Wilmington, Delaware Business Loan

As a prerequisite to contacting banks to get a bank loan, you will need to determine exactly what size loan you will be asking for.

You need to be able to clearly explain your business, explain how much you want to borrow, define how the money will be used, and show your ability to pay the loan back to the bank.

A well-defined business plan is essential. If the financing is to for an existing business, you should also have financial statements covering the last three years. Bankers will also want to know what collateral you have available to secure the loan. Collateral is relevant because banks always want to be prepared for a worst-case scenario in which cash flow from the business does not meet your projections.

If the business has few assets, the bank may ask you to to secure the business with your personal assets, such as stocks and bonds that you might own or life insurance policies. The banks will check on your personal credit history in any case, so hopefully you have good credit history -- you may want to get a copy of your credit history prior to meeting with the banker.

Many of these banks participate in the financial assistance programs available through the SBA. Before you sit down to talk with a small business banker, you may want to get up to speed on SBA loans programs to see if you qualify. SBA 7(a) loans, SBA 504 loans and SBA disaster assistance loans may be available to you.

To help you learn more about local small business lenders, here's our list of small business banks in Wilmington.

More Advice on Raising Money

This website is devoted to aiding small business owners, and we have a lot of useful articles about to Raising Money. To learn more, one article that might be of interest to you is 504 Loans.