Many businesses without a line of credit or a business loan don’t think about obtaining one until it’s almost too late. They wait until they’re short on payday, their creditors are calling, or they’re unable to meet their obligations due to their business struggling with cash flow.
Would a business line of credit or a business loan help you avoid getting into this
Before You Need It
As we indicated, the best time to consider getting a business line of credit or a business loan is before you need it. In fact, the perfect time to get and one is when your bank account is flush with money and your business is running beautifully. That’s because a business line of credit is a fall-back strategy. It is a backup plan. But a backup plan doesn’t do you much good if it’s not in place when the you-know-what hits the fan.
If your financials are in great shape – you have an excellent FICO credit score, a great credit history, good cash flow, and no problem making monthly payments – don’t make the mistake of telling yourself you don’t need a business line of credit. A business line of credit is a safety net. It’s like an emergency savings account in finance and often the interest rates are much lower than what your business makes in selling more of its products/services. If you’re not one of the lucky few to have the luxury of large cash reserves, it’s an absolutely essential contingency to have a business line of credit when unexpected expenses come up.
A Narrow Margin of Error
The JP Morgan Chase Institute published a study of the financials of small businesses in 2016. What they found was that most small businesses were operating on exceedingly small cash reserves. Depending on the industry, most small businesses had only enough cash to cover six or fewer weeks of expenses. Here’s a breakdown of their findings by industry:
- Restaurants: 16 days
- Repair and maintenance: 18 days
- Retail: 19 days
- Construction: 20 days
- Personal services: 21 days
- Wholesalers: 23 days
- Metal and machinery: 28 days
- Health care services: 30 days
- High-tech manufacturing: 32 days
- Other professional services: 33 days
- High-tech services: 33 days
- Real estate: 47 days
The lack of a significant buffer for most small businesses makes access to fast credit or some form of short-term cash advance even more crucial. If the difference between insolvency and financial health for a business owner is measured in days, it is important to have a backup plan in place in case there is a temporary interruption to income and revenue. Most credit card companies, credit unions, online lenders, and traditional banks won’t accept an unforeseen event as a legitimate excuse for missing monthly payments.
Before an Emergency
The nature of a business emergency is that it’s all-encompassing. Whether it’s a flood in your restaurant, a key associate in your firm quitting without notice, or uncovering financial malfeasance by a hired professional, if you’re unfortunate enough to experience a business financing emergency, you’ll have your hands full for a little while.
Times like these are the worst moments to be worrying about where to find the money needed to keep your business afloat while you deal with the problem. In cases like these, having your solution ready and at hand without having to worry about a lengthy application process or contacting the bank makes all the difference in the world.
If you wait until the last second, you may not have time to fully investigate the terms of any credit card, line of credit, or loan you secure. You may not have time to investigate the best lenders or distinguish reputable from disreputable companies.
So before you suffer misfortune, build some slack into your finances by securing a business line of credit. While you won’t need it in the best of times, you’ll be glad it’s there in the worst of times.
Before You Create a Huge Cash Reserve
One of the great things about a business line of credit (as we’ve written about before) is that the increase in flexibility allows you to reduce the amount of cash you keep in reserve. Reserve cash reduces risk but at a significant opportunity cost. Cash locked up in a savings account doesn’t earn significant interest nor can this lump sum be put to productive use in the form of capital projects.
Before you create a large cash reserve to protect against emergencies or unforeseen events, consider taking a look at your business line of credit options. You just might save yourself a significant amount of money.
Before Any Major Changes
Let’s say that you’ve severed your relationship with one of your biggest clients because of consistently late payments and begun engagement with a new client. While it’s definitely a cause for excitement, be prepared for a rainy day in case the new arrangement doesn’t work out.
This principle holds true for any major change in your firm’s book of business or structure. While you’re always hoping for the best, the changes to your annual revenue or working capital may create a temporary interruption in your ability to meet your expenses. In the worst case, you could be unable to make payroll, pay fees, or a government remittance.
Before you undertake a major change, plan to build in a little bit of cushion by securing a business line of credit first. That way, you’ve got a safety net in case things don’t go according to plan.
Financing Solutions: A Small Business Line of Credit No Personal Guarantee
At Financing Solutions, we specialize in offering lines of credit to businesses that don’t need one…yet. We understand that life throws a lot of curveballs and, for that reason, you want to be prepared in case something unforeseen happens. Our low-cost business lines of credit are perfect for small and medium-sized businesses that want to enjoy the best of times while preparing for the worst.
Our online credit line application allows you to access a quote in just a few minutes or you can give us a call at 862.207.4118 and let us know what you’re looking for. We’d love to chat with you. We will even tell you within 24 hours what your credit limit would be for our unsecured business line of credit product.
Oftentimes, business borrowers will turn to business financing because their credit card credit limit is just not enough to help in major cash flow management issues.
About Financing Solutions
Financing Solutions, an A+ and 5 stars rated BBB company since 2002, is a direct lender that provides lines of credit to small businesses and nonprofits.
Financing Solutions small business financing product is a great alternative to a traditional bank line of credit because it costs nothing to set up, nothing until used, and when used, is inexpensive. The credit line requires no collateral and no personal guarantees.
Small businesses use their line of credit to help with emergencies or opportunities when your small business cash flow management is temporarily down (i.e. Payroll funding)
Please feel free to fill out the no-obligation, 2-minute business line of credit application here.The time to set up a credit line is when you don’t need it so that it is ready to be used, just in case.
Note: Financing Solutions donates 10% of its profits to various nonprofit charities