Huntington Beach, CA – Asset based loans can be made against any asset on a company’s balance sheet. These include accounts receivable, inventory, equipment, real estate and even off balance sheet items like purchase orders. However, simply having the asset is not a guarantee that you will be approved for a loan.
In order to improve your chances of being approved for an asset based loan, you need to have at least two of the three of the following:
- Credit
- Cash Flow
- Collateral
There are different forms of asset based loans and which two hurdles you will need to clear will change depending on the type of loan you are looking for. Let’s take a closer look. The first benchmark in many asset based loan reviews is credit. This refers to both your personal and business credit rating. In general, a credit score of 680 or better is required of your personal credit. Business credit is a little more subjective, but primarily entails your payment history, past judgments and IRS records. The asset based lender will want to know that you are running your company well by paying your suppliers on time, managing your legal recourse exposure and paying your taxes.
In an invoice factoring arrangement, personal credit is not of that much importance. The majority of the credit decision rests on the financial strength of the customers. Because the lender collects all customer payments through a controlled lock box, the lender has more control over the repayment of the loan. The collateral in this case is the invoice itself and the cash flow is also manged through the lock box. Two of the three requirements are met.
In an asset based business loan, personal and business credit along with cash flow are most important in companies with low levels of assets such as staffing companies, law firm and accounting offices. The collateral taken when lending to service companies is covered under a “blanket lien” of all company assets. However, there are not a lot of hard assets owned in a service company. The focus in this case shifts to the personal credit of the owners and how profitable the business is. The more profitable, the higher the cash flow and the more cash available to pay the company’s debts. This said, loaning to service companies sometimes requires that outside collateral be required, such as a lien on a personal residence or investment property, if available.
In summary, if you have the collateral for an asset based loan you need either the cash flow or credit to compliment the loan request to increase the chances of approval. While higher in cost than traditional financing, there are lower barriers to being approved and less financial scrutiny of your business.
If your company could benefit from an asset based loan, we would like to speak with you and bring the best options to the table.
To your success!
Patrick Zazueta
Huntington Coast Capital, Inc.
714-719-8966