How Is Financing Important to The Business?
Finance is one of the most subtle sectors of a business, which can make or break an entrepreneur. Ideally, all businesses need finances for day to day operations. A business can apply for financing for different purposes; however, there are a few common reasons why businesses seek additional funding.
Businesses that are still at the start-up stage need financing to get off the ground, and good cash flow is critical to a small business. Although a few business owners will use their savings to start a business, very few of them entirely fund the businesses to profitability, and thus will therefore need to apply for external funding.
1. Asset Purchasing or Leasing
To grow your business and increase your sales, you will often need to acquire assets such as vehicles or new machinery. Although you may have adequate cash to cover your working capital expenses for your business, you may need to take another loan to cover the lease or purchase new assets to grow your business.
Asset funding loans are a perfect way of spreading the costs of getting an expensive new asset. Loan terms from 6 months to 5 years and fixed monthly payments can help you to plan your cash flow in advance.
2. Advantages of Leasing (Lease to Own)
- Tax Credits. Equipment leases are eligible for tax credits. Depending on your lease, you can deduct payments as a business expense. Tax Section 179 will allow you an accelerated depreciation deduction on your equipment purchases.
- Establish and build business credit. You have an opportunity to grow both your personal and business credit through financing. Business credit allows you to secure approvals without a guarantor.
- Affordable. Most lessors do not require a considerable down payment.
3. The Leasing Process – What To Expect
Step 1 – Get Approved
You will need to be ready to complete a no-obligation credit application and be ready to purchase your equipment. Soft pull, no hard credit check. You will be notified of the credit decision by the lender within a few seconds or a few hours depending on the lender. (Use ClickLease for fastest approval, 5 second credit decision)
Step 2 – Select Your Equipment
After your credit has been approved, shop for the equipment at our site then contact us so we can build your quote and answer any questions you may have. The equipment total with shipping will be the total on the loan. Tax is paid in each monthly payment.
Step 3 – Complete your finance documents
The lender who approves you will deliver your lease agreements documents via email once they have the quote from us. If you are going through Clicklease, we can send your document instantly and complete the funding process in a few minutes. What you owe upon signing will depend on the lender and the terms you choose to work with.
Step 4 – Collect Your Equipment
Having finalized your financing documents, the lender will forward the payment directly to the Fortador Steamers. Then we will confirm the delivery or pick up information of the equipment.
4. Leasing vs. Purchasing
Although a majority of businesses benefit from equipment leasing, in some instances buying the equipment is more cost-effective. When comparing leasing and purchasing, consider the factors below:
- Tax and inflation rates
- Annual depreciation
- Ownership and maintenance costs
- Equipment usage
- Monthly lease costs
- The amount to be financed
- Purchase price
Fortador has partnered with four lending options to offer the right method of purchasing for your business.
Clicklease - Direct lender with an instant and transparent process. Friendly to start ups and the credit challenged. Maximum invoice is $15,000.
Ascentium - Direct lender who works best with established corporations and larger invoices.
Paypal - Consumer financing option.
CWB National Leasing - Canadian lender with flexible terms for those operating in Canada.
5. Cash is King!
The more cash your business has, the more it can do in any scenario whether it is expected or unexpected. This is especially true for startups. The most common reason any business fails is running out of money. Fixed term loans are transparent and also not filled with pressure to pay early. Versus loans whose terms change over time. For example, one of the most common mistakes a business could make on a loan is to take a short term (6 month to 18 months) thinking that they can pay off the loan while dealing with all of the other overhead and unexpected expenses along the way. When they can’t keep up or go past the initial term length, they pay a lot more interest than they ever expected and much much more than a fixed term loan. The lease to own fixed term structures allow a business to make 5x-10x what their monthly payment is each month. Between the cash retained, and the section 179 write off, most lease to own terms become net positive transactions in under 12 months. This allows for the fastest path to organic growth, and purchasing new revenue generating assets.