Financial Strategies

y easy for borrowers to overlook short-term choices for commercial loans. With an economic recession impacting business activity adversely, all working capital financing options should be thoroughly evaluated. This article will describe alternatives such as short-term commercial mortgages and business cash advances.

Due to misunderstandings about long-term commercial financing, short-term commercial loans are often not considered properly. Although long-term commercial real estate financing options are often appropriate, there are practical short-term business financing choices that will be more workable and profitable for commercial borrowers.

The most critical short-term commercial financing techniques typically include short-term merchant cash advance and credit card processing programs and commercial real estate loan programs. Both working capital funding approaches are frequently a source of confusion for business owners.

An underutilized commercial financing strategy for businesses is possibly the best commercial loan strategy to secure cash for their business: a business cash advance using credit card processing. Credit card financing is an effective business financing tool that is usually overlooked by any business accepting credit cards as a customer payment method.

Service businesses, restaurants and retail stores are the most likely candidates to benefit from this working capital cash management strategy. This funding strategy uses an under-utilized business asset (credit card receivables) to obtain business cash advances based upon sales volume. This working capital cash strategy is also known as credit card factoring. Some business owners have used receivables financing or factoring which allows them to sell future receivables on a discounted basis.

Not all service and retail businesses can document business receivables to obtain a commercial loan. Businesses such as bars and restaurants do not typically have receivables to use for business financing. What these businesses do have in many cases is documented sales activity. It is this documented level of credit card sales activity that becomes a financial asset to the business and its working capital management strategies. Business cash advances from $5,000 to $300,000 can usually be obtained based on a merchant’s sales volume and future sales.

The commercial financing repayment requirement for working capital advances is normally under 12 months. The arrangement can be renewed for merchants that need the business cash advance program for a longer time.

There will usually be only a few business financing sources that are regularly successful at executing the credit card financing and processing. There are key difficulties to avoid with a working capital advance, and selecting an effective funding source is essential to an appropriate business cash advance program.

A long-term commercial mortgage is appropriate for many businesses that own commercial property. Business properties should normally be financed with a combination of short-term and long-term funds. When a longer-term commercial real estate loan is viable, it is preferable to secure long-term business financing, preferably for 30 years.

However there will be many commercial mortgage loan situations in which longer-term commercial financing is not appropriate for the business owner. In such circumstances it is important for a business owner to realize that there are viable short-term working capital strategies.

It is prudent to explore short-term commercial loan choices for business owners who want to refinance or sell the property within a short time frame. Appropriate short-term commercial mortgages will have more reasonable lockout fees and prepayment penalties than typically required with long-term commercial real estate financing.

While we will not attempt to describe the technical aspects of commercial loan prepayment fees and lockout fees in this article, we will note that the absence of such fees in most short-term commercial mortgage loan programs is a very positive aspect of these short-term working capital management options. The lack of such penalty fees could easily translate to a savings of 10% to 30% or more if a business owner needs to sell their commercial property during the time period which would have triggered prepayment fees and lockout fees in traditional longer-term commercial real estate loans.

Although prepayment and lockout fees will typically be avoided with short-term commercial mortgage loans, there are some trade-offs to be made if a business owner selects shorter-term working capital loans. When short-term commercial mortgages are available, they will usually not be readily available for special purpose commercial properties, the interest rate will frequently be in the range of 11% to 13% and the loan-to-value will typically be under 70%.

Multi-family, warehouse, mixed-use, office and retail commercial properties are the best candidates for short-term business finance options. For a typical short-term commercial loan, business owners should be comfortable with a time period of less than three years.

Few commercial lenders are capable of successfully executing short-term business financing. There are also numerous problems to avoid with short-term commercial mortgage programs, so selecting a lender is critical to business owners wanting a short-term business loan involving commercial property.

It is sufficiently important to repeat that a vital key to successful short-term commercial loans and business cash advances is selection of an appropriate lender. Despite the potential benefits of shorter-term business financing, the choice of a lending source cannot be overlooked.

e been some disappointing and unexpected actions taken by commercial lenders in response to recent financial events. This changing environment for business finance funding is likely to produce several new problems for commercial borrowers. To assist small business owners in their efforts to keep up with these imposing challenges, The Working Capital Journal is one of several commercial financing information resources which should be reviewed regularly. The working capital finance industry has primarily been operating on a regional and local basis for many years. In response to cost-cutting that has permeated many industries, there has been a consolidation that has resulted in fewer effective commercial lenders throughout the United States. Most business owners have been understandably confused about what this might mean for the future of their commercial financing efforts, especially because this has happened in a relatively short period of time. Of course, for some time there have been ongoing complex problems for commercial borrowers to avoid when seeking commercial loans. But what has produced a new set of business finance funding problems is that we appear to be entering a period which will be characterized by even more uncertainties in the economy. Previous rules and standards for commercial financing and working capital finance are likely to increasingly change quickly, with little advance notice by business lenders. Business owners should make an extended effort to understand what is happening and what to do about it due to this realization that substantial changes are likely throughout the United States in the near future for commercial finance funding. At the forefront of these efforts should be a review of what actions commercial lenders have already taken in recent months. The Working Capital Journal is one prominent example of a free public resource that will facilitate a better understanding of the responses by business lenders to recent economic circumstances. By publicizing actions taken by commercial lenders, this will contribute to these two goals, both of which are likely to be helpful to typical business owners: (1) To highlight controversial bank-lender tactics with a view toward reducing or eliminating questionable lending practices. (2) To help business owners prepare for commercial finance funding changes. Sources that currently include The Working Capital Journal are actively encouraging business owners to describe and report their financing experiences so that they can be shared with a broader audience to assist in this effort. Some of the most significant commercial financing changes reported so far by commercial borrowers involve working capital loans, commercial construction financing and credit card financing. A notable situation of concern is that predatory lending practices by credit card issuers have been reported by many business owners. Some specific businesses such as restaurants are having an especially difficult time in surviving recently because they have been excluded from obtaining any new business financing by many banks. One of the few recent bright spots in business finance funding, as noted in The Working Capital Journal, has been the continuing ability of business owners to obtain working capital quickly by business cash advance programs. For most businesses accepting credit cards, this commercial financing approach should be actively considered. Business cash advances are literally saving the day for many small business owners because most banks appear to be doing a terrible job of providing commercial loans and other working capital finance help in the midst of recent financial and economic uncertainties. For example, as noted above, restaurants are virtually unable to currently obtain commercial finance funding from most banks. However, if a restaurant accepts credit cards in their business operations, they are likely to be able to obtain needed cash from merchant cash advances and credit card factoring.

A prudent approach to working capital management is becoming more difficult for most commercial borrowers. Commercial loans have always been more complicated than realized by most business owners. Recent financing difficulties involving commercial mortgages, SBA loans and business cash advances have added significantly to the complexity of the entire commercial lending process.

This article will provide a brief overview describing some of the business financing resources which should be thoroughly evaluated by commercial borrowers as part of their prudent approach to successful working capital funding. All of the recommended sources are free and available online. Business owners should contact the author directly or use one of the leading internet search engines to locate the most appropriate sites.

The first resource can be located by searching online for “working capital financing special reports” or “commercial loans special reports”. This will provide links to a wide variety of recent articles addressing relevant issues such as difficulties which are likely in refinancing SBA loans. Commercial borrowers should especially benefit from reading about recent adverse developments involving business cash advances and small business mortgages.

A second resource will be discovered by looking for “commercial mortgages and commercial loans guide”. This site includes candid advice about avoiding problems with commercial real estate loans and business opportunity financing. Also included at the website are some especially relevant articles. A prime example is a special report describing what a commercial borrower can do if a bank declines their commercial real estate financing application.

A third key commercial funding resource can be reached by searching for “business cash advance and working capital guide”. As you might expect, this particular site primarily addresses issues related to working capital strategies. Of special note at this site is an executive summary about small business cash management. This summary report includes a list of ten problems to avoid with credit card receivables financing.

A fourth resource which should be helpful to anyone that currently owns or is about to buy commercial property can be found by looking for “real estate investment property loan and business finance guide”. This site will provide a useful perspective about some critical problems to avoid with commercial mortgages and SBA loans. For example, a report at the site discusses how to avoid malpractice with commercial loans.

For additional insights about business loan reports available through internet sources, we recommend including terms like “avoiding problems” together with other descriptions such as “working capital” and “commercial mortgage loans”. For example, by searching for “avoiding problems with working capital loans”, commercial borrowers should obtain useful insights about difficulties to be avoided in their own business financing efforts.

There are also some suggested precautions to observe in this approach to researching commercial loans. Two of the most important issues are highlighted below.

First, most small business mortgages and working capital funding strategies are highly likely to be more complex than expected by commercial borrowers. Although written sources can identify general problems for business owners to anticipate, there will usually be specific complexities that require more detail than can be provided in a generic article.

Second, because of the complicated nature of commercial loan underwriting, there is really no substitute for individualized discussions between a commercial borrower and a knowledgeable business financing advisor. Prudent business owners should insist on detailed and personalized interactions with a working capital management expert before finalizing their funding decisions.