As a small business owner, you may have witnessed how much harder it has become for you to access capital in the form of small non-collateral loans. After your bank says no, you may be looking for help to identify a competitive and disciplined online business lender that you can get funding from.
The banks have completely exited the “lending small” space as regulation has made it unprofitable and has forced them to seek higher loan amounts they can underwrite for a profit. The government response to the credit crisis, essentially Dodd-Frank, has tightened reserve requirements on banks and added new layers of regulation over U.S. financial firms.
For all the good that Dodd-Frank did to protect consumers, it also facilitated the demise of thousands of small banks. In 1984, the U.S. had 14,400 banks, but that number shrank to 5,083 by 2016. Most of the lost banks were small, and many had to merge with bigger competitors. The result is that it is harder for your small business to get modest loans of up to $300,000, because many banks nowadays focus on larger and more profitable business loans above $500,000 – high overhead costs tied to regulatory costs, limited human resources, make small loans unprofitable for most banks.
Despite, or rather because of, the retrenchment in conventional business lending since 2008, online business lenders have been trying to fill the void. And many CPAs and tax advisers should be able to help, and even be excited to save you time in looking for a small non-collateral loan that works for your small business.
Think of it from their point of view:
- The loan application and documentation burden imposed by conventional banks requires a fair amount of work. Financial statements, projections, multiple year tax returns, and the myriad other forms that banks require to underwrite a business loan can consume a lot of a CPA’s time and energy.
- By contrast, your CPA or capital adviser can help you apply for an online loan quickly and with minimum effort. All that is really needed is a minimum of 3 months’ worth of your business bank statements (easily downloaded from most banks), most recent tax returns, a copy of your driver’s license and a voided check. None of the audited financials, or fancy business plans so precious to banks are needed by IOU Financial. If you mention to your accountant a need for short term working capital, all s/he has to screen for is monthly bank deposits of at least $10,000, an average daily bank account balance of $3,000, 10 or more deposits per month, and 80% ownership in the business with at least one year in operation.
- Banks have high loan-rejection rates, due to constraints placed on them by regulations, unprofitable nature of smaller loans, timid loan committees and over-reliance on credit scores. Online business loans, like those offered by IOU Financial, sidestep these problems because they welcome smaller loans and value cash flows as much as credit scores. In other words, online lenders don’t waste your CPA’s or their clients’ time… your time.
- Speaking of time, online lenders can approve a loan request in a few hours and fund the borrower within 24 hours. A CPA or capital adviser who is helping a business owner respond to rapidly shifting cash flows knows that waiting weeks for a bank to decide a loan is completely unresponsive to the business’ needs.
- Bank loans don’t tend to be flexible, but your CPA knows that a small business relies on flexible funding to survive and prosper. IOU Financial allows a borrower to re-borrow once 40 percent of the original loan is repaid.
- CPAs are paid, among other reasons, to keep a sharp eye on expenses. They are therefore gratified to learn that IOU Financial loans costs much less than merchant cash advances.
- CPAs help owners manage cash flow so that the business never gets caught short. The fixed, daily or weekly, automatic repayments of IOU Financial loans means that cash outflow is spread equally over the month instead of accumulating into a large monthly payback that can weaken the business’ cash reserves. Budgeting is easier and impact upon inventory purchasing is minimal.
- Your CPA can work with IOU Financial to ensure the request loan does not put unnecessary strain on the business cash-flow. Sometimes, borrowing less is a good idea as it gives time to the business owner to work through debt repayment and get used to the loan; your CPA and IOU Financial can work together to find the right loan for your business.
Unless owners have special skills and plenty of time on their hands to deal with fastidious bank loan procedures, a business’ accounting and tax prep are best left to professionals like CPAs. Don’t make them bill you for the extra hours it takes to get a bank loan. Save money through a business loan of up to $300,000 from IOU Financial.
Ask your CPA or Capital Adviser to give us a call and will be happy to answer questions and make sure our capital can help your business grow. Call Christophe Choquart at 678 809 6685 to discuss how an IOU Financial loan may be right for your business.
