Friday, June 24th, 2011

Since business lending began to dwindle in 2008, entrepreneurs have increasingly tried to finance their business on credit cards. Very small startups put everything on personal credit cards, while those with a bit more experience opted for corporate credit. But is it safe to finance your business entirely on what is notoriously known as costly debt?
Many of today’s big businesses, particularly in IT, are said to have been financed by credit cards. Sandy Lerner and Len Bosack are widely known to have racked up credit card debt to establish the networking giant Cisco Systems. Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin reportedly charged their first hard disks (a terabyte’s worth) and office equipment to their credit cards. Such stories suggest that if you’re savvy enough, going in the red isn’t so bad.
Getting business credit is considerably easier for people who already have established personal credit. Chairman Bob Carr of Heartland Payment Systems, a New Jersey-based payment processor, says the easiest way to get a business credit card is to go to the same company where you already have personal accounts. Since they already have you on file, they can pull and review your credit history faster.
Of course, there are other factors to look at besides processing times. The same factors ...
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Wednesday, April 27th, 2011

In a rather welcome sign of market recovery, U.S. companies took out over $6 billion in leases, loans, and lines of credit last March, up 51% from February and up 44% from the same period a year ago, a Reuters report revealed this week.
The lending group Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA), which provided the data, said that this marks the eleventh month in a row that new business volume has gone up. Total business lending for March totaled $6.2 billion, up significantly from $4.1 billion in February.
Business lending and business starts took a nosedive in 2008 following the economic recession, and recovery was slow for much of 2009. In 2010, several industries began to pick up again, and many experts are confident that the upward trend will continue through 2011.
ELFA’s member lenders finance some 50% of U.S. capital investment every year. Its members include the CIT Group, Bank of America, Caterpillar Financial Services Corp (under Caterpillar Inc.), John Deere Financial (under Deere & Co.’s), Simenes Financial Services (under Siemens Ag), and Verizon Capital Corp (under Verizon Communications Inc.).
William Sutton, the group’s president and CEO, said lenders are confident that recovery will continue to move forward. For one thing, he said, business equipment is seeing strong demand across a wide ...
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Monday, September 21st, 2009

It is easy to lose yourself in the consistent stress accumulating world of business. For some, the overwhelming pile of obligations that caravan along side the opportunity of owning your own business can glorify the repetitive nature of saying "yes sir" to your boss. However, hope is not lost. The cure is simplified order, and the best place to begin is your business finances.After a couple of deep relaxing breaths, you can begin to bring order to your financial chaos. If you are like me, then you tend to consider too many variables at once until your brain is a big pile of mush. The trick is to zoom in on one thing at a time. Forget the next problem because the right now only has room for one task.How can something so easy be so difficult to begin? Laziness is obviously a factor, but so is the ability to focus your attention proactively. Once you can concentrate all of your will on one task at a time, you can begin to take control of your business and life. This is freedom from inactivity and surrender.The idea, in essence, is a holarchy web of tasks. Each containing parts, and each part making up a whole. Of coarse taking control of your finances ...
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Monday, September 21st, 2009

More residential real estate investors are exploring commercial real estate and business loan alternatives as a result of the increasingly chaotic investment environment for residential financing. In these circumstances prospective commercial property owners, business investors and business owners should educate themselves about choices for the business opportunity financing and commercial loan climate that currently prevails throughout the United States.Environmental requirements for business finance will be a complex issue for numerous business investments. Environmental issues involved in a business loan will primarily depend upon the commercial lender as well as the type of business. More extensive requirements can impact both the cost and timing for a commercial mortgage loan.Tax returns and financial statements for a business loan are likely to be a concern for all commercial borrowers. Whereas residential mortgage financing is likely to involve only personal tax returns, most business financing will include a review of business tax returns as well. Business financial statements and personal financial statements will be required for certain kinds of business opportunity financing and commercial real estate financing.Secondary financing will often be a means of acquiring desired commercial loans. The use of seller financing or secondary financing is a prudent business financing strategy to reduce capital requirements for the borrower. Secondary financing will not be accepted by ...
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Monday, September 21st, 2009

So you want to start up a new business? You've done your research into the existing businesses and checked out your competition whilst gaining some hands on experience along the way. You're armed with your business plan, outlining your every move from your objectives, strategies, and target market to your financial forecast. You're already thinking to get no hassle
instant payday loans right now! But, there's just one little hurdle left to leap over, the decision and arrangement of business finance.
More and more businesses and new ventures are failing to get anywhere past the starting line. There are two main reasons why most businesses fail; poor management plans and inadequate business capital, which is why raising money is important in the early stages of a business.
So why is this need for finance so important? As a new business you will need not only a place for your business to be housed in but also all of the necessary equipment that will be needed to make sure your business is running to its fullest. This start up capital will be used to pay for:
• The renting/buying of a premises/office space, which will require payment of three months in advance.
• Any machinery or office equipment
• Business services such as ...
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Sunday, September 20th, 2009

Confusion about commercial loans and working capital financing seems to be increasing despite efforts by the federal government and commercial lenders to suggest that there is ample business loan funding. As a result, the actual availability of business financing for commercial finance programs such as commercial mortgages and business cash advances is unclear to most business owners.It seems apparent that there have been many reports suggesting that normal commercial finance channels are either frozen or extremely sluggish. In reality there are probably more opportunities for commercial loan needs than suggested by such reports. However, increasing uncertainties in financial and credit markets have produced conflicting and misleading information about the availability of commercial financing. For most business owners, it is probably not clear if business finance funding is realistically available to them or not.In spite of some admittedly bad news, there continue to be to reliable funding sources for commercial real estate loans, working capital loans and especially for business cash advances. At the same time, the current negative economic conditions will prove to be difficult for most businesses. Commercial borrowers should expect that extra efforts will be required to successfully arrange commercial financing. An especially harsh reality for business financing is that many banks have discontinued all or most of their business ...
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Sunday, September 20th, 2009

Whether your business is small and new or large and established you will need adequate finance for the majority of projects, purchases and expansions you're your business makes.Obtaining the necessary cash to get your business off the ground can be a challenge and few new companies are able to finance themselves on cashflow alone and therefore need to consider gaining finance from other external sources. There are many of these external sources who will be willing to provide you with this start up finance, a few examples of these are stated below:• Bank loans• Business angels• Venture capitalists• Overdrafts• Credit cards• Friends and familyThese are just a few examples of some of the places that business start-up finance is available from; however there is another source of business finance available that many people often seem to forget, this is grant finance. Business Grants can however take several months to process so you should always add extra time to your planning so that you get a decision on your grant application before the project is due to start.A lot of start up companies and small businesses are often put off the idea of applying for a business grant to help them with their finances and because of this many of these businesses are missing out on a great opportunity ...
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Sunday, September 20th, 2009

Plenty of people are looking for the perfect home based business and financial success. Many are looking but few are finding. Why is it so hard to find the right business opportunity and to be successful with that opportunity?Financial Blinders. Some business opportunity seekers seem to be wearing invisible blinders that block out the potential (and sometimes obvious) problems with the presented opportunities. They find, and fall for, every $39 real money scheme and every $197 once in a lifetime opportunity.Financial Blunders. Some of the people who could benefit most from a legitimate home based business totally miss out because they aren’t thinking. Starting a business, of any kind, involves spending money. Yes, there are ways to limit certain costs when doing business online, but the fact is that a real opportunity will cost more than a couple hundred dollars.Financial Blight. Some people find a legitimate home business opportunity, pay a reasonable cost for it then leave it to gather dust. They work it just a little, get busy doing something else and the opportunity withers, unused.Financial Misbehavior. Trying to run a home based business on a shoestring can result in a business that’s in financial knots. Choose a home based business opportunity that’s well developed and has a system for serious ...
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Sunday, September 20th, 2009

Knowing the differences in managerial practices in different countries is interesting. There are, for example, great differences among mangers in the United States as opposed to other countries. With the increasing investment of foreign firms in the United States, the syllabus of business finance is giving more attention to the integration of managers and workers from other countries into American society. This need is highlighted in that the number of inters company transferees has more than tripled from the late 1970’s. The Japanese, for example, often find it difficult to be outspoken and direct in interactions with their colleagues and superiors. People from Arabian countries usually find American teaching methods too impersonal. One can learn various approaches used by the managers to reduce culture shock. These include special programs about corporate life in the US, as well as instruction in English, books and movies and tax advice for newcomers.International business finance is essential in the curriculum of a business finance degree. The study of international business finance focuses on the operation of international firms in host countries. It is concerned with managerial issues related to the flow of people, goods and money. The ultimate aim is to manage more effectively in situations that involve crossing national boundaries. The environmental factors that affect ...
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Sunday, September 20th, 2009

The Small Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme (SFLG) was closed in January 2009 and replaced by the Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme (EFGS). The idea behind the EFGS (and indeed the SFLG before it) is to boost lending to small and medium sized businesses. Loans granted through the scheme are guaranteed by the government for up to 75% of the value of the loan. The company's directors will normally be required to personally guarantee the remaining 25%.The economic downturn has of course left small businesses struggling with cash flow and turning to their banks for support. In this climate, initiatives such as EFGS are therefore very welcome. There is some evidence that the scheme has had a positive effect and lending to small firms is increasing. A recent report published by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills showed that in year up until the 3rd April 09, 2,360 loan guarantees worth £177.8m had been issued in total under both the Small Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme and the Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme.However, despite these figures, the loan guarantees in the year to 3rd April 09 were less than the £205m guaranteed in the previous year. They are also far below the scheme's £360m budget set by the Government in March 2008. Unfortunately research conducted ...
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