Small Business Financing Alternatives
While being your own boss and owning your own company has many
advantages and benefits, there are many challenges that you face
as a small business owner. One of those challenges invloves
meeting the cash requirements of operating your business.
Getting the money to start your business was challenging enough,
getting additional cash once your business has been started can
prove to be even more difficult. Banks are more than willing to
greet you with open arms when it comes to providing you with a
business checking account and other services that they can
charge fees for, but quickly change their tune when it comes to
making a loan to help your small business. Even if the bank does
agree to loan your business money, they often require you to
pledge not only business assets but personal assets, such as
your house, for collateral. It is safe to say that most small
business owners have complete faith in their business concept
but any number of uncontrollable factors could have a negative
impact on business and sales. It is also safe to say that most
small business owners count on their small business as their
sole means of income. If sales were to drop off and a business
could not keep up with their loan payments, then the business
owner faces losing his/her business to the bank or, even worse,
losing their home and other personal assets to the bank.
However, there are alternatives for the small business owner to
get the working capital that they need for their business
outside of traditional capital sources, such as banks. One of
these alternatives is for the business owner to use the future
credit card sales of their business to meet their current cash
flow requirements. With this type of funding solution, a
business agrees to sell a portion of it's anticipated future
credit card sales at a discount. In turn, they submit a
percentage of their daily credit card sales until the agreed
upon future sales amount has been satisified. Here's how the
program works:
- The company purchasing the future credit card sales of the
business will review 4 to 6 months of credit card processing
statements to determine the average monthly credit card sales of
the business. - Based upon this average, the company purchasing
the future credit card sales will make an offer to purchase the
anticipated future sales at a discount. Typically, the offer
will be for 1 to 2 months of the average sales and it usually
takes about 6 to 10 months for the agreed upon future sales to
be collected. - The future sales due to the company that
purchased them is retrieved by capturing a fixed percentage of
the daily credit card sales of the business when the business
batches their credit card sales for the day.
Among the advantages of this type of funding solution are:
- It is not a loan. So there is no debt load that is put on the
books and no impact on credit scores. - Since it is not a loan,
there is no colleratal required or pleding of personal assets. -
The business recives the cash it needs quickly. Typically, from
application to approval to funding takes less than 10 business
days. - There is no set time frame for repayment. - There is no
fixed amount. A fixed percentage of daily sales is retrieved,
not a fixed dollar amount. Therefore, payment amount is directly
related to sales. When sales are up the $ payback for the day is
up. When your sales are down, the $ payback for the day is down.
- Payback is automated. The $ due for the day based on the
withholding percentage is automatically retrieved from the day's
credit card batch. There is no need to keep up with due dates or
worry about late charges. - Approval criteria is much more than
liberal than the approval criteria for getting bank loan. While
the approval criteria is very liberal, it does not mean that
just because a business accepts credit cards that it will be
approved. There is an application process that a business must
go through. However, funding decisions are made within 24 hours
of an application being submitted.
There are many types of businesses that this type of funding
solution will work for. Among those business types are:
- Restaurants - Nightclubs & Bars - Retailers - Salons & Spas -
Automotive Service Centers - Hotels/Motels
Eligibilty requirements for businesses to receive this type of
funding will vary from company to company. Typically, the
requirements are going to be as follows:
- In business at 12 months - Accept credit cards as a form of
payment from their customers - Provide at least 4 months of
credit card processing statements - Not in bankruptcy and be at
12 months discharged from previous bankruptcies - If there are
liens, they do not total more than $100,000
Owning your own business is very rewarding but there are
challenges. Among those challenges is being able to get access
to the capital you need to sustain and grow your business.
Historically, banks have been the main source of obtaining
additional capital. However, banks are often unwilling to lend
money to the small business or require the small business owner
to pledge personal assets in order to secure financing. Now,
there are alternative solutions available for the small business
owner to get the capital that they need for their business.
Among those solutions is for the small business owner to
leverage their future sales by selling a portion of their
anticipated future credit card sales to get the cash their
business needs.
For more information, visit www.prioritycapital.net to learn
more about this type of funding solution and to see how much
working capital your business could be eligible for.