps you here), Bluevine LOC retained for high-frequency revolving draws at 12 – 18% APR. The combined setup matches each capital need to the structurally cheapest product. Walk into the converted Atlanta Truist branch (many former SunTrust flagship Atlanta locations remain major Truist branches) and ask for the RM who handled your former SunTrust relationship — many of those RMs are still at the same branch post-conversion, and Atlanta retains a significant Truist corporate-banking presence through the legacy SunTrust Plaza tower.
- Did the BB&T + SunTrust merger to form Truist affect SBA 7(a) capability in the Southeast?
- Yes, in a positive direction. Pre-merger, SunTrust was a top-25 SBA 7(a) lender and BB&T was a top-15 SBA 7(a) lender — both with meaningful Southeast SBA franchises. Post-merger the combined Truist franchise operates as a top-10 SBA lender by dollar volume with PLP authority across the merged footprint. Practical effects for Southeast SBA-eligible merchants: (1) higher SBA loan size capacity (consistently up to $5M vs legacy banks' typical $1 – 3M sweet spot), (2) more efficient processing infrastructure with dedicated SBA underwriting teams in Charlotte and Atlanta, (3) PLP authority compresses the SBA timeline by 2 – 4 weeks vs non-PLP lenders, and (4) CDC partnership network spanning the entire Southeast for SBA 504 real-estate deals. For Bluevine-eligible Southeast merchants whose capital need scales beyond Bluevine's $250K LOC cap, the Truist SBA path is structurally cheaper than non-bank alternatives and meaningfully expanded vs what legacy SunTrust offered standalone.
- What's the realistic Bluevine-to-Truist trajectory for former SunTrust customers in Georgia and Florida?
- Most merchants who qualify for Bluevine today can qualify for Truist in 12 – 24 months by: (1) hitting the 24+ months TIB threshold (just operational time), (2) maintaining Bluevine LOC with on-time payments to build PAYDEX and commercial FICO (Bluevine reports both), (3) reactivating or maintaining the Truist Business Banking deposit relationship that was migrated from SunTrust in 2019 – 2022 — even dormant accounts retain history value at the RM level, (4) keeping personal FICO at 700+ for margin above the 680 floor, and (5) ensuring business tax returns show consistent revenue growth and reasonable profitability. The former-SunTrust-specific advantage: the multi-year SunTrust tenure (visible in the migrated Truist RM system) provides a relationship-history signal that cold Truist applicants don't have. Surface the SunTrust tenure explicitly in the Truist loan application — it can move pricing 25 – 50 bps below cold-applicant quotes for borderline files in GA/FL/VA Truist branches where former SunTrust branches converted intact.