{"id":228,"date":"2017-11-01T23:25:51","date_gmt":"2017-11-01T23:25:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/?p=228"},"modified":"2022-04-03T12:18:06","modified_gmt":"2022-04-03T12:18:06","slug":"10-things-to-know-before-applying-for-a-small-business-loan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/228\/10-things-to-know-before-applying-for-a-small-business-loan\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Things to Know Before Applying for a Small Business Loan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Could your small business could use a little capital, but you&#8217;re feeling nervous about applying for a small business loan?<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s true that the loan application process can be tedious and overwhelming. But you don&#8217;t have to be nervous about it.<\/p>\n<p>In order to put your best foot forward, you&#8217;ll need to know a few things:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Where do you start?<\/li>\n<li>What documents will you need?<\/li>\n<li>What questions will be asked of you?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>That&#8217;s why we&#8217;ve put together this checklist to make the whole process go a lot more smoothly.<\/p>\n<p>So read on to find out what you can expect.<\/p>\n<h2>Prepare to Impress The Lenders<\/h2>\n<p>You can apply online with lenders like Sunwise Capital with a simple <a href=\"http:\/\/sunwisecapital.com\">click!<\/a><\/p>\n<p>But before you do that, you need to understand that an approval on a loan request will depend on how well you present yourself, your business and your financial needs.<\/p>\n<p>That best way to do this is to gather all of the relevant documentation and to know beforehand the answers to the most commonly asked questions.<\/p>\n<p>Follow this checklist to step into the lender&#8217;s office with confidence.<\/p>\n<h2>1. Gather the Important Documents<\/h2>\n<p>Documentation requirements will vary from lender to lender. But we recommend you pull together all of the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Legal documents, including licenses, articles of incorporation, copies of third-party contracts, commercial leases or franchise agreements<\/li>\n<li>Personal and business tax returns<\/li>\n<li>Financial statements, including profit and loss statements, personal financial statements and payroll records<\/li>\n<li>Disclosure of any asset liens<\/li>\n<li>Bank statements from the past 6 &#8211; 12 months<\/li>\n<li>A list of possible collateral<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These are definitely the most common documents.<\/p>\n<p>You should know that this first step is one of the more time-consuming parts of the whole application process. So set aside some time for it.<\/p>\n<h2>2. Check Your Personal and Business Credit Scores<\/h2>\n<p>It&#8217;s best to know these numbers and where you stand before you approach the lender.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s because your loan terms, interest rate and ability to get a loan are all largely driven by your personal credit score or FICO.<\/p>\n<p>If you don&#8217;t know offhand what your business or personal credit scores are, you can access a free personal credit report once per year <a href=\"https:\/\/www.annualcreditreport.com\/requestReport\/landingPage.action\">from the internet<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This report will include all three of your <a href=\"http:\/\/www.myfico.com\/credit-education\/credit-scores\/\">FICO credit scores<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>3. Walk in with a Solid Business Plan<\/h2>\n<p>Applying for a small business loan without a solid business plan is risky business.<\/p>\n<p>Lenders want the sense that they&#8217;re investing in a sure thing.<\/p>\n<p>So be certain that your business plan clearly addresses the structure of your business, how it currently fills a market need, and your projections for its future growth.<\/p>\n<h2>4. Have a Background Statement for Your Business<\/h2>\n<p>This isn&#8217;t something that conventional lenders will necessarily require. But it could give you a leg up when lenders are considering you.<\/p>\n<p>Especially if they want to gauge your experience in the industry for which you want this small business loan.<\/p>\n<p>Your background statement can be something as simple as outlining your resume and experience, and\/or the history of successes in your business.<\/p>\n<h2>5. Know Why You Are Applying for the Small Business Loan<\/h2>\n<p>This might sound elementary, but having the details of what you&#8217;ll use the funds for can help lenders determine whether you&#8217;re a worthwhile investment.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Are you looking to expand?<\/li>\n<li>Do you want to add a second location?<\/li>\n<li>Is there a need to hire an accountant for the upcoming tax season?<\/li>\n<li>Does your business need more inventory for the holiday season?<\/li>\n<li>Are you waiting for someone to pay an invoice?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Be honest and have these details ready. The lenders appreciate it.<\/p>\n<h2>6. Have a Timeframe for When You Can Pay The Loan Back<\/h2>\n<p>This could be a span of months or years.<\/p>\n<p>But knowing this before applying for a small business loan will help you determine how large of a loan you can afford, as well as what type of business loan or line of credit will be best for you.<\/p>\n<h2>7. Be Aware of the Kind of Small Business Loan You Need<\/h2>\n<p>Yep. There&#8217;s more than one kind of small business loan. You could go any of these routes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Traditional bank loans<\/li>\n<li>SBA business loans from banks<\/li>\n<li>Online small business loans<\/li>\n<li>VA business loans<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>With each sort of loan, there will be different qualifications, requirements and interest rates.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s why it&#8217;s crucial that you choose the type that will best fit your needs BEFORE you spend time pulling together an application.<\/p>\n<h2>8. Know How Much Financing You Will Need<\/h2>\n<p>Running a business isn&#8217;t a &#8220;one fare covers it all&#8221; venture. Take into consideration your extra expenses and what your price point is going to be.<\/p>\n<p>Are you launching a new product and need to open a second store? Do you need to hire a web designer and SEO provider?<\/p>\n<p>Have that calculation ready, and as close to that price point as possible. That way, you won&#8217;t bite off more than you can chew. But you won&#8217;t end up lowballing yourself either.<\/p>\n<h2>9. Be Clear on Payment Terms and Prepayment Penalties<\/h2>\n<p>The payment plans will vary from lender to lender.<\/p>\n<p>One of the first things you should ask is if they charge a penalty for paying back your loan early. This is known as a prepayment penalty, though some business lenders refer to it as a prepayment discount.<\/p>\n<p>Also keep an eye out for lenders who work the prepayment penalty into their payment terms. Ideally, try to find a lender that doesn&#8217;t charge anything for paying back your loan early.<\/p>\n<p>Once you fully understand how the payment terms work when applying for a small business loan, the better off you&#8217;ll be.<\/p>\n<h2>10. Have A Plan in Case You&#8217;re Unable to Repay the Loan<\/h2>\n<p>While we know that you have every intention of paying off your loan, life happens sometimes.<\/p>\n<p>Sales might be slower than projected or you suddenly have some unexpected expenses. It&#8217;s unlikely this will happen to you. And we hope it doesn&#8217;t!<\/p>\n<p>Still, sometimes you have to <a href=\"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/179\/failure-the-first-of-the-steps-to-success\/\">fail to succeed<\/a>. So be sure to set up a plan B with your lender so you can pay your loan back in full.<\/p>\n<h2>Get Applying for a Small Business Loan!<\/h2>\n<p>If you&#8217;re applying for a small business loan, be nervous no more. You&#8217;ve got all the information you need now.<\/p>\n<p>And keep checking back for our newest <a href=\"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/category\/business-posts\/\">helpful blogs about business<\/a>. Our business is keeping you in business!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Could your small business could use a little capital, but you&#8217;re feeling nervous about applying for a small business loan? It&#8217;s true that the loan application process can be tedious&hellip; <span class=\"read-more-span\"><a href=\"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/228\/10-things-to-know-before-applying-for-a-small-business-loan\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;10 Things to Know Before Applying for a Small Business Loan&#8221;<\/span> <span class=\"genericon genericon-next\"><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22687,"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228\/revisions\/22687"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}