When planning to secure a suitable business financing option, a venture has ample options to explore with several traditional and alternative modes of funding available today. One of the mainstream lending institutions that provide both competitive and affordable funding to businesses are the Non-Banking Financial Companies. These lenders have positively changed the financial market, allowing a business to borrow funding with more flexibility and lesser rigidity than the traditional means of financing.
Most of these business loans are collateral-free too, which means a business with not sufficient asset to mortgage or hypothecate can still raise funding. Such financing is, however, based on past creditworthiness of the business and other financial aspects that combine to form the eligibility requirements laid down in common. When planning to apply for your business loan, it can be wise to prepare well ahead so that the application process runs smooth and you receive approval for the advance without much hassle.
Important Steps to Take Before Applying for Your Business Loan
-
Work on credit history and score
As unsecured advances, the importance of credit score for business loans remains high. Checking your credit history and score thus becomes one of the first steps to undertake when planning to secure such a business financing option. Both personal and business credit score are crucial, whereby the minimum threshold one must meet is 700. Such a score or more implies that the score holder has been financially disciplined and has met previous credit responsibilities in time. It thus gives the lender a confidence to approve the desired loan amount an applicant has applied for. You must thus start working on your credit score improvement if you hold a lower score than desired.
-
Set the financials right
When processing an unsecured business loan option, a lender examines whether the borrowing business holds necessary financial health or not for bearing the loan liability without much strain. It is thus ideal that you also take a look at business finances and arrange all necessary documents before applying. You may also want to repay any small debts running to reduce your current liabilities and improve repayment capacity of the business.
-
Make a plan for business growth and expansion in near future
When borrowing, a business must also be organised about its future plans, which mandatorily include its visions about growth and expansion. You should thus chart out your business plans as clearly as possible with all necessary details and present it to the lender as required for business stability and future prospects assessment.
-
Plan repayments
One of the great ways to secure the necessary business financing option is to plan your repayments ahead of applying. Doing so will help you identify the funds to allocate for such repayment and help make a clear plan about loan liability fulfilment. It would not only make your financials simplified but also help gain lender trust due to such discipline applied.
-
Compare lender offers
When seeking funding to infuse in the business, you must make sure to compare various loan offers provided by different lending institutions. It should help you identify the best loan features available in the market. You would also be able to compare affordability of one loan offer from other by identifying of interest rate levies from different lending institutions.
-
Check if you meet all eligibility requirements
Another prior necessity when applying for an unsecured business loan is to check if you meet all eligibility requirements or not. As these are collateral-free advances, lenders generally rely on the eligibility a borrowing business holds to determine financial affordability for the repayment liability. You must thus make sure to check that you meet all criteria laid down by your financial institution accurately before sending your loan application.
-
Assess loan amount affordability
Also, make sure that you have assessed in detail the affordability of the loan amount sought based on your financial standing so you make repayments without much strain on your finances. Use a business loan EMI calculator to check if you have chosen a suitable loan amount and tenure for repayment or not.
When applying for a chosen business financing option, it is advisable to go for the online process as it simplifies all the steps involved. Also, keep all documents ready so the entire processing is streamlined for quick approval.
