America’s SBDC Blog

A “Forbes 100 Best Websites for Entrepreneurs”

Helping Small Businesses Make the Best Financing Choices

September 26, 2016
By the Opportunity Finance Network

come-in-we-are-openSmall business owners pour their hearts and most of their resources into starting, growing and sustaining their businesses. Access to responsible capital is critical to grow and expand a business, which in turn is critical for financial security and creating jobs in the community.

Getting a small business loan has often been particularly hard for women and minority business owners. Women-owned businesses only get 4.4 percent of the dollar amount of all conventional small business loans. More than a third of minority business owners are worried they will not access the capital they need to maintain business operations. Furthermore, minority entrepreneurs are disproportionately denied credit when they apply for it, regardless of credit scores, income, or profits. The financial crisis that shook the entire national economy was damaging for small businesses in general, but especially small businesses owned by people of color, as large banks cut back on lending to small businesses.

In the wake of the recession, a plethora of online lenders have been promising small business owners “quick and easy” cash, without disclosing the hidden fees, high interest rates, and prepayment penalties. These tactics are harmful at the least, and can even drive some to go out of business. According to a recent survey by seven regional Federal Reserve banks, 20 percent of small businesses applying for financing in the past year went to an online lender. Though 75 percent of these businesses received at least some financing from these online lenders, only 15 percent reported being satisfied with their loans. This rise in unregulated, online alternative lenders provides an unprecedented but confusing variety of financing options, many of them designed more to help a lender’s bottom line than to help a small business succeed.  (more…)

Preparing to Buy a Business: Part 1 of 2

January 6, 2016

Business ownership is a multi-part path of challenges and seeking the right support at appropriate times. But what about the complexity of the business buying process? Knowing if your clients are prepared to take on the task of running a business is one part of the equation, but there are many nuances of the business acquisition process that, if adequately prepared for, may help your clients set realistic expectations for what’s ahead.

These steps will detail questions to ask, and client characteristics to be aware of, as you help facilitate the preparation to buy a business.

Why Buy an Existing Business?

Buying an established business is a paved path to entrepreneurship, which provides a track record and a set of operations to follow or improve. With so many for sale in the market at any given time, finding one that meets the buyer’s professional goals should be within reach.

Namely, buying a business versus starting one will allow for further refinement and evolution of the operation. Here is a quick recap to show the benefits and characteristics that accompany the purchase of an existing business.  (more…)

What Small Businesses Should Know about the EMV Fraud Liability Shift on Oct. 1, 2015

October 5, 2015
By Mary Hughes

credit-card-with-chipThe U.S. is the last developed country to migrate from magnetic-stripe (“mag-stripe”) cards to EMV¹ or chip cards.  This migration will affect credit, debit and prepaid cards issued by U.S. financial institutions.

The biggest benefit of chip card technology is the potential reduction in card fraud due to counterfeit and lost and stolen cards for card-present transactions (where the card is physically present at the point-of-sale).  Chip card transactions offer enhanced functionality in card authentication, cardholder verification, and transaction authorization, thus providing better security than magnetic-stripe cards.  A chip card has an embedded microprocessor chip (it looks like a small, metallic square on the front of the card) that stores information securely and performs cryptographic processing during the payment transaction.

When a financial institution issues a chip card, the chip is encoded with security credentials that are extremely difficult to counterfeit.  Plus, chip cards create dynamic data that are unique for each transaction and cannot be used again.  Because of these security features, countries that have implemented chip cards have seen a reduction in card-present fraud rates.  (more…)

Helping Your Clients Get Access To Capital

September 8, 2015
By Rick Burgess, CEO, Connect Lending

America is built upon our entrepreneurial spirit. This spirit is what drives our great country to innovate and endure adversity in challenging the ways businesses are managed. Every day, individuals embark on setting up a business to capitalize on the advantages our great country has to offer. With changes to regulations, additional requirements and limited lending practices, traditional bank loans aren’t always available, and may not be accessible for the everyday business.

Connect Lending

Fortunately, there are numerous types of alternative lending solutions in the marketplace. But, finding them by simply walking into your local bank or credit union isn’t going to be fruitful. Connect Lending provides an online platform to match small business owners to the right lender for their business solution. When using our platform, review these key factors with your client to ensure a smooth process for securing a loan:  (more…)

Sustainable Financing for Small Business

September 2, 2015
Financial-SolutionsBy Terry Crispen

Going green and recycling may be old concepts but that does not diminish their effectiveness in helping to achieve sustainability.  Oftentimes, we only associate sustainability with the environment, but sustainability is much more than that.  Sustainability is what should drive business decisions today and into the future. The Great Recession, largely caused by markets that were unsustainable, dealt a blow to consumers and businesses. Analysts estimate that more than 170,000 small businesses ceased operations during the Great Recession.  Now that the economy is rebounding, it is more important than ever for small business owners to remain focused on sustainability.

Today, alternative online lenders are the new rage in the financial world.  They promise speed and often deliver in three days or less. The temptation is great for small businesses to access funds in such a short period of time.  But are they making a sustainable business decision?  Once interest rates reach the 20%-40% range, the cost of getting access to fresh capital severely limits a company’s ability to perform and grow long term. Although alternative online lenders offer quick access to capital, the high interest costs make the solution unsustainable for many businesses.  (more…)