If you’re a business owner, chances are you wish you had twice as much capital on hand as you do right now. Maybe you’re ready to expand your business, or perhaps you face the daunting task of digging it out of a hole. Whatever the situation, the reality is, if you’re going to the bank for answers, you may be looking in the wrong place.
As Business Report details in a feature from the current issue, many a successful Capital Region business has flourished despite having a request for financing turned down by a conventional bank. What to do when banks won’t help? Commercial loan brokers and alternative lenders say it’s important to know where to go and what to do to obtain the right capital for the right job.
Often, the primary issue is that the bank doesn’t understand the business, says Chris Reid, owner and commercial loan broker for Cardinal Capital. The job of a loan brokerage firm such as Cardinal is to represent the borrower to find the right lender. It is essentially a matching service, Reid says. Another option is to seek out an alternative lender.
Gary Anderson, marketing manager for Accion Louisiana, says his firm acts as a mission-based lender rather than as a traditional lender.
“Our mission is to help businesses that can’t get traditional financing,” Anderson says. “Most of our referrals come from banks that can’t do something, so they send it to us.”
Like loan brokers, alternative lenders such as Accion are filling the financing gap left by risk-averse banks. In any case, whether you’re looking to microfinance your business through an alternative lender or seeking assistance from a broker to find the right lender to provide capital needed to take your business to the next level, you must get organized and then creative when the bank tells you ‘no.’ Read the full feature. Send your comments to editors@businessreport.com.
