Advantages of Alternative Business Funding

Does your business need funding, but you need a different solution than the traditional lenders have to offer? Alternative funding can be the best solution for you, whether you need a small business loan or just need fast cash to help continue your business through a difficult time. If you’ve never heard of alternative funding, you may be hesitant to take this approach. By reading on, you can actually learn all of the best advantages of alternative funding and why you should consider this for your business funding needs.

Get Your Funds Faster

When you try to get funding from a traditional lender, this can involve a long and complicated application process where you may wait a long time and not even get your money. It can take several months to get approved and you may need to wait weeks more until you actually get your money. In many cases, businesses don’t have that kind of time on their hands.

However, when you choose alternative funding options you can get your funding faster. Some would say that this is one of the biggest benefits that alternative funding offers you. In most situations, you can get approved for your alternative funding lender in under 24 hours and can have your money in your account within 48 hours. If you need fast cash for your business, alternative funding is the best approach for you.

More Likely to Get Funding Approved

Applying for funding from a traditional lender can be a complicated process that doesn’t guarantee that you will get approved for your funding. Only about half of the applications for business funding is actually approved through traditional financial institutions. The regulations and rules around lending for these institutions can be very strict, which is why loans are not as frequently accepted. If you don’t qualify for traditional funding, you can look to alternative funding instead.

With alternative funding, your loan will be more likely to be approved. The reason for this is because the regulations are different, meaning that there is a lower bar to qualify for these loans. They also have stipulations to the loans that are less restrictive, which can also make this an incredible option for small businesses looking for funding.

Funding Has Shorter Term Length

Traditional funding often comes from “term loans”, which have terms that range between 1 and 5 years. If you need money over a period of time, this can be fine for you but this may not be better for everyone. For instance, if you need a loan to buy a fixed asset than this is a good choice.

However alternative funding usually has shorter terms for repayment, generally between 6 months and 2 years. This means that this is a better option if you want a short-term loan. Plus, if you pay them off soon you typically don’t get hit with additional fees for early repayment. That depends on your specific loan terms.

Application Process is Easier

Applying for traditional loans can require a lot of paperwork to get approval. This is one of the reasons that the traditional process for finding funding can be so complex. You often need to show a business plan, tax returns, bank statements, financial statements, and many other statements as required by the specific lender. If you’re missing any of these required documents or are unable to get the statements that the lender needs, your application will be denied.

Applying for traditional funding is a significantly easier process. In some cases, it’s just as easy as answering some questions online. Alternative funding makes it easier for you to apply for the loan and you get the answers you want about your loan a lot quicker. You don’t need a lot of time to compile all of the right documents to get the loan and end up wasting all of that time without getting the funding you need.

Can Pay Them Back Faster

As previously mentioned, you get shorter term lengths when it comes to repaying alternative funding loans. There is an additional benefit to this option: shorter terms mean that you pay them off quicker. This translates being able to remove these things from your credit sooner. Having credit paid off and removed from your accounts is a great way to help you build up your credit.

Payback Can Be Delayed

Another key difference between traditional loans and alternative funding is how much you have to pay back and when. Traditional loans require you to pay them back regularly as soon as the money is dispersed to you. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t used the funding yet. This isn’t always the case with alternative funding, depending on the alternative funding type you have chosen. When you get a business line of credit, this is similar to a credit card. You only owe money based on the amount you have used, not that you have been approved for. You can continue to borrow against this credit as needed and you still only pay based on what you use. Pay off your line of credit? Then you have it when you need it again. You can have this money when you need it without having to make monthly payments.

Options That Meet Your Individual Needs

Traditional funding doesn’t always have the tailored solutions that your business needs. When you turn to alternative funding, you have so many different options that you can choose from to get the best option for your specific needs. Just want to buy some equipment? Then you can get equipment financing to buy what you need for your business. Want funding for various needs for your business and want flexible payments? You can try a merchant cash advance where you pay out of a percentage of your credit card payments.

Traditional funding options absolutely have a place in the business world, but these solutions aren’t the best ones for every business. If your business needs financial solutions that work better for you, alternative funding can be exactly what your business needs.