Financial Strategies

Lately, the news has not been very encouraging for business owners. The country is amidst the biggest credit crunch in its history and the federal government is making major policy changes to try and contain the problems. But credit crunch or no credit crunch, business owners still need working capital to fund the businesses.

One conventional approach is to apply for a business loan. For a long time, institutions had access to cheap money and could provide small business loans to companies without being too stringent. Unfortunately, nowadays getting a business loan is very hard. Banks require substantial collateral before providing business financing. This leaves few options for the owners of small, new or growing companies.

One alternative that has been gaining traction is factoring invoices. This is a financing option that is available to companies that sell goods to other companies and offer 30 to 60 day terms.

Most companies that engage in commercial sales face a common problem. They have to wait 30 to 60 days after invoicing to get paid. Although more established companies have enough working capital to cover this wait, growing companies usually do not. They can’t afford to wait 60 days because they need the funds to pay employees and suppliers.

Going to a client and asking for a quick payment seldom helps. Good clients, like big corporations, have set schedules for payment. Waiting to get paid is part of the cost of doing business with them.

But what would happen if your clients started paying you immediately? Would your company be in a better position to leverage opportunities? Would it still have trouble making payments to suppliers and employees? Invoice factoring can help you accomplish this.

Invoice factoring is a business financing solution that provides you with an advance for your slow paying invoices. So, instead of waiting 40 days to get paid, the factoring company gives you an immediate working capital advance using the invoices as collateral. The key to this type of financing is your invoice. Factoring is an alternative for companies that invoice businesses that have good commercial credit records.

One of the biggest advantages of accounts receivable factoring is that it’s very flexible. Most companies can get it, provided they are free from problems and have good invoices. And, as opposed to conventional financing, invoice factoring grows with your sales.

Copyright (c) 2007 Thomas Husnik

One of the challenges of getting started in any type of business structure be it corporation, partnership, or sole proprietorship is getting financing to start or to maintain daily operations. Typically you will have determined what you need for starting up and maintaining operations in your business plan and will go seek a loan from commercial lenders. And the lenders are all different too. They all have different requirements and some have perks to offer for your business. But before you shop for a lender you should know what is available in the way of corporate business financing.

When shopping around for commercial loans and trying to figure out this corporate financing game, the topic of cash flow will no doubt be referred to. Cash flow is the one aspect of a business that can make it work and lack of it can destroy it. If you have any experience with business at all, you know that there will be a delay from the time a business first starts to when the invoices start getting paid. Yet during this time, the corporation still has bills and salaries to pay. Expenses also include paying suppliers just so that they can fill their own purchase orders. Try explaining cash flow to your employees when they have not been paidnot a good scenario. Or, try explaining to your supplier why you have not paid its invoices. This is why you need corporate financing.

One corporate financing option you might be offered has to do with loaning you money based upon the number of outstanding purchase orders you have. They way it works is the suppliers you use to fill your purchase orders are paid directly by the lender. This type of commercial lending program gives you cash flow because your suppliers are taken care of and you can use money for other things. Plus, you can take advantage of any supplier early payment discounts.

Another popular form of corporate financing is known as receivables factoring. How this works is a receivables factoring company will loan your corporation money based upon the value of receivables still open. Your invoices are an asset and are basically collateral for the loan. Factoring is great if a corporation does not want to incur further debt but needs a portion of the money it is owed in order to conduct day-to-day business operations. The factoring company will verify the invoices you want to factor and then loan you a significant portion of the money and hold back a small percentage. The end customer you have invoiced will actually pay the factoring company (even though the check is still made out to your company). When the invoice is paid, the amount held back is returned to your company and the factoring company takes its fees from it.

And of course there are commercial loans for your corporation that is based upon your fixed assets. These loans are secured by equipment or commercial real estate your corporation holds so you will probably get longer payment terms and lower interest.

And commercial lenders may have other programs to help you keep your cash flow at a state that is good for the health of your business without incurring a lot of burdensome debt. Shop around and get all the details before making your decision and prepare a good business plan.

Commercial financing has changed dramatically during the past few months. The net result has been a reduction in commercial lenders as well as stricter standards for acquiring commercial loans and commercial mortgages. Unfortunately there has also been no shortage of misinformation about the availability of commercial funding, so an important change issue is to realize that for commercial lending there are both apparent changes and real changes.

As is often the case with financial changes, it remains to be seen how many will be temporary or permanent. But from a practical perspective, commercial borrowers are left with no choice but to adapt to the changing commercial finance environment. Regardless of how long the changes might be kept in place, small business owners must be prepared to operate within a more complicated climate for commercial real estate loans and business financing.

Perhaps the most dramatic change has been a significant reduction in business lending activity overall. This has been due to several events occurring almost simultaneously. Several major commercial lenders have gone out of business altogether. Many banks have stopped business finance lending while continuing consumer lending. Numerous business lenders have enacted stricter standards for the commercial financing transactions they are still willing to consider.

What should commercial borrowers do about this? A primary option that business owners should explore involves looking beyond their local market area for help with commercial real estate financing and other commercial loans. To accomplish this, it should be helpful to contact a working capital financing expert operating throughout the United States.

In addition to fewer business lenders to choose from, there are two other significant changes which must be anticipated by small business owners before seeking new business financing. First, most lenders have cancelled or are about to eliminate unsecured lines of credit for many businesses. Second, commercial lenders are increasingly demanding more collateral for virtually all commercial finance funding.

One effective commercial financing strategy for overcoming the combined obstacles of fewer lenders, more collateral and fewer unsecured credit lines is to consider a business cash advance program based on future credit card processing activity. This is proving to be one of the few sources of commercial funding that has not been adversely impacted by recent events. To learn more, it will be advisable to discuss the potential with a small business financing expert who can provide advice about business cash advances as well as other business finance solutions.

Another key change issue for commercial mortgage loans and working capital loans is simply the likelihood that more changes will be forthcoming in the near future. It is increasingly obvious that many banks will continue to modify their business lending programs in response to changing conditions as they occur.

To adequately prepare for future commercial finance changes that might (or might not) occur is a daunting task for a business owner. A commercial financing expert familiar with Plan B contingency financing for commercial loans will prove to be a valuable resource for any borrower wanting to seriously deal with both current and future changes impacting the financial health of their business.