It’s been just over a year since www.BusinessLoans.ie got started and I’m pleased to say it’s been a great year. I had started forming the idea for the business when I worked at a peer-to-peer lender in Dublin. They offer unsecured finance and the loans are filled with funds from ordinary investors who choose to chip in on business loans. They are helping the Irish economy while at the same time getting a far better return than leaving their funds stagnate in a deposit account with the bank. So while I was working there I realised that the rejection rate was quite high. There were many other non-bank lenders on the market but few options to make multiple loan applications from the one place, hence I decided to set up a solution to this problem.
To give you an idea of the kinds of businesses our team have helped read about some of the finance deals we organised in 2019:
Scaffolding Company - Financed for €150k
We had a sole trader scaffolding company that was having trouble getting approved for a loan from their bank. There had been some history from during the recession years in Ireland that affected so many people in the construction industry, however the banks are less understanding than the non-bank lenders that these people were mostly victims of circumstance. This lack of access to finance was strangling these companies ability to grow; and business was booming and this client was turning away business. We found our client approval within 24 hours of receiving a few easy-to-get documents.
Cattle Exporter - Financed for €120k
If a complicated overseas transaction hits a bump it can hurt your cash flow. This is what happened when a sudden change in the value of a currency affected a big cattle deal, leaving hundreds of cattle in a yard needing to be fed until the next deal could be lined up. This can take months so we organised some much-needed working capital to keep the business running smoothly after this business hiccup.
Beautician - Financed for €4k then €5k then €8k
We deal with smaller loans for young businesses too. We spoke with a beautician whose business was around 9 months old. Her turnover was modest but regular but the bank wasn’t helping. Fortunately she had a business that used a card machine and based on her volume of monthly transactions we were able to organise a merchant cash advance. Then she came back a couple of times during the year to top up with more loans as she grew her business.
Property Developer - Financed for €100k
A property developer had the perfect deal. Everything was pre-sold to the local council for social housing in a very low risk situation, however the banks were not on board. What was most perplexing for the client was that they had spoken with many non-bank property lenders who are supposed to be more flexible but were not of much use to them. The site to be built was rural, near a little village in Cavan and this location was deemed unattractive to all the lenders they had engaged with. They didn’t need a lot to get going. Just €100k to finalise a contract and commence works and they would receive some staged payments to get their work done. Time was also of the essence. www.BusinessLoans.ie was able to assist and they got on with their construction.
Importer / Exporter - Financed for €500k
An opportunity came knocking for an importer of steel. The Turkish Lira crisis meant there was a lot of cheap steel to be imported. However, to protect our market the EU decided VAT had to be paid upfront and this was an issue for this business. The good news for them was they had a strong asset list; over the previous years they invested in machinery and it was mostly paid off. A loan by way or refinance was possible. We raised a €350k secured loan from this as well as a €150k loan unsecured and they we’re able to make hay while the sun was shining for their steel deals.
We hope you got a taste for the kind of situations we can help get loan quotes for. We will keep on trying and won’t stop until we have got you the best deal available; or at worst exhausted all avenues. Thanks to all our clients for an amazing 2019 and we look forward to growing with you in 2020. Don’t forget we’re still manning the web chat box you see in the bottom right of this screen and on our site over the holidays. If you’re making your new year business resolutions and that involves finance, we’re with you all the way.
