Commercial borrowers need to realize that they have more commercial loan options than they think. These business financing options are referred to here as "Thinking Outside the Bank" because most commercial borrowers believe that a bank is the best source for a commercial loan. Non-traditional business lenders are commonly considered to have the competitive edge for a variety of business financing situations.

Here are two brief examples about how a commercial borrower is likely to benefit by "Thinking Outside the Bank". In many situations a traditional bank will provide a commercial mortgage but will include non-competitive covenants and terms. In other cases a traditional bank will decline the business loan because they do not provide commercial financing to the commercial borrower's particular type of business.

Some commercial mortgage borrowers will probably feel that a bank is their only source for a business loan. However, since banks traditionally focus on a few established industries, non-bank commercial lenders should be reviewed for most commercial loan scenarios. Therefore the recommended business financing strategy described in this article is to "Think Outside the Bank".

As I described in a prior commercial loan report, in many business financing scenarios it is typical for a traditional bank to require more business loan covenants than would normally be seen in a competitive commercial mortgage situation. Traditional banks can unfortunately take advantage of a shortage of commercial lenders in their local market area.

An effective response by borrowers is to emphasize business financing options other than the traditional ones. It is not wise for business borrowers to depend only upon local banks for commercial loan possibilities. For common commercial financing circumstances, a non-local business lender can frequently provide the best business loan terms because of competition with other business lenders.

There are three business loan scenarios in which borrowers will commonly discover that non-traditional lenders will offer terms that are better for the business owner: (1) commercial real estate financing programs; (2) working capital business loan programs; and (3) business management programs for credit card processing.

Business Loan Options - Commercial Mortgage Loan Programs

Two of the worst commercial real estate financing problems for business owners can be eliminated by "Thinking Outside the Bank". The first commercial mortgage business loan problem is the typical bank practice to eliminate most special purpose business properties (such as golf courses and funeral homes) from their lending portfolio.

The second business financing situation is the typical practice of most commercial banks to attach balloon and/or recall provisions to their commercial mortgage loans (which means that the bank can require early repayment of the commercial loan under various conditions). Both of these undesirable business loan situations can usually and easily be avoided by considering a non-traditional and non-bank lender.

Working Capital Business Loan and Business Cash Advance Programs - Business Financing Alternatives

Business owners that accept credit cards will frequently qualify for a working capital business loan via credit card financing. Traditional lenders will often be very poor candidates to consider if a business needs help with a business cash advance.

Because even the most successful merchants usually need more financial resources than they can get from a conventional commercial business loan, it is essential for a business to "Think Outside the Bank" and find non-traditional lenders to coordinate this commercial financing requirement.

Credit Card Processing Programs - Working Capital Management Choices

The choice of an appropriate credit card processing service can be instrumental in improving the profitability of businesses with a high volume of credit card activity. The analysis of credit card processing providers can be effectively combined with the credit card factoring and credit card receivables process described above.

In managing a merchant cash advance program, it is often possible to obtain a significant improvement in credit card processing activities. It is probable that a non-traditional lender will be the key source of effective help with credit card processing because traditional banks are usually not competitive in providing assistance with credit card financing.

A closing business financing thought: I have written an earlier business loan article about commercial lenders to avoid. It should be noted that there are in fact both traditional and non-traditional (non-bank) lenders which should be avoided.

When business owners are "Thinking Outside the Bank", they should be ready to avoid troublesome non-traditional business lenders in their quest for worthy working capital management dealing with commercial real estate loans, credit card financing and credit card processing.

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