Rupert Hogan, MD of BusinessLoans.ie had the pleasure of talking finance with Alison McMurtrie on Dream:Reality, the podcast providing practical tips for business owners & the challenges they face.
Alison runs Idunn Consulting and can help your business perform better.
BusinessLoans.ie is celebrating another happy client. He got a loan under the Covid-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme. This gave him a low-rate and he didn’t have to sign a personal guarantee. In our initial call he had a concern over previous credit history. From the last recession he was still getting letters in relation to Bank of Scotland (Ireland) for an alleged unpaid debt and this had been a big stress in engaging with lenders. We were able to reassure him that we have helped many business owners with legacy issues. Of key importance to lenders we work with is current operation of the bank statements. It’s usually things like recent referral charges for unpaid standing orders & direct debits that are a big concern.
We were able to get the quote produced without any issues. Our client complimented us on the experience he had with us. In the past he had a personal relationship with his bank manager. If he needed finance he could sit down and speak with them. They understood his situation and he felt listened to. In recent years he could only get someone on the phone. It was a regional manager in a call centre who didn't know him and the person on the end of the phone changed often. He didn't feel heard and didn't want to deal with his bank anymore. But he said the experience he now got with us and the non-bank lender was more like it used to be. The lender and our team were readily available to discuss his situation and go through the loan agreement and answer any questions he had and he was happy.
Does your business need a loan? For fast finance quotes, get in touch today at hello@businessloans.ie or call 01 55 636 55.
In recent years banks have upped their game & improved their approvals processes. Generally they will say on advertisements, your business loan can be approved in 24 hours; but they mark it with an asterix, directing you to read the fine print. So a lot of the time you can get indicative rates quickly but to get it to approval & draw down stages you have to submit their full list of documents. With banks that can include items you won’t typically have lying around. This can range from business plans to detailed financial modelling and short, medium and long-term cash flow forecasts. All this takes time and money.
Accountants are currently battling backlogs and are time-poor. They need to prioritise pandemic & Revenue issues over client’s requests from banks. So what can a business owner do if they want a fast finance quote without the fuss? The short answer is to look at options from Ireland’s booming FinTech sector. Many of their advertisements offering decisions in 24 hours are more credible. The reason for this is an online focused application process and using the latest underwriting techniques and data points.
Pre-pandemic, the trade-off for using alternative finance was paying a slightly higher rate. FinTechs simply don’t have access to money as cheaply as the banks. Even then, the difference to the monthly repayment on a typical microbusiness short-term loan could be €30 a month. However, the time and money saved on attending to bank loans makes it worth it.
What’s even better is that many Fintechs have access to government-backed SBCI funds. This now makes them competitive on rates with the banks. Some of these options such as the Covid-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme are due to end on the 31st of December so the time to act is now if you want working capital or assets with the peace of mind of no personal guarantees!
BusinessLoans.ie makes it even faster by getting you multiple business loan quotes from the best alternative lenders in Ireland. We have an in depth understanding of the approvals processes, great relationships with the credit teams and can get your approval information fast. Best of all we will never ask you for a fee. Talk to us today. Email hello@businessloans.ie or call 01 55 636 55.
Ireland is quickly becoming one of the top Fintech centres of the world. The prime example is Stripe who are building their workforce here. Non-bank lenders are fast. They are not stuck with old processes & legacy systems that can slow down lending decisions. They also use different data points and Artificial Intelligence in some cases to help automate a lot of their work. Business owners are sick of getting the runaround from banks & the painful “slow no”. SMEs are exiting the pandemic with depleted working capital and immediate requirements that can’t wait. The good news is that many alternative lenders can have you approved in 24 hours.
Here are the top 5 reasons for using alternative finance:
Bank taking too long.
Bank requesting too much information.
They have some missed payments.
They have a seasonal business and they need an understanding credit team.
They have a particular amount they require and they only got partially approved.
BusinessLoans.ie can help you get multiple business loan quotes to compare so all you have to do is choose the best deal. We’ve built our relationships with all the credit teams and can attend to their approval processes to get your quotes fast. Get in touch today. Email us at hello@businessloans.ie or call 01 55 636 55.
If you’re a business owner who has had to deal with the bank for loans you may have seen nice advertisements about loans for brave people, help from friendly bank managers who have excess time to go through your application and make sure it’s done right, while benefiting from quick turnaround times. In my experience this utopia doesn’t exist. Sure, fast turnaround times are possible but that’s the exception rather than the rule. We deal with many business owners who have been getting the “slow no” or the runaround in some shape, way or form and they decide to see what other options are out there.
Alternative lenders are generally not going to make you go to the expense of doing up business plans and medium and long-term projections. Now that many have access to the government’s Covid-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme in some cases rates are on par or lower than banks. Mostly though, like anything in life if you want speed & convenience the trade off is a higher rate. But paradoxically, if you pay 1% or so higher, the cost per month in interest is minimal for short-term loans; and when you factor in all the hassle, time & expense you could have gone through for the bank loan application, all-in alternative finance can be cheaper even when you pay a higher interest rate.
Talk to us today about organising your next loan quote on 01 55 636 55. We’re here for you 7 days.
Have you been considering doing alternations to your business premises? This could be to get ready for the Great Return to the Office. Or maybe you don’t want to go back at all; and you prefer to get yourself a garden office. If you need finance to make this happen BusinessLoans.ie can help with loan quotes. The easiest of which is a simple unsecured 5 year term business loan up to €250k. Or if it’s more of a modular & easily movable unit perhaps asset finance could work. Talk to us today on 01 55 636 55
