Small Business Loans for Charlotte
The city of Charlotte, North Carolina is the largest in North Carolina, with some 900,000 residents within the city limits, and over 2.7 million when you add in the surrounding metro area.
It has a lot to offer to residents and visitors alike, and has recently topped the charts for rate of population growth among millennials, after having previously been the fastest-growing metro area in general from 2004 to 2014.
Clearly, there’s some significant attraction to the culture, economy, climate, institutions, people, and things to see and do in Charlotte that makes it such a desirable place for so many to call home. Chief among those draws are the numerous cultural, sport, and entertainment centers of Charlotte.
The NASCAR Hall of Fame, Charlotte Ballet, several amusement parks, Panthers and Hornets professional sports teams, nearly 20 different museums, and a dozen performing arts venues provide a robust and varied portfolio for Charlotte.
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On top of that, many businesses have headquarters or major operations within the metro area, meaning it’s also quite attractive for businesses.
These include financial players like Bank of America and Wells Fargo, alongside everyday names like Lowe’s, Bojangles, Food Lion, Sealed Air, Meineke, Snyder’s-Lance, Harris Teeter, and a number of energy companies, to name just a few.
With a significant educational sector, owing to 5 major colleges, universities, or community colleges in the area, a steady pipeline of talented employees is surely one of the main attractions for business owners.
Small business owners looking to establish themselves may very well find Charlotte to be an excellent base of operations.
While many of the major business players – especially those in the financial industry – likely don’t struggle with financing and operational cash, the same is not true of small businesses and entrepreneurial ventures.
Small business funding is often critical to the success or failure of newer small businesses, and often involves small business loans in Charlotte, along with several other financing products.
Funding for small businesses is not just limited to loans, though small business loans are by far the most common form of financing that business owners prefer.
In today’s financial markets, small business loans in Charlotte are joined by lines of credit, short-term loans, merchant cash advances, debt consolidation loans, loans for women-owned businesses, and even bad credit business loans.
This portfolio of products is fairly diverse, and most if not all of these options are usually available from lenders who offer small business funding for Charlotte, NC businesses.
Business owners who are seeking the best funding for their small business can choose from the options for which they qualify, and match their funding needs against loans or credit products that best match the duration and kind of expenses they anticipate.
Each of these different options has various eligibility requirements and associated details, which vary from lender to lender.
Not every lender will offer all of these small business funding options, and the costs and details can vary to a material extent for your business, so it’s best to do some comparison shopping before you choose a lender.
On the topic of choosing a lender, it’s worth noting that many small businesses in Charlotte are no longer limited to relying on their bank as the only source of small business funding.
In fact, banks are often among the worst sources for some small business owners in need of small business loans in Charlotte and elsewhere.
These days, there are a variety of private, non-bank lenders who offer a full range of small business funding products, and are much more likely to approve loans and credit products than banks.
We’ll explain all about them, and why private lenders make the most sense for many small businesses, in our guide below.
Further, we’ll talk about the usual steps involved in obtaining a business loan in Charlotte. We’ll also compare and contrast the different kinds of small business funding options that are available from both banks and private lenders today.
Finally, we’ll talk about one of the leading private lenders in the US, BizFly Funding, and why they might be the ideal choice for your small business loan in Charlotte, North Carolina, or across the USA. So let’s get started!
The Process of Obtaining Small Business Funding in Charlotte
Many small business owners may not be experts in obtaining small business funding, especially if it is early in their small business experience. The good news is it’s never been easier to obtain business loans in Charlotte, or any other kind of small business funding available.
That is, of course, contingent on choosing the right kind of lender for your small business loan or credit product. The two main categories of lenders from which you have to choose are banks or private lenders.
This is, in fact, a very important decision, as it can play a significant role in:
- What types of small business funding are available to you
- How easy it is to qualify for your chosen small business funding option
- Your odds of approval for your chosen business financing
- How much time or work might be involved in the application process and funding
- All of the details about maximums, interest rates, terms, and so on
- Whether a loan will require collateral or not
Naturally, banks are familiar to most small business owners, and may seem like the logical first choice when you are in need of business loans in Charlotte.
Of course, given the proliferation of major financial institutions who are based in the city, and likewise have a significant branch office presence, they’re easy to find.
Most small businesses already have one or more accounts with a bank, anyway, so applying for a loan there is a no brainer, right?
Well, in reality, the answer is a bit more complicated than that. In general, banks’ lending divisions are highly risk-avoidant. While they may take gambles in their investment divisions, lending and depositor accounts have significant risk protection and capital preservation requirements.
They see small business lending, especially, as highly risky, since many small businesses fail and default on their loans.
These factors combine to leave banks with a general aversion to lending to small businesses, and, consequently, make them a less-than-ideal source for small business loans in Charlotte and elsewhere.
In fact, this can manifest with fewer types of small business financing available, and stricter eligibility requirements (such as higher minimum credit scores) to qualify.
Effectively, this places small business financing from banks out of reach of the vast majority of small businesses – something like 75 to 80% of the small business community can’t qualify.
At the same time, many banks who do offer some form of business loans in North Carolina will only offer secured loans and credit lines. Secured funding products require collateral in order to be issued.
This reduces the risk posed to the banks, since, even if the borrower’s company collapses and they default on the loan, the bank will be made whole by seizing the pledged collateral.
As a result, secured loans and credit products generally have a somewhat lower interest rate, reflective of the lower lender risk. The flipside to this is that small business owners take on considerably more risk by pledging collateral assets for a loan.
Many business owners do not believe the lower interest rate is worth the risk of losing property or equipment should finances turn sour.
Therefore, it should be no surprise that a large portion of business owners these days prefer unsecured small business loans and credit products, without collateral requirements.
These are the domain of private lenders, who don’t have the same kind of risk-aversion and capital requirements that are present at banks.
As a result, many private lenders – who often specialize solely in small business funding – make it far easier to qualify and obtain a small business loan in Charlotte and across the country.
They present a range of advantages for small business owners in need of financing, including:
- Eligibility requirements for most small business financing products that are much easier to meet than at banks.
This includes lower minimum credit scores, fewer months in business, and lower monthly revenue requirements in order to qualify for each type of small business loan in Charlotte compared to those same products from banks.
This increases access to funding for a wider range of small business customers.
- Easier application and approval process for all forms of business funding in North Carolina, as well as faster overall processes.
With no collateral valuation required, private lenders can allow small businesses to close a loan or credit product in a matter of hours to days, rather than days to weeks in the case of banks.
Top private lenders can provide small business funding in Charlotte in as little as 1 business day following execution of the loan agreement.
- As discussed above in regards to collateral, unsecured loans and credit products from private lenders translate into a reduced risk profile for small business owners, and allow for greater focus on the needs of the business rather than fears over collateral being seized.
- Improved access to small business funding in North Carolina, especially for those businesses that have a limited credit history or bad credit score.
Bad credit business loans are an oxymoron when it comes to banks, but are readily available from many private lenders.
These small business loans have reduced credit score and related requirements, to enable more businesses to qualify and access the cash they need to operate successfully.
When you add up all these benefits, it’s no wonder that most small business owners prefer private lenders as their source for small business loans in Charlotte, North Carolina, and elsewhere in America.
Many private lenders lend exclusively to the small business community, which is yet another advantage – they are experts in the needs of small businesses, and can help owners to more closely match financing products to their specific needs.
On top of all of that, private lenders are usually more customer-focused, service-oriented, approachable, and engaged with the small business owners who borrow from them, making for a more positive all-around lending experience.
Different Choices for Financing a Small Business
After you’ve decided upon the type of lender you might choose, the next logical step is to learn about the different choices for financing a small business that are available.
Small business funding comes in a lot of flavors these days, each of which have different qualification requirements, advantages and disadvantages, and are best suited for different kinds of business expenses or projects.
Understanding the mechanics of how these small business financing products work will better-inform small business owners in their choices, and help to ensure that interest expenses and cost of borrowing are kept to a minimum.
Effectively, a good working knowledge in small business funding will enable small business owners to get the most for their money, and make the best managerial decisions for their business.
It’s worth quickly mentioning, by way of a sort of disclaimer, that every type of financing and business loan in Charlotte, at every different lender, will come with varied eligibility criteria, loan terms, interest rates, and so on.
This may alter the balance between pros and cons for a given product at a particular lender. Likewise, the different needs of different businesses across the full spectrum of business sectors may tip the scales differently for Company A as compared to Company B.
These are the kinds of things that professionals from a reliable private lender can help you with when you are applying for small business funding.
For our purposes, most of the descriptions and information that follows is based on general or average terms offered by most of the major private lenders in operation today. Always check with your chosen lender for the exact details associated with the small business financing products for which you may be applying.
With all of that said, below is a quick synopsis of each of the major small business funding products that are available for businesses in North Carolina and throughout the US today.
- Small business loans, providing a lump sum of cash, which is repaid with interest over the life of the loan or loan term, which is typically a few years in length
- Short-term business loans, the same as the above small business loans, but with a loan term that is much shorter, often a few months to a year or two at most, with a faster repayment rate, usually weekly or even daily, compared to monthly with a small business loan
- Business lines of credit, revolving credit facilities similar to credit cards, which allow you to borrow cash in any amount you require, provided your total outstanding balance is below your credit limit, and you only pay interest on the outstanding balance, with minimum periodic payments like a credit card
- Merchant cash advances, also known as MCA loans, which also provide a lump sum of cash, but this time in exchange for pre-selling your future debit and credit card sales at a discount (the discount rate, or factor rate, is functionally equivalent to the interest rate on a loan), which is then repaid automatically via deductions from debit and credit card sales, at a rate that is tied to revenue and not the calendar
- Debt consolidation loans, which aren’t directly meant for small business funding, but rather loans that are used to pay down existing debts, combining them into a single new debt (the loan), and thus saving money on interest expenses and servicer fees
- Special small business loans for women-owned businesses, with relaxed credit score and related requirements for women-owned businesses, to increase access among a group that has historically dealt with discrimination and a lack of access to small business funding
- Bad credit business loans, discussed earlier, which have lower credit score requirements to enable companies with bad credit or a limited credit history to still qualify for small business funding in Charlotte, which is vital to improving that credit score as well as the success or failure of the business
For the Best Small Business Loans in Charlotte, Choose BizFly Funding
Hopefully we’ve made the case for choosing private, non-bank lenders as your source for small business loans in North Carolina or elsewhere.
Additionally, we hope you have a better understanding of the different kinds of small business funding options that are available from private lenders, and how they compare to one another.
Now, there’s nothing left for you to do but start the application and pre-approval process, to find out how large a small business loan or credit product you can qualify for at your chosen lender. To that end, we highly encourage you to consider BizFly Funding as your lender for all your small business funding needs.
BizFly Funding is a leader in the US private lending market, offering a full portfolio of small business funding options to the small business community. BizFly Funding can help you to find the ideal choice of credit or loans in Charlotte, and can provide up to $1 million in small business funding with several of those products (depending on qualifications). As BizFly Funding offers only unsecured loans and credit products, it’s easy and fast to apply, with high approval odds and easily-met eligibility requirements. Interest rates are affordable, and loan terms quite varied to meet the diverse needs of different small business market sectors.
Though subject to change (the latest requirements are always available on the website and as part of the application process), the core qualification requirements for some of the most popular options in the small business funding portfolio at BizFly Funding are highlighted below.
- Loan term of 2 to 36 months
- Minimum 6 months in business
- Credit score of at least 500
- $10,000 minimum monthly revenue
- Loan amounts of $5,000 to $1 million
- Interest rates of 9 to 45%
- Loan term of 6 to 24 months
- Minimum 12 months in business
- Credit score of at least 600
- $10,000 minimum monthly revenue
- Loan amounts of $15,000 to $1 million
- Interest rates of 9 to 45%
- Loan term is variable (repayment is based on sales and not tied to the calendar)
- Minimum 2 months in business
- Credit score of at least 500
- $8,000 minimum monthly revenue
- Loan amounts of $8,000 to $250,000
- Factor rates of 24 to 49%
- Credit line term is variable
- Minimum 6 months in business
- Credit score of at least 650
- $10,000 minimum monthly revenue
- Credit line amounts of $5,000 to $250,000
- Interest rates of 5 to 10%
Banks can take weeks or even a month to get you approved and funded, and that’s if you manage to overcome their qualification requirement hurdles. At BizFly Funding, getting you the right kind of funding for your business needs, as quickly as possible, is what it’s all about.
After you fill out the online application request, a team member will be in touch to discuss all of your particulars, including your unique small business funding needs. Additional documentation will be requested, and you can review all of the rates, terms, and loan amounts for which you qualify.
After signing the loan agreement, within about 1 business day, you’ll have your proceeds from a small business loan in Charlotte.
Then, you can put those funds to use running your business, following your dreams, and, hopefully, being a smashing success! To learn more or to start the application process, visit BizFly Funding online at https://bizflyfunding.com.
