Posted: Thursday, 25 January 2024 @ 09:50
There are lots of strategic reasons businesses choose to take out a loan to support and manage financial health and stability. However, one of the common issues that SMEs have when it comes to traditional banks is timing. That's where a lender who empathises with the realities of small and medium sized business planning, makes a practical difference.
SME cash flow needs
Recent articles have reported that in January the demand for loans from alternative funding solutions grew particularly because of the online tax return deadline and its impact on cash flow. LondonLovesBusiness wrote: "With the online tax return deadline approaching, UK SMEs are turning to alternative funding solutions as cash flow tightens."
Equally, as a traditionally quiet trading period for many businesses, the early months of the year often see companies invest in anything from office refurbishment to buying new stock in preparation for the months ahead. It may even be that you knew you would have a fantastic period of trade in December followed by a quieter period at the start of the year, and you would like to plan additional support for cash flow purposes as a result.
With traditional banks, you would most likely have needed to have conversations relating to any of the above, several months ago. Their processes take time to approve and then more time for money to land in your bank account. However, in reality most SMEs simply don't operate that far in advance. It's not an inability to do so, it's just entirely impractical - they work on much shorter lead times, faster processes and if they have a purpose for a loan it's likely to be fairly imminent.
A loan that supports the realities of business planning
This is where alternative funding solutions step up to the plate, and in the case of our team at Rivers we understand and empathise with the need for fast decision-making and processing because we too are an SME. We understand that not all business plans are made a year in advance, so we offer the realist's approach to capital management.
For that reason, our application and approval process has been designed with the practicalities of business in mind. As we have written before, we also operate on the basis of fixed interest rates, so as soon as a transaction is agreed, you know where you stand from the outset and what your repayments will be each month. The market might change, but our arrangement with you won't - a level of dependability that we know both our brokers and our customers appreciate.
Our decisions are not computer based - they're underpinned by experienced, human underwriting processes. Furthermore, for the sake of responsible lending, we don't just look at your last quarter of business, but how long you have been trading, how you have performed over that period, the mechanics of the company, the status of the individual behind the business and their assets, and so forth. In short, we look at the whole picture to understand the reason for the loan and whether it's responsible for everyone involved.
Knowing that different things and stages in business maturity have different lending requirements, we also offer a suite of finance products and corporate loan facilities, available for different amounts and time frames up to five years, including secured loans, low start loans and asset finance.
A lending partner with business experience
Used appropriately, loans can be a powerful tool for sensible company cash flow and financial management, instrumental for helping them grow and thrive. It's wise to keep some cash in the bank while leveraging a loan to your commercial advantage, allowing you to get on with the running of your business whilst retaining a safety net. To make money work for you however, you need a partner (lender) who gets it, and who operates on commercial terms as well. Through our collective experience, that's what the team at Rivers has designed, that's what we offer and that's what we're committed to.
If you're interested in business loans for sensible cash flow, speak to our team.
CONTACT RIVERS