When a small business owner has a great idea they don’t always have the capital funding to make their dream reality.  Often times they will look toward commercial lenders to help make things come to life.  Small business loans are also looked towards when companies are looking into expansion.  Growth does not always come with the cash to make it happen.  Loans come in handy to encourage and stimulate small business health.

In order to apply for a small business loan there are things to think about in regards to how the financing affects the business owner’s personal financial situation.  Many times small business loans will not show up on the owner’s personal credit.  This is helpful because they are still free to go about making personal purchase such as a home or car without any ill effect.

The benefits of business loans are great.  Usually a business owner can get anywhere from ten thousand to a million dollars for use having to only go through a processing time of about seventy two hours.  Not only are they usually a quick type of loan to procure but they also do not charge any upfront fees.  The terms and rates associated with small business loans are generally better than average and some are even offered through government regulated institutions which can improve the rate as well.  Most often small business loans have the benefit of personal customer service and very minimal documentation required.

A small business loan may require less documentation than other do but they are not without their form of required paperwork.  One thing that most commercial lenders will require is a business profile.  This document is all about the business and includes specifics about the number of people that are working for the owner, annual sales and the length the business has been running and open under the ownership of the applicant.

Another document that will be needed is a business plan.  This is particularly important for new businesses.  They don’t have a record of good history or financial management built up so a plan should convey to lender all the different aspects surrounding the business.

Another document that commercial lenders will need is a loan request.  This document lays out to the lender the amount you are looking to finance. How the loan is going to be used and what type, secure or unsecure, are you looking to acquire.

Many lenders will require knowledge business and personal debts owned by the procurer of the loan.  This is to verify a debt to income ratio for the applicants.  It is important that lenders are able to see what debt is outstanding, what types of payments are scheduled and what collateral is being held to back the debt if any.

Some commercial lenders will require and loss and profit balance sheet for established businesses.  This is not always the case and truly it is easier for a small business owner to determine with the choice institution what is needed before going through the work of gathering all of this documentation.  If it is not needed in the end time will have been wasted and that is the last thing a small business owner can have.