The current chaos in financial markets has changed how merchant cash advances should be evaluated. The use of credit card factoring and credit card processing to obtain working capital financing has recently become a more viable commercial funding strategy. Although this approach for securing business cash advances has been available, businesses historically seemed to prefer using other financing sources to get needed funds. While there are still other small business cash options which should be considered, the practical reality is that the choices available have changed dramatically for most business owners.
Recent changes in most commercial finance programs have resulted in many businesses scrambling to locate new sources for working capital and commercial loans. What has changed to make business cash advances a more feasible option for small business financing? Here are four of the primary reasons for a changing environment where business loans are involved.
First, the availability of unsecured lines of credit has all but disappeared for most small businesses. This was a favored method of business financing for years and will be sorely missed by many.
Second, in the recent past many business owners have probably used home equity credit lines to obtain needed cash quickly and simply. Most banks have reduced or eliminated these home equity loans in response to a nationwide residential funding crisis during the past year or so.
Third, banks are increasingly insisting on more collateral for their working capital loans and other commercial loans. For many business owners, providing additional collateral is not a feasible alternative.
Fourth, a growing number of local and regional banks are exiting the commercial lending business. In some cases, the business lending focus has shifted to larger businesses with long-term ties to a bank. This has produced an immediate and negative impact on relatively new and small businesses which especially need more working capital help in a challenging economic environment.
The four significant business financing trends noted above have resulted in a practical need for most business owners to now look much more actively at business cash advance programs. With such financing, businesses can obtain working capital cash based upon their credit card processing activity during the past six to twelve months.
Are there problems or pitfalls with this approach to obtaining small business cash? There are definitely problems to avoid with this specialized version of working capital financing. In fact I have prepared a number of special reports on this specific issue.
One major pitfall of business cash advances is the presence of a growing number of seemingly predatory lenders. These lending groups typically have one or more distinguishing negative characteristics.
One of these negative attributes is the apparent urgency by the lender to change the credit card processor used by a business. While there will always be legitimate reasons to consider changing the credit card processing arrangement, it should never be the first priority in a business cash advance program. If there is a rush to do so by the lender, it is probably due to a misguided attempt to obtain processing fees even if they are unable to provide a working capital advance.
Another negative characteristic is misrepresentation about how quickly business cash advances will be provided. While legitimate funding can typically be obtained in a month or less, business owners should be skeptical of agents who suggest that financing is routinely available in a week or less.
How can these seemingly predatory commercial lenders be avoided? Perhaps the most pragmatic solution for avoiding entanglements with one of these questionable lending sources is to have a lengthy conversation with a prospective lender prior to taking any action. Certainly it is especially unwise for a business owner to submit an online working capital cash application without having such a detailed discussion.
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.
Posted on December 29th, 2009 in Capital finance | Comments Off
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.