Dec 25

Business Finance Funding With Credit Card Financing

Small Business Finance No Comments »

In the face of a growing commercial finance funding crisis, many small business owners are exploring new options for commercial financing. Credit card loans and business cash advances are two working capital financing strategies which are proving to be practical and effective sources of operating cash for commercial borrowers.

The use of credit card financing often refers to business cash advances in which working capital is obtained by business owners based upon future credit card processing activity. Alternatively the use of personal credit cards to obtain a cash advance is also referred to as a credit card loan. With business finance funding shortages, small business owners are increasingly using both approaches to obtain operating cash for their business. The two financing approaches are not equal in terms of how they are viewed by commercial financing experts although the strategies might be called by the same name occasionally.

Many commercial lenders have suddenly reduced or cancelled business lines of credit and other forms of working capital loans. In response, many business owners have been forced to rely on cash obtained via their personal credit cards to sustain their businesses. We strongly urge all commercial borrowers to review our predatory lending discussion in The Working Capital Journal in order to prepare for some of the most undesirable actions being taken by many lenders which have a substantial credit card loan exposure.

There are two particular observations we want to emphasize about small business owners using personal credit cards to obtain operating cash: (1) This really is a business financing method of last resort that should be avoided whenever possible. Before assuming that this is the only source of capital available, commercial borrowers should consult with a working capital finance expert. The possibility of business cash advances and working capital loans should be thoroughly explored. (2) This questionable method of obtaining commercial finance funding will prove to be increasingly more difficult because credit card issuers are already cutting back on their unsecured lending programs.

Like reductions in their lending programs for business lines of credit, most banks are now making similar cutbacks in credit card lending. They are reducing or cancelling credit lines even when borrowers have a superb payment record. The rationale for banks reducing both credit card lines and commercial lines of credit is similar. With unsecured commercial loans or personal loans, banks fear that massive defaults are almost inevitable due to a very shaky economy and business lending climate. Unlike residential real estate financing in which real property is pledged as collateral, banks know that they have no collateral to fall back on with working capital loans and credit card loans because they are unsecured. Many small business owners use home equity lines of credit to obtain operating cash, and these funding sources are also diminishing in most areas of the United States. Although these lending programs are backed by collateral, the value of homes in many areas has decreased to the point that many outstanding loans exceed the current property value.

One of the most disturbing and frustrating occurrences in the current difficult commercial financing environment is the lack of clear information for many business owners about which funding options are realistic and possible. This factor alone has probably led thousands of commercial borrowers to obtain operating cash from their personal credit cards when there were better alternatives.

Due to the growing tendency of several major credit card issuers to exhibit predatory lending practices, the use of personal credit card loans should be avoided. At a minimum, each business owner should contact a business finance funding expert to determine if a business cash advance program or a working capital loan program can be used to obtain needed cash.



By: Stephen Bush

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Dec 20

Difficult Church Loan and Business Finance Solutions

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Church loans often suffer from several problems, and as a result specialized business finance strategies are required. Typical church financing will involve multiple difficulties.

Church loans are probably the most difficult form of commercial financing to successfully close. Churches are an integral part of local communities, so it is necessary to improve church financing solutions. In almost all cases financing will require a very specialized commercial real estate loan that is typically not widely available.

Churches are not typical commercial enterprises but they do have substantial business financing requirements. This article will offer an overview of four key church loan financing difficulties and a listing of six practical church financing strategies.

Four Major Church Financing and Business Finance Difficulties -

Before addressing possible solutions for the most common church loan needs, it is important to discuss the typical barriers to obtaining appropriate financing. Historically church financing has been difficult to arrange for several reasons:

(1) Church Loan Obstacle Number One: Church properties are unique. Lenders are therefore concerned that if commercial loan payments are not made in a timely manner and the lender is required to assume ownership of the property, it will be very difficult to find a new owner because of the unique property features.

(2) Church Financing Difficulty Number Two: Commercial lenders usually require individual guarantors for church financing, and this is inappropriate for a church loan. The financial structure of churches simply does not lend itself to a traditional lender/guarantor approach. Many commercial lenders are not comfortable with the potential lack of individual guarantors because of the difficulty of reselling the church property if negative financial circumstances occur in the future.

It is unfortunately very common for church financing to have been secured only after church members have authorized an individual guarantee for church financing. The need for individual guarantors acts as a serious barrier first because church members might be unwilling to do so and second because there might not be individuals who have enough financial resources to provide an individual guarantee for larger church financing needs.

(3) Church Financing Difficulty Number Three: When church financing is obtained, there are frequently unacceptable business finance terms such as very small loans, low loan-to-value (LTV) of 50% to 60%, short-term loans and high interest rates. These onerous terms are tantamount to the church loan being declined, and if the terms are accepted, the church is likely to experience continuing financial difficulties due to unrealistic commercial mortgage requirements.

(4) Church Financing Difficulty Number Four: Construction, renovation and land acquisition are even more difficult for churches to finance than purchases or refinancing. As a result, needed repairs are often postponed indefinitely and new churches frequently take many years to become a reality.

Six Practical Church Loan and Commercial Mortgage Solutions -

There are common-sense financing solutions for the church loan issues described above. Here is an overview of church financing that is now available from some non-traditional lenders:

(1) Church Loan Financing Approach Number One: Non-Recourse Loans (instead of guarantors). As noted above, the willingness to forego traditional guarantors does require a non-traditional lender. With this church financing approach, church lending will not depend on individual guarantors.

(2) Church Loan Solution Number Two: Long-term business loans. Church financing will be much more successful when it is long-term instead of short-term (payments will be reduced dramatically).

(3) Church Loan Solution Number Three: Low interest rates (usually a maximum of prime plus 1-2%). In reality many churches have been taken advantage of and charged excessive interest rates because lenders perceived that they did not have any other realistic options.

With payments limited to prime plus 1-2% or less, church financing payments will be noticeably reduced. In combination with longer-term loans, the overall payment reduction will make a significant contribution to church cash flow improvements.

(4) Church Loan Solution Number Four: Church loan financing minimum of $500,000. This allows churches to complete most financing in one step rather than piecemeal over a period of years.

(5) Church Loan Solution Number Five: Higher LTV (75%-90% is possible). This results in a more workable amount of 10% to 25% (rather than 40% to 50% with traditional church financing) for the down payment or non-financed portion in refinancing.

(6) Church Loan Solution Number Six: Church financing can now include new construction, renovation, land acquisition, purchase and refinancing. Due to flexible church loan financing, it is not necessary for any of these important church loan activities to be postponed.

Collectively the six church financing solutions described above should benefit a large number of churches by allowing refinancing with much better financial terms and by facilitating the construction of new churches on an accelerated timetable. The six church loan financing approaches should result in financial covenants that will contribute to the long-term financial profile of prudent churches which adhere to the church financing approaches suggested.

Regardless of the practical business finance and commercial mortgage strategies that have been described above, it is appropriate to emphasize that arranging appropriate church financing will almost always be difficult. Due to the specialized nature of a church loan, unavoidable complications with the commercial real estate financing should be anticipated. As a result, prudent church borrowers should attempt to acquire a better understanding of these complex business loan issues.



By: Stephen Bush

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Dec 10

How Commercial Lenders Went Wrong With Small Business Financing

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Small business owners will be more likely to avoid serious future business finance problems with working capital management and commercial real estate loans by exploring what went wrong with business financing and commercial lending. This is not a hypothetical issue for most commercial borrowers, particularly if they need help with determining practical small business financing choices that are available to them. The bankers and banks responsible for the recent financial meltdown seem to be saying that even if anything actually went wrong, everything is fine now in the world of commercial lending. Nothing could be further from the truth. Commercial lenders made serious mistakes, and according to a popular phrase, if business lenders and business owners forget these mistakes, they are doomed to repeat them in the future.

Greed seems to be a common theme for several of the most serious business finance mistakes made by many lending institutions. Unsurprising negative results were produced by the attempt to produce quick profits and higher-than-normal returns. The bankers themselves seem to be the only ones surprised by the devastating losses that they produced. The largest small business lender in the United States (CIT Group) declared bankruptcy after two years of attempting to get someone else to pay for their mistakes. We are already seeing a record level of bank failures, and by most accounts many of the largest banks should have been allowed to fail but were instead supported by artificial government funding.

When making loans or buying securities such as those now referred to as toxic assets, there were many instances in which banks failed to look at cash flow. For some small business finance programs, a stated income commercial loan underwriting process was used in which commercial borrower tax returns were not even requested or reviewed. One of the most prominent business lenders aggressively using this approach was Lehman Brothers (which filed for bankruptcy due to a number of questionable financial dealings).

Bankers obsessed with generating quick profits frequently lost sight of a basic investment principle that asset valuations can decrease quickly and do not always increase. Many business loans were finalized in which the commercial borrower had little or no equity at risk. Banks invested almost nothing in cash (as little as three cents on the dollar) when buying future toxic assets. The apparent assumption was that if any downward fluctuation in value occurred, it would be a token three to five percent. In fact we have now seen many commercial real estate values decrease by 40 to 50 percent during the past two years. Commercial real estate is proving to be the next toxic asset on their balance sheets for the many banks which made the original commercial mortgages on such business properties. While there were huge government bailouts to banks which have toxic assets based on residential mortgages, it is not likely that banks will receive financial assistance to cover commercial real estate loan losses. As a result, a realistic expectation is that such commercial finance losses could produce serious problems for many banks and other lenders over the next several years. As noted in the following paragraph, many lenders have already drastically reduced their small business finance programs.

Inaccurate and misleading statements by commercial lenders about their lending activities for business finance programs to small business owners is an ongoing problem. Although banks have typically been reporting that they are lending normally with their small business financing, the actual results indicate something very different by any objective standard. It is obvious that lenders would rather not admit publicly that they are not lending normally because of the negative public relations impact this would cause. Business owners will need to be skeptical and cautious in their efforts to secure small business financing because of this particular issue alone.

There are practical and realistic small business finance solutions available to business owners in spite of the inappropriate commercial lending practices just described. The emphasis here is focusing on the problems rather than the solutions primarily because of the lingering notion by some that there are not significant current commercial lending problems. Despite contrary views from bankers and politicians, collectively most observers would agree that the multiple mistakes made by banks and other commercial lenders were serious and are likely to have long-lasting effects for commercial borrowers.

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