Unsecured loans for start up business, do they exist?

Trying to start a business. My credit is not so good, we tried a nonprofit but need collateral, which we don't have. All we need is $16000 to start. Came across readings about "unsecured loans" through some christian.net or com website. So I did more search and read on a few questions and answers through this link, but no one responded with real experience from any of these supposedly unsecured lenders. I tried calling one American One Unsecured but they require a cost upfront of $400. I read in one of the links that upfront costs are usually a scam so I didn't go for it. We have been working on our credit but since I didn't work for 2yrs and we're slowly trying to catch up on payments, it's been very hard to restore our credit. We want to start this as soon as possible while we are still an interest with a major higher education entity. We have everything else in place, the business plan, the attny, financials, etc..all we need are the start up monies. If you have had any experience at all with these unsecured lenders, can you please respond? Thank you.