Regular Financing Options
When it comes to business finance, there are many flexible options available such as leasing, factoring, regular loans, etc. However, all these options lack the attribute that we are discussing in the present article. Though sometimes all the above are the cheapest options for financing equipment purchases, manufacturing and internal or foreign sales, the truth is that they fail to provide a solution when time is an issue.
If you are about to complete a good deal and a machine broke up and you lack the funds for repairing, you can’t wait for a leasing contract to be signed in order to replace the equipment and if the delivery is close enough, you probably won’t have enough time to request a regular business loan either.
Fast Options for Business Finance
There are mainly two finance alternatives when time is an issue: Fast Business Loans and a Business Line of Credit. Which one is the best choice depends on many factors such as: time available, amount needed, recurring, credit situation, income expectation, etc.
Fast Business Loans require no long credit verifications. The money you need can be obtained quickly with little paperwork. However, further paperwork and credit checks may be needed after the money is delivered in order to close the deal on better terms. Business Lines of Credit on the other hand, take more time to be approved. But once you’ve a line of credit agreed, you’ll be able to borrow the money you need at any time, return it the way you want (with certain limits) and borrow more money as many times as you need it up to the credit maximum.
As regards to the amount, business lines of credit will provide you a smaller amount than regular business loans but higher amounts than fast business loans. Moreover, business lines of credit provide a recurring source of money which eliminates the need of applying again whenever you need more cash.
Approval for both types of loans is determined by the business’s credit situation. However, fast business loans have fewer requirements than business lines of credit. Nevertheless, approval ratio is high enough for both kind of loans and unless your business has had mayor financial delinquencies in the past approval is almost a certainty in both cases.
The Interest Rate charged for fast business loans is higher due to the fact that there are not so many requirements and fewer credit checks. This implies a greater risk for the lender that is compensated by higher rates and higher costs. However, the difference won’t be more than 3 or 4 percentage points.
Finally your income expectations will also determine which loan option is best for you. Given that fast business loans carry higher interest rates and fixed monthly installments, unless your current and future income guarantee that you’ll be able to repay the loan, you will probably do better with a business line of credit that offers more flexibility when it comes to the repayment plan.
Posts Tagged ‘ Maximum ’
Lets start off with a simple explanation of how insurance works. In the good old days before those kind men got together in the Lloyds coffee shop, people were responsible for their own losses. If the horse pulled their cart into a ditch and this broke the wheel, the owner had to put his hands into his pock’ets (which fortunately had already been invented) and pay someone to repair the wheel. But once people could share the risks, life was suddenly better. If you gather together a big enough group of cart owners, each will only have to pay a small amount into the central fund to cover the losses of the few who have accidents. Those men at Lloyds were on to a winning business formula. Moving into modern times, the idea of spreading the risk is the same and, with thousands of people in each group, the cost of loss is divided into small premiums. But, with profits under pressure, the insurance companies came up with a new variation on the old theme. Suppose they could persuade their customers to accept the risk of some of their losses. This would then become self-insurance for part of the risk. The rest would be paid by the insurance companies. So the deductible was born. You agree to pay the first portion of any loss. In the case of traffic accidents, most of the fender benders are minor and don’t cost much to repair. That means you pay for most of the repairs yourself and the insurance companies get richer. Ironically, if no-one opted for the deductible, the increase in the premium for everyone in the group would be trivial.
So let’s get to an actual example to see how it works. If you agree to accept a deductible of $1,000, you will be given a discount on the premium. Say you save 10% over the year. Now that’s a good saving if you manage to get through the year without having an accident. But suppose your luck is not good and you have an accident. The bill for repairs is $900. You put your hand in your pocket (pockets are such useful things – always seeming to have money in them) and pull out the dollars. Was your 10% saving over the year more than $900? If not, you are making a loss, not just on the insurance policy but, if you had to use your credit card, on the interest added to the $900 until it is paid off. What would happen if your run of bad luck continued and you had a second accident in the year? Do you have another $1,000 as savings or available to borrow? Perhaps we should not be so pessimistic. Worst case scenarios are always better applied to other people and never to you.
The higher the deductible you accept, the more of the risk you are accepting. Cheap car insurance is a wonderful thing to have so long as your luck holds up. But if your luck fails, the maximum deductible is going to empty that magic pocket of yours. And here’s the thing – you can be the safest driver in the world, always super careful, always following all the rules, and then you meet a dork behind the wheel of another vehicle and suddenly you’re wrapped round a tree. So look for cheap auto insurance, but always look at your cash position and ask yourself how well you would cope if the worst happened. Deductibles are good for people with a margin of financial safety.