subject: Business Loans - A Thing Of An Era Past? [print this page] The days of fast credit are going, going, going Gone! Also, business loans may just as well have gone the path of the Tooth Fairy. Maybe, some 1000's of years ago there was a little basis in fact for such a friendly, albeit slightly creepy benefactor as a Tooth Fairy.
The truth of today, however, is that cash has to come from somewhere, which most frequently happens to be from Mom's or Dad's savings. Even with entities such as the Small Business Administration (SBA) looking at loan applications, banks often don't have the financial strength, or the desire, to participate in the SBA and other similar programs.
This leaves entrepreneurs with a smaller amount of choices for sources of procuring funds for growth, or for short-term cash-flow problems. Still, even if any assets owned by you or your business already has liens on it, there is a method with which you can get the funding you want without the need for collateral, or the necessity to tie up any more credit, even if you can get it.
If you process a sufficient stream of Visa-MasterCard receipts, you can actually sell a portion of your future receipts in order to receive a lump sum of money immediately. It is called a business cash advance, and since it is not a loan, but an advance on money that your business takes in every day, you do not need to go with hat in hand to a traditional lender.
Once a merchant cash advance agent agrees to buy, at a lower price, a piece of your future receivables, you can get your money within a couple of working days. Then, during the normal course of operating your business you pay back the advance, plus a set fee, without having to arrange for a fixed monthly repayment schedule.
Business cash advances are not exactly similar to business loans, but they are not similar to that creepy old Tooth Fairy either, and a whole lot more realistic.
