A GUIDE FOR TODAYS SMALL BUSINESS OWNER

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Before you start applying for a loan, you need to answer several critical questions to help you determine which kind of lender and loan is best for you:

  • How much money do you need?
  • What do you need the money for?
  • How quickly do you need the money?
  • How long will it take you to pay it back?
  • How long have you been in business?
  • What is the current financial shape of your business?
  • How much collateral, if any, do you have to put up for the loan?

Answering these questions will help determine if you should pursue a government-backed loan, a loan or line of credit through a bank, or a cash advance, line of credit or loan from an alternative lender.

 

Premier Business Lending offers many different types of financial products to support its customer base. Eric Jenkins, Managing Partner says: “Every small business owner has different needs at different times. Premier Business Lending’s uniqueness is that we can accommodate much of the marketplace by providing custom fit financing based on each customer’s individual needs. For example: One of our larger Franchisee’s may need a $100,000 SBA product today but will want $150,000 equipment purchase tomorrow.”

Premier Business lending recently helped White Hawk Carriers located in Stockton California secure a $250,000 working capital bridge loan last month. Juana Solorzano, CFO for White Hawk Carriers said “Several times per year White Hawk Carriers may need a cash injection to create immediate cash flow for the Business. Most of our Vendors typically pay us on a net 45 or even net 60. So it is very helpful and makes sense for us to have quick access to capital so we do not stall projects.”

 

There are many finance options available to small business owners today, Jenkins says: “It is important for business owners to have guidance when deciding which financial product will best suits their needs”. Premier’s Finance Consultants are experts in all business lending products. SBA Loans, Conventional Bank Loans, Alternative Financing, Equipment Leasing, Lines of Credit, Hybrid Lines of Credit, Franchise Lending, Start Up Franchise Lending and Merchant Cash Advances. Trying to maneuver through all of this information and financial jungle of our industry can be very intimidating for business owners. When all they are trying to do is make the best decision for their business. This is exactly why Premier Business Lending takes the time to properly train our finance consultants to help consult today’s business owners vs. our competition that for the most part are turning and burning their sales reps and their customers.”

 

Here are the basics of the most common products available for small business owners:

 

SBA loans

Currently, the SBA offers four types of small business loans:

  • 7(a) Loan Program: 7(a) loans, the SBA’s primary lending program, are the most basic, common and flexible type of loan. They can be used for a variety of purposes, including working capital, to purchase machinery, equipment, furniture and fixtures, the purchase of land and buildings, construction of new buildings, renovation of an existing building, to establish a new business or assist in the acquisition, operation or expansion of an existing business, and debt refinancing. These loans have a maximum amount of $5 million, and borrowers can apply through a participating lender. Loan maturity is up to 10 years for working capital and generally up to 25 years for fixed assets.
  • Microloan program: The SBA offers very small loans to new or growing small businesses. The loans can be used for working capital or the purchase of inventory, supplies, furniture, fixtures, machinery or equipment, but can’t be used to pay existing debts or purchase real estate. The SBA makes funds available to specially designated intermediary lenders, which are nonprofit organizations with experience in lending and technical assistance. Those intermediaries then make loans up to $50,000, with the average loan being about $13,000. The loan repayment terms vary based on several factors, including the loan amount, planned use of funds, requirements determined by the intermediary lender and the needs of the small business borrower. The maximum repayment term allowed for an SBA microloan is six years.
  • Real estate and equipment loans: The CDC/504 Loan Program provides businesses with long-term fixed-rate financing for major assets, such as equipment and real estate. The loans are typically structured with the SBA providing 40 percent of the total project costs, a participating lender covering up to 50 percent and the borrower putting up the remaining 10 percent. Funds from a 504 loan can be used to purchase existing buildings, land or long-term machinery; to construct or renovate facilities; or to refinance debt in connection with an expansion of the business. These loans cannot be used for working capital or inventory. The maximum amount of a 504 loan is $5.5 million, and these loans are available with 10- or 20-year maturity terms.
  • Disaster loans: The SBA provides low-interest disaster loans to businesses of all sizes. SBA disaster loans can be used to repair or replace real estate, machinery and equipment, as well as inventory and business assets that were damaged or destroyed in a declared disaster. The SBA makes disaster loans of up to $2 million to qualified businesses.

Loans from conventional banks and alternative lenders

Banks and alternative lenders offer some similar loans to those offered by the SBA, as well as funding options that the SBA doesn’t offer, including the following:

  • Working-capital loans: Working-capital loans are designed as short-term solutions for businesses in need of money to help run their operation. Working-capital loans are available from both banks and alternative lenders. The advantage of a working-capital loan is that it gives small businesses the ability to keep their operations running while they search for other ways to increase revenue. Some downsides of a working-capital loan are that they often come with higher interest rates and have short repayment terms.
  • Equipment loans: In addition to the SBA, both banks and alternative lenders offer their own types of equipment loans. Equipment loans and leases provide money to small businesses for office equipment, like copy machines and computers, or things such as machinery, tools and vehicles. Instead of paying for the large purchases all at once up front, equipment loans allow business owners to make monthly payments on the items. One benefit of equipment loans is that they are often easier to obtain than some other types of loans because the equipment being purchased or leased serves as collateral. Equipment loans preserve cash flow since they don’t require a large down payment and may offer some tax write-offs.
  • Merchant cash advance: This type of loan is made to a business based on the volume of its monthly credit card transactions. Businesses can typically receive an advance of up to 125 percent of their monthly transaction volume. The terms for repaying a merchant cash advance vary by lender. Some take a fixed amount of money out of a business’s merchant account every day, while others take a percentage of the daily credit card sales. The best candidates for merchant cash advances are businesses with strong credit card sales, such as retailers, restaurants and service businesses. The advantages of merchant cash advances are that they are relatively easy to obtain, funding can be received in as quickly as a few days, and the loan is paid back directly from credit card sales. The biggest downside is the expense: Interest on these loans can run as high as 30 percent a month, depending on the lender and amount borrowed.
  • Lines of credit: Like working-capital loans, lines of credit provide small businesses money for day-to-day cash-flow needs. They are not recommended for larger purchases, and are available for as short as 90 days to as long as several years. With a line of credit, you take only what you need and pay interest only on what you use, rather than the entire amount. These loans are usually unsecured and don’t require any collateral. They also have longer repayment terms and give you the ability to build up your credit rating if you make the interest payments on time. The downsides are the additional fees charged and that they put small businesses in jeopardy of building up a large amount of debt.
  • Professional practice loans: Professional practice loans are designed specifically for providers of professional services, such as businesses in the health care, accounting, legal, insurance, engineering, architecture and veterinary fields. These types of loans are typically used for purchasing a practice, buying real estate, renovating office space, buying new equipment and refinancing debt.
  • Franchise startup loans: Franchise startup loans are designed for entrepreneurs who need financing to help open their own franchise business. These loans, offered by banks and alternative lenders, can be used for working capital, or to pay franchise fees, buy equipment and build stores or restaurants.

The Biggest Reason Banks Deny Loans

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The Biggest Reason Banks Deny Loans to a large number of Small-Business Owners

No one ever promised that the challenges to growing a small business would be small. Entrepreneurs regularly confront issues that can threaten the very core of their companies, not the least of which is difficulty securing the financing they need to run and grow a sustainable business.

Premier Business Lending, a turnkey financial company in El Dorado Hills CA found finding capital is becoming harder for a significant proportion of small businesses despite the wider variety of financing options available. Even though there are more lending options for small businesses than ever before, a crucial step is missing in the process; and no one is paying attention, leaving business owners increasingly frustrated over their rejections for credit lines and loans.

The dream and the reality don’t add up Premier Business Lending discovered a scenario confirmed by a new Creditera survey of 250 small and midsize businesses, which brings to light the struggle around bank financing, small business loans and the rejections small businesses suffer.

The realities small businesses face

The Small Business American Dream Gap Report examined today’s economic landscape compared to a year ago and found that despite the positive outlook for small businesses, nearly three out of 10 small businesses reported finding it harder than in the past to reduce operating costs. A quarter of small businesses, meanwhile, found it harder to plan for unforeseen expenses. Within the previous year, the survey revealed, 20 percent of the small businesses surveyed said they had considered shutting down, primarily because of lack of growth or cash issues.

Those kinds of struggles had led 53 percent of those small businesses to apply for funding or credit lines over the past five years — and more than one in four said they had sought loans multiple times. Yet, 20 percent of those applying over the past 60 months reported being turned down, and 45 percent of those denied said they’d been rejected more than once. The most frustrating finding was that nearly a fourth — 23 percent — of these businesses didn’t know why they’d been denied.

As a result, 26 percent of business owners avoided hiring and expansion because, they said, they were frustrated with trying to access funds. Instead, they ponied up the money from their pockets and personal accounts. Those unable to tap into alternative funding sources turned to personal finances to cover expenses and keep their businesses going, a practice that put them at substantial risk.

In addition, the study determined that the last time the small business owners surveyed had needed funds, 62 percent had withdrawn personal savings, 22 percent had used business credit cards, 24 percent had used their personal credit cards and 10 percent had relied on family and friends. Only 36 percent of those seeking funds had obtained bank loans.

The crucial, yet missing, link

The study revealed that a primary reason small businesses can’t obtain bank loans is their failure to understand their business credit score. Some 45 percent of entrepreneurs surveyed didn’t even know they had a business credit score. And 72 percent didn’t know where to find information about it. Even when they did, more than eight in 10 small business owners surveyed acknowledged that they didn’t know how to interpret their score.

Education and empowerment around creditworthiness is a core issue, and can make or break a small business’s ability to get financing. Many business owners starting out are unaware of business credit, and may do significant damage to their credit without realizing it — primarily by maxing-out personal credit cards and/or credit lines because they believe they have no other choice. This short-term approach leads to significant long-term damage.

Need more information about business credit? Consider the FICO score. Just as every individual consumer has a one based on his or her personal credit record, every business has one developed by the FICO Liquid Credit Small Business Scoring Service — the FICO SBSS score. Banks use this score to evaluate term loans and lines of credit up to $1 million.

The score further rank-orders small businesses by their likelihood of making on-time payments, based on their personal and business credit history, along with other financial data. On a scale of 0 to 300, a small business must score at least 140 to pass the pre-screening process the SBA sets on its most popular loan — the 7(a) loan.

If a business with poor credit history — or none at all — is denied financing, lenders are not required to notify the owner of the reason for the rejection.

It’s crucial, therefore, for business owners to learn about their SBSS score and build credit, with timely payments to vendors and suppliers to keep that score up. Boosting the score may take years for companies with a derogatory or nonexistent credit history, so the process of strengthening creditworthiness needs to begin long before a credit application is submitted.

A number of business credit bureaus will generate a business credit score, including Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax, Experian and FICO. Anyone can purchase a business credit report from Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax or Experian, but it comes at a cost.

Until recently, there was no direct way to access the FICO SBSS score, but Premier Business Lending out of El Dorado Hills Ca while researching for small businesses found that you can now get that number through Creditera’s subscription service. It’s the only place small businesses can get that score online.

Why all of this matters

Ultimately, those who understand business credit are better positioned to succeed. The study found that nearly 40 percent of small business owners who didn’t know their business credit score anticipated growth of less than 5 percent, while nearly three quarters who did, envisioned growth of up to 20 percent.

Another answer to the perplexity surrounding rejected funding came from a revelation in the study about owners’ understanding of credit issues. The small business owners surveyed who understood their business credit scores, the study reported, were 41 percent more likely to be approved for a business loan than those who did not. And they were 31 percent more likely to consider expanding their businesses.

Some 80 percent of those in the know about their scores, moreover, considered their funding process to have been smooth, and half of those owners indicated that they were less likely to turn to personal savings to grow their companies.

Business owners, then, should determine where they stand, and take control of the factors critical to the lenders, credit card companies and even other businesses they work with. When owners understand their scores, they have an easier loan approval experience, are empowered to grow and thrive and help the overall economy thrive. That way, everyone wins.

One of the best tax benefits for small businesses owners just got a whole lot better

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One of the best tax benefits for small businesses owners just got a whole lot better. The federal government provides a significant tax deduction for small businesses that lets owners take advantage of investments in capital expenses, and this year they made the deduction permanent with the recent passage of the 2009-page omnibus spending bill. Called a Section 179 deduction, the now-permanent tax rule allows business owners to deduct the cost of equipment purchases or leasing payments up to $500,000.

Chris Wilcox, Managing Partner with Premier Business Lending, El Dorado Hills Ca based lending company stated “A bulk of our 2016 Equipment Leasing Portfolio has been made up primarily of business’s looking to take full advantage of the $500,000 Tax Benefit by making equipment purchases. By doing so, it helps them create a Tax Shelter for their company.”

In previous years, lawmakers would not pass any tax extenders until the last possible moment of the legislative session, leaving business owners in financial limbo with questions about whether they would be able to deduct more than the lower threshold of $25,000. This typically meant owners couldn’t make definitive decisions on investing in technology upgrades or making much-needed capital investments, since they didn’t know whether government officials would extend the tax deductions. This happened last year, when business owners were left to wonder the fate of Section 179 in 2015 right up until mid-December. The total cost of these Section 179 tax extenders will cost $622 billion over the next 10 years, The Hill reported.

While politicians again waited until the final seconds to pass the current extension by adding it onto an omnibus spending bill, by making the $500,000-deduction level permanent, lawmakers have built in a sense of consistency for owners, who can now make sound investment choices with the knowledge that the deductions will be available. This relieves a considerable amount of stress for business owners who need to plan their strategies for the new year by investing in their company.

Not only does the bill include the permanent extension of the higher deduction level, allowing small business owners the ability to purchase more technology and equipment, but the new rule also includes an added depreciation bonus for property acquired between 2015 and 2019. For 2015, 2016 and 2017, owners can deduct 50 percent of the cost of putting the property into service, while this amount dips down to 40 percent in 2018 and 30 percent in 2019. The added deductions should encourage more small business owners to take advantage of the new rule, hopefully making up for much of the confusion caused in previous years.

Benefiting diverse industries

Small businesses form the backbone of the nation’s economy and without the extension of these crucial tax deductions, many enterprises would be unable to find the capital necessary to grow. But with the passage of the new bill, owners will have the opportunity to invest considerable working capital in their businesses.

According to the U.S. Census Department, in 2012, very small businesses, or those with fewer than 20 employees, employed national, or 17.6 percent of the working population, while small businesses, or those 20 to 99 employees, had 19.4 million people working for them, or 16.7 percent of the population. Meanwhile, medium businesses, those classified as having 100 to 499 workers, constitute 14 percent of the population, with 14 percent. Collectively, these enterprises account for just under half of the total work force. In many instances, companies in this range must take advantage of any additional monetary assistance they can find, and in the past the Section 179 deduction has always been a key force in providing this help. Organizations in essentially every industry can deduct the cost of capital expenses, from agriculture organizations to retail shops to financial-sector companies.

As Farm Industry News noted, this extension will help farmers boost revenues in the face of sliding crop prices. For construction companies, the deduction should help account for the rising expense of labor in light of the skilled worker shortage. For retail shops, the new tax rule can assist in the costly transition to EMV point-of-sale terminals. Offices can take advantage of the change to upgrade computers or invest in new data servers. While most small businesses are eligible for this great offer, owners should speak with a tax professional or accountant before making any final decisions.

Leasing or financing equipment

While small business owners can use this tax deduction to take advantage of capital expenses, Section 179 also allows companies to deduct the payments for financing or leasing equipment. In some instances, the IRS lets owners deduct 100 percent of equipment lease payments because this qualifies as an off-balance sheet operating expenses. Going this route means a small business can then speed up depreciation for the equipment, since this can be deducted during the term of the lease rather than the life of the equipment. In addition, most equipment does not qualify as an asset, alleviating the burden of having to pay the IRS’s Alternative Minimum Tax.