Special Small Business Comments —
Commercial Financing, Working Capital and Small Business Loans
AEX Commercial Financing Group is very active in publishing candid comments about the current state of business lending for commercial mortgage loans, business cash advances and working capital financing. One of the primary locations for viewing our comments is The Working Capital Journal. The "Commercial Finance Review" page on this website also features a number of our recent comments. On this "Small Business Comments" page, we are attempting to provide a more concise summary featuring a limited number of comments that we consider to be of special interest for most small business owners.
Small Business Survival and Commercial Finance Options —
Guerrilla Loan Tactics Might Be Required
It is increasingly likely that many business owners will need to do "whatever it takes" and include
aggressive use of guerrilla loan tactics when seeking commercial loans
and short-term working capital required for their business to survive. We have published a small business financing "Survival Guide" summarizing the most effective guerrilla financing options for small businesses to consider — this guide can be found in The Working Capital Journal. Please contact AEX Commercial Financing Group for candid advice about small business survival in the current weakened business banking environment.
New Commercial Loan Sources
Many business owners throughout the United States are being routinely informed by their current lenders that they cannot provide needed working capital and commercial loans. While there ARE new business funding sources that can help eliminate this serious commercial finance problem, we do not want to suggest that even the most effective of the new business financing sources will be able to help all businesses. Commercial financing solutions are likely to
depend on a combination of business location, business activities, type of financing, financial condition, cash flow, amount of desired financing
and operating history. Some of the best small business loan sources are operating regionally rather than nationally. Although the need to find new commercial funding sources is an inconvenience for commercial borrowers, business owners need to be reminded of the happy ending to this story — there ARE a number of effective commercial lenders currently active in making commercial loans to average and typical small businesses.
The Importance of Avoiding Online Commercial Finance Applications
There are several key reasons to avoid an online business financing application. One issue is that lending for most commercial finance transactions is simply too complex to initiate by an oversimplified automated process. The apparently easy approach omits too many preliminary steps that are essential. By submitting an online commercial financing application, business owners will also be providing confidential information to a lender before it is appropriate. There are numerous business cash advance and business loan sites that urge borrowers to fill out an application before a business owner even has a conversation with a potential lender. To avoid these complications, AEX has adopted this policy: “A business owner will not be asked to submit any application until they have completed a thorough discussion with AEX Commercial Financing Group confirming that financing is feasible for their specific business situation.”
AEX Commercial Financing Programs
Short Term Working Capital Loans —
Short-term Capital Financing — Refinancing Lines of Credit and Term Loans
Short-term working capital loans are not currently available from many banks. There are three issues (related to recent banking problems) underlying the current difficulty for business owners trying to obtain short term financing. Fortunately, new funding options are emerging to fill the void left by banks which have abandoned a commercial finance lending role. The most promising of the new financing options for small businesses represents a more flexible approach to short term loans. More businesses will qualify for the new short-term capital financing because unrealistic bank underwriting criteria have been eliminated. AEX Commercial Financing Group can provide immediate help in determining if a business qualifies for this more practical approach to short term working capital financing.
AEX Business Finance Programs
Reduced Fees for Most AEX Business Finance Programs —
Ringing Off the Hook
Many of the “traditional” sources for small business loans cannot be relied upon at this time. The urgent need for viable business finance funding has caused most business borrowers to actively seek alternative sources for their business financing requirements. AEX has written candidly and extensively about what commercial borrowers can do to effectively resolve this serious problem.
I recommend that you review what AEX has published about the difficulties currently being experienced with commercial mortgage loans and working capital financing. Business cash advance programs using future credit card processing activity have been less impacted but still involve some problem areas which CAN be effectively avoided.
In the spirit of “We’re all in this together”, AEX Commercial Financing Group has reduced fees for most business finance programs. As I have always done, I start by having a conversation with a prospective commercial borrower that gives me a comfort level indicating we are likely to be helpful in their funding efforts. If you are interested in discussing whether we can help with your specific situation, I recommend a short phone conversation at your convenience so that I can learn more about your business. Unfortunately there is probably no better indicator of financial health for most small business owners than to merely report that our phones now sound like the proverbial “phone ringing off the hook” — although we would also like to think this is a practical measure of being good at what we do.
Commercial Financing Help
The
rapidly-changing environment for business finance funding is likely to
produce a series of new problems for business owners. To help address
these evolving challenges, AEX Commercial Financing Group plans to play
a prominent role in analyzing what is happening and what to do about
it. There has already been an ample supply of disappointing responses
by business lenders to recent economic circumstances — we encourage
commercial borrowers to contact us to obtain more information and to
describe their own problem-lender stories so that we can share their
experiences with as broad an audience as possible.
Publicizing
actions being taken by business lenders throughout the United States
will contribute to at least two worthy goals: (1) To highlight
controversial bank-lender practices with a view toward eliminating or
reducing questionable lending tactics. (2) Help business owners prepare
for commercial finance funding changes. We will periodically update a
summary of our findings which can be viewed by clicking on the
“Business Loan Help” link in the right-hand column of The
Working Capital Journal.
Business Finance Consulting
Small business owners are likely to need commercial finance consulting help to resolve many complications that have emerged from the current financial crisis. AEX is devoting increased efforts to ensure that we will be able to assist as much as possible. We have recently discontinued our business loan officer training program to allow us to spend much more time on individualized consulting with commercial borrowers.
While some of our business consulting efforts are directly related to establishing new commercial loan agreements or working capital financing, we also devote significant time to helping business owners formulate contingency business financing plans. For many years we have advocated the importance of "Always having a Plan B" — the financial chaos that has become common due to recent events has made such "what if?" thinking and advice more prudent than ever. While
commercial borrowers increasingly need straightforward and effective
working capital advice, our view is that such help is
NOT readily available.
Given the
troubling financial times that are currently impacting almost all
commercial finance situations, the candor and effective advice provided
by AEX is likely to be helpful and productive for most business owners.
Please let us know how we can help with your specific situation. For personalized and candid business finance consulting, AEX charges reasonable fees. At the same time, some of our best advice continues to be available for free on various AEX Commercial Financing Group websites. AEX has consistently received positive feedback such as this recent comment — "Loved your website. Plain, simple and to the point."
