Start with the lender that fits the request. A bank or credit union that already holds the business's accounts can be the first call for a term loan backed by full financial statements. An online lender can fit a business whose records are mostly bank statements. Timberwater, a third route, passes one request on to its funding partners, who each make their own call.
A bank or credit union that holds the business's accounts, an online lender, or a request through Timberwater to funding partners: each fits a different request. Contractor, retail and camera-kit examples show how.
How to Get a Business Loan? What a Stark County, ND Contractor Can Weigh Before a Retainage Gap
Retainage is the share of each progress payment that the owner holds back until the job is finished, such as 5% or 10%.
Illustration only, invented figures: a Stark County, ND contractor on a $180,000 job with 10% retainage has $18,000 held until completion, plus a final draw of $27,000 waiting on the punch list, $45,000 in all.
Before applying anywhere, the contractor can weigh three things: how long the gap lasts, whether it comes back on the next job, and how much paperwork the company can produce this week. A gap that repeats points toward a credit line; a one-time gap points toward a working capital loan. Figures for the trade are on the construction funding page.
A bank close to home is one place to start. Stark County, ND counted 18 employer establishments in NAICS 5221, Depository Credit Intermediation, the code for banks, savings institutions and credit unions, in the 2023 County Business Patterns, 14 of them at NAICS 522110, Commercial Banking.
How to Get a Business Loan for Display Cases and Extra Stock: the Answer for Retailers
A retailer buying display cases and stocking up for a large order has two purchases with two answers. The cases are equipment that a bank, a credit union or an equipment finance company can each finance, and the cases can secure the agreement. The stock is inventory, a separate request.
A bank where the store has kept its accounts for years can already know its deposit history; an online lender can ask for recent bank statements; a request through Timberwater goes to funding partners, who can look at both purchases in one review. The retail funding page takes up both purchases for Stark County, ND stores.
How to Get a Business Loan When Job-Site Trailers and Crew Payroll Land in the Same Month
Illustration only, invented figures: a Dickinson, ND contractor buys a $16,900 job-site trailer in the same month that its biweekly payroll of $14,200 meets a 30-day wait on a draw. Whether 2 or 3 paydays land inside that wait turns on the calendar, so the wages to carry run from $28,400 to $42,600.
Two requests sit inside that month: equipment financing for the trailer and working capital for the wait. At a bank they can be two applications; through Timberwater, one call can raise both, and the funding partners decide how to treat each. One sum for both on a fixed schedule would be a term loan.
How to Get a Business Loan Request Ready? An Example With a Camera Kit
Wherever the request goes, the same papers answer the first questions:
- The seller's written quote for the camera kit and the recorder
- Every page of the business checking account's last three monthly statements
- The latest business tax return, or a profit and loss for the year so far
- The legal name of the business, its EIN and its start date
- A sentence on what the cameras protect and why they are being bought now
Illustration only, invented figures: a Dickinson, ND store prices a camera kit at $11,600 and finances it over 36 months at 11.75% a year. That sets the payment at $383.90, and the 36 of them reach $13,820.40.
On Timberwater's request form there are boxes for a name, phone, email and company, three range pickers for years in business, yearly revenue and the amount wanted, and a consent box. The quote and the statements come up on the call that follows. Local figures are on the Dickinson, ND funding page.
By Timberwater Funding Group · Updated
