Believe it or not, every small business loan application doesn’t have to take up a few weeks of your life. Not every lender will require perfect credit, a complicated business plan, and pages and pages of documents just to tell you whether or not your business is going pay rent this month. Occasionally small business owners find themselves in a financial tight spot. That’s a simple fact of doing business. What’s not a fact is that the major banks, SBA and fast cash merchant cash advance companies are your only options for a small business loan application. Read on to learn what other small business loan applications options you have.The Good and Bad of a Small business Loan Application from a BankIf you have ever tried to fill out a small business loan application from a traditional bank, you may already understand the headline. If you haven’t, allow me to fill you in. Banks place heavy emphasis on the entrepreneurs personal as well as business credit, in addition to many other factors. For some business owners, a few missed payments on a credit card can be the difference between receiving funding and being left out in the cold.Most banks will also want years’ worth of tax returns and other documents for their loan application. They will spend weeks analyzing the data, slogging through every decision you have ever made. You will also need to explain exactly how every penny of the loan will be spent in advance, and detail it in a business plan.Banks will also require a list of collateral and capital that you are willing to risk on the loan. Should your business run into hard times, you may find the delivery van that you need to run your business has been taken away by the bank.Finally, after the banking crisis of the last few years, many banks are still feeling the after effects of their poor lending policies that led to the near collapse of the economy in the first place. This can make it difficult to simply find a bank that is accepting small business loan applications at all.I don’t want you to think that bank loans are all bad. Quite the contrary, banks provide some of the cheapest and safest working capital a business owner could ask for, which often more than makes up for the inflexibility of the loan application process.What about an MCA or alternative loan for small business?An MCA (Merchant Cash Advance) is a very different form of lending. To qualify, most lenders require you to have been in business for more than a year, as well as a minimum monthly number of credit card transactions. While the terms and process are much more flexible than a small business loan application, the price tag for the capital can vary widely from lender to lender.MCA’s are not technically a loan; rather, the lender purchases an amount of future credit card sales your business is expected to make at a discount. Because of this, the loan is repaid in micropayments as credit card sales are made. The advantage to this is there are no large monthly minimums to meet. The disadvantage is a slightly higher overall cost unless the lender has access to inexpensive capital and can provide a discount on merchant account services that will further offset the cost.Unsecured loans, while sometimes more expensive, often have a much simpler small business loan application process. The trade off is the possibility of slightly higher interest rates to cover the risk of the loan. Because of that, it’s best to find a company that offers a lowest rates guarantee during the small business loan application process. Shopping around can help you save a substantial amount.So what are your options?Choosing the right option really depends on your situation. If you can afford the extra time and resources necessary to get a traditional small business loan, then perhaps it really is the best option for you. If you have less than perfect credit or believe you may have a few slow months coming soon, a loan based on cash-flow or an advance on your credit card sales may be the best option. In the end the key is finding a reliable bank or lending company that you can trust to help you find the right solution
Small Business Loans – Easier Source for Financing a Project
As business person, you are always looking for business opportunities and many of them require you to spend smaller money. For instance there is a book store for sale around your vicinity and you want to buy it. It requires small financial help as you would be investing rest of the money from own pocket. So, small business loans come handy and are meant to serve such a business situation.Small business loans sound as if they are provided very easily but that is not the case always. If the borrower has offered a property like home, equipment or any valuable property as collateral, small business loans are easier to avail as risks for the lender are reduced. The loan amount approved usually is up to a certain percentage of value of collateral. But that is not all. More than collateral, lender would see if you have sufficient experience in the business or not. Lenders see risks in a new business. This means that lenders would like to look into the type of business. Repaying capacity of the borrower also is of prime concern to the lenders in approving small business loans. Lenders like to invest their money as small business loan preferably in a business that is earning enough or has potential to earn, so that the borrower returns back the loan in regular manner. for very smaller loan, unsecured business loan can be availed at higher interest rate. Unsecured smaller business loan is usually offered to the business people having excellent credit history and is offered without collateral.Before you approach a small business loan provider, make sure that you have relevant documents ready. But prior to showing the documents you must be ready with a sound business plan that is capable of projecting the purpose of the loan or where shall it be invested. Lenders would like to have a deep look into your repaying capacity through different documents. Take cash flow projections of your business for concrete financial data. The lender would like to have a list of your personal assets and debts and in case of established business, business tax returns may be required for showing about financial health of the business.Also note that many financial institutions especially banks require you as small business loan applicant to invest a percentage of total monetary requirement of a project from own pocket. So be prepared to make a down payment for the business when asking for a small business loan.If a business person has bad credit, it is advisable that he should first make efforts to improve credit score. For instance he can pay off some easy debts for enhancing credit score. This way it would be easier for lender to consider bad credit borrower for small business loan.There are many small business loan providers on internet. Compare there interest rates and terms-conditions for a better loan deal. Preferably apply to an online lender as he can process the loan faster.No doubt small business loans are most useful for smaller financial needs. Make sure that you pay off small business loan installments regularly so that you escape any debt trap. Your credit scored also gets improved with clearing of each installment.
How to Start an Online Travel Agency Working From Home
Have you noticed that there are not many store front travel agencies these days? I guess it may have had a lot to do with the fact that many people are using their computer to book their own flights online. Also, after the disaster in New York on September 11th, people were scared to travel and a few years ago, a couple airlines lay off their workers and caused a slow period in the travel industry.
However, I think the main reason is the comfort of booking a flight from your own personal computer that fascinates the consumer to a do-it-yourself attitude. In lieu of this fact, it is apparent that an online travel agency is a good idea for a business opportunity to assist these consumers with trip planning and other customer service issues that they may still need.
There are two types of home travel businesses:
· Referral travel agencies
· Booking and selling agencies
A Referral travel agent is the easier of the two because all it requires is a word of mouth advertising to guide the customer to the online portal where they can book their flight. It is also a relationship business because the referrals in most cases come from family, friends and associates first.
The referring travel agent is compensated with a paid commission, which is decided in advance by the agency to which the referral will go. It is easy to be an online travel agent because it only requires handing out business cards, flyers and maybe placing online ads. There is no immediate contact with the customer unless it is someone who needs additional questions answered. This can be done on a part time basis until the full time income is replaced, then anyone make the transition to a full time business.
The booking and selling agencies fall into a category of only one travel agency. Since we have already confirmed that these agencies are not so popular anymore, we will only concentrate on the referring travel agent.
A referring travel agent does not need to know too much in-depth information about the specific travel details. All they do is to direct people to the website where they book their own flights and get help directly from the airline. In the case of the booking and selling agencies, they have to do the hard work of finding out all the information for the customer, which can be quite time consuming.
If you are considering the opportunity that is open to being a referral travel agent, be sure to find out if the company is stable, if they provide adequate customer service, what the compensation is, can you work full time or part time, do you need any special training, and is it something I can recommend to others with confidence.
One of the perks of being a referring travel agent is that you can work from home, you work on your own time, you get free trips called FAM trips, you get to travel first class, you get discounted air fares and priority baggage claim.
Once you have decided to pursue a travel business opportunity, make sure you treat this as a real business. Get a business name, if possible and a tax identification number. Keep good records of income and expenses because this business is tax deductible. Your vacation trips can be tax write offs if you use it also to refer travel to others.
I would also suggest that you choose a travel category and learn as much as you can about it and specialize in that category. An example is cruises or honeymoon packages. With cruises, you can target the baby boomers who love to take cruises and for the honeymoon packages, you target anyone you know who is thinking or planning to get married.
Let your enthusiasm about this travel business be infectious to everyone you meet. Make sure you take some vacations that you can talk about or suggest to your clients. Educate yourself and take this business seriously.