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The question of troubled entrepreneurs is often asked, “where can I get a business loan with bad credit?” In today’s particularly challenging economy, this is a difficult question indeed. Poor credit loans are certainly much harder to come by for today’s business people, but luckily there are also many new options available.
The first thing to do is to ensure that you have separated your business credit from your personal credit. This requires the registering your business with a Federal EIN, filling out all the necessary forms and permits, and creating a separate entity for the business credit bureaus to monitor. You can then begin building business credit by starting trade lines and using business credit cards, which keeps your business separate from your personal credit.
Of course, if your business credit is poor as well, you are still asking “where can I get a business loan?” With bad credit, your choices will be a little more narrow, but they do exist. Merchant cash advances are one such choice, as they offer loans not on the basis of credit, but on the possibility of future credit card sales. Merchants give cash advances to businesses that meet certain required minimums of credit card sales, and are often very reasonable in both size and repayment flexibility. Other options are smaller banks and credit unions, where you will be more likely to get difficult business loans by working with a less regulated environment. Another increasingly popular option is P2P lending, which cuts out the middle man entirely and allows independent lenders to meet borrowers in the online marketplace. Offers in P2P markets are very flexible, and present a wealth of options to the troubled borrower.
