Are you planning to apply for business loans? If yes, this article can be the ultimate guide for your needs. Whether you are starting a new venture or expanding an existing business, a business loan gives you an edge to build your business or boost its growth. When the financial worries are aside, you focus better on strategizing the business. But how can you get a business loan? Before answering this question, let us start with the primary idea of the business loan first:
What is a Business Loan and Why Do We Need It?
A business loan is a financial assistance issued by financial institutions to support small and big businesses. The loan accommodates various business purposes and activities. A borrower is responsible for paying the loan back with the imposed interest amount.
A business loan helps you increase your investment into various assets and liabilities, allowing you to earn a more significant profit. You can expand operations, arrange working capital, buy more equipment, manage cash flow, and so on. Though you need to repay the amount, it supports you in the initial period to get the required boost.
However, it is not easy to get a business loan if you lack proper preparation. Many people commonly add that they could not qualify for it even after having good revenue and credit score.
So, How Do You Prepare For a Business Loan?
Here we have broken down the process into seven simple steps for proper understanding. Read through it to give wings to your dream project.
Draft Your Business Plan
A business plan is a blueprint and an overview of a business model. Lenders derive various ideas from it before approving a loan. This plan lets them know the credibility of the venture, business, and growth in the market. Thus, your plan must hold every tiny detail connected with the business. This document must have business goals, market analysis, revenue and expenses (past and present), competitors’ analysis, and a plan.
Impress and convince the lenders with an executive summary that briefs about these aspects of your business plan. Make the lenders feel that it’s not you who need them but the other way around. Make them believe that they need you and not the other way around.
Keep Your Financial Statement Ready
Lenders determine providing a loan once they realize the borrower has the potential to pay back the amount. A well-maintained financial statement can give them this idea. They will check if your business goals are achievable with the projected figures before disbursing the amount. Thus, provide an accurate account statement that contains income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements of the past 2 to 5 years. Also, plan and give an estimate for the upcoming years depending on the given account. The estimate must justify how you would be utilizing the capital, including seasonal changes.
State The Loan Purpose and The Loan Amount
The lenders idealize not only a full-proof business plan but also a confident entrepreneur. Have your vision and purpose clearly stated on paper. Also, add the amount required. Give a detailed description of which sectors you will invest the loan amount in. Like required equipment, promotion costs, etc. and research to add the best prices for them. If possible, add a comparative analysis sheet explaining the costs to show the lenders your research quality.
Highlight Your Personal Credit History
If your business credit history isn’t well established, use the personal credit score to show the worthiness. It will prove your potential to pay back. Many lenders are interested in seeping your bank statements and tax returns too. So, keep the documents and data ready before you apply for business loans.
Ask Yourself About Your Capacity For Collateral
What is Collateral? It can be any asset provided to the lender as a security for a loan. Sometimes, lenders ask you to put down some optional collaterals. So, if it applies to your case, keep an idea of how much your asset is worth. Lenders are always interested to know this fact. Because they can use this asset to secure the loan if you fail to pay it back, but this can be a loss of your asset, and thus, make sure to pay it back on time.
Explore Options For Borrowing
You will find various financial institutions providing a business loan. Before deciding on one particular source, explore what other options or institutions are offering. You can also read about offers that smaller banks and credit unions are providing.
Analyze and Understand the Available Offers
Paying back a loan is a long-term process. Know what are the available offers and how long they may take to pay off the loan. You can have an estimated idea of the payment following the interest rate and fees. Also, read all the terms and conditions associated with each loan type to choose the best.