Small business loan guides
Short answer
These 40 guides explain how business loans work and how to compare them. They name the SBA rule and its source where one applies.
- Guides
- 40
- Distinct sources
- 104
- Last checked
- Nov 9, 2026
These guides explain how small business financing works: what each product costs, what a lender reads in your numbers and how to compare offers. Where an SBA rule applies, the guide names it and its source. Where a lender sets the answer, the guide says so.
Choosing a loan
How the main kinds of business financing work, and how to put offers side by side.
- SBA Loan or Bank Loan: Cost, Terms and Who QualifiesA 7(a) loan comes from a lender, such as a bank, with a partial SBA guaranty.
- Small Business Term Loans: Payments, Cost and FitA term loan is a lump sum repaid in scheduled payments over a set term.
- Working Capital Loans: Size the Gap, Match the ProductWorking capital pays for everyday operations while customers pay.
- Business Line of Credit: Cost, Limits and When to Skip ItA business line of credit lets you borrow up to a limit, repay, and borrow again, paying interest only on the balance you owe.
- Equipment Financing: Loan vs Lease, Cost and RisksEquipment financing is a loan or lease secured by the equipment.
- Online Lenders or Banks for a Business LoanOnline lenders are often faster, but their borrowers report more cost surprises, so compare total dollars repaid.
- How to Compare Business Loan OffersCompare offers on the dollars you receive, the dollars you repay and when payments leave your account.
- APR, Factor Rate and Total Cost ExplainedTotal cost is dollars repaid minus dollars received.
- Startup Funding Options: Costs, Limits and TrapsOwn money and first sales come first.
Costly alternatives and how to leave them
What advances, factoring and cards really cost, and how to get out.
- Merchant Cash Advance Cost: How to Find the True APRA merchant cash advance quotes a factor rate, not an interest rate (Federal Reserve Board, 2025).
- Getting Out of a Merchant Cash AdvanceA merchant cash advance buys your future receipts, so it has no interest rate or term to renegotiate.
- Invoice Factoring: Real Cost, Recourse and Red FlagsFactoring sells your unpaid invoices to a factor for cash now, minus a fee.
- Invoice Financing: Borrowing Base, Cost and RisksInvoice financing is a revolving loan secured by your unpaid invoices.
- Business Credit Cards as Financing: Cost, Risks, LimitsA business credit card is cheap financing only if you repay inside the billing cycle or a promotional period.
- Seller Financing: How a Seller Note WorksA seller note is a loan from the seller for part of the price.
Credit, underwriting and paperwork
What a lender reads, what it asks for and why requests are declined.
- Business Credit Scores: What They Mean for a LoanA business credit score rates how reliably your company pays its bills.
- Personal Credit and Business Credit for LoansLenders check your personal credit as well as your business's, because owners with 20% or more of the business generally must guarantee a loan.
- Business Loan Options With Bad CreditSBA sets no minimum credit score; the lender applies its own credit standards (SOP 50 10 8.1, Sec. B, Ch. 2, Para. C.2).
- How Lenders Read Your Financial StatementsA lender converts your statements into cash flow available for debt payments, then compares it with those payments.
- Debt Service Coverage Ratio ExplainedDebt service coverage is cash flow available for debt payments divided by those payments.
- Why Business Loans Get Denied and What to Do NextLenders turn down business loans for weak cash flow, too much debt, credit problems, thin collateral or an incomplete file.
- Business Loan Documents Checklist for Established OwnersExpect to provide tax returns, year-end and interim financial statements, a debt schedule, ownership details and personal financial statements.
- Collateral for Small Business Loans: What Lenders TakeCollateral is property a lender can claim if you stop paying, and lenders count it at a discount.
- Personal Guarantees on Business Loans, ExplainedA personal guarantee makes you responsible for your company's loan if it defaults.
- UCC Liens Explained: Filings, Blanket Liens, RemovalA UCC-1 filing is a public notice that a lender claims a security interest in your business assets.
By industry or owner
Financing for a particular kind of business or owner.
- Restaurant Financing: Options and CostsMatch the loan to the asset.
- Retail Store Financing: Options and CostsFinance seasonal stock with a line of credit repaid as the goods sell, and fixtures and build-outs with a term loan.
- Trucking Company Financing: Options and CostsFinance the truck with a loan matched to its working life, and the wait for freight payments with a line of credit or factoring.
- Medical Practice Financing: Options and CostsA licensed practice can use SBA loans if its ownership meets state requirements (SOP 50 10 8.1, Sec. A, Ch. 1, Para. E.3).
- Contractor Financing: Job Costs and EquipmentFund job costs with a line of credit or an SBA Contract CAPLine, and equipment with a term loan.
- Ecommerce Business Financing: Options and CostsFund inventory with a line or loan repaid from sales, not with an advance repaid from payouts.
- Rural Business Financing: SBA, USDA and Local LendersSBA charges no FY2027 upfront fee on 7(a) loans of $700,000 or less in a rural area.
- Seasonal Business Financing: Options and CostsBorrow for the seasonal build-up and repay it from peak-season sales.
- How to Finance a Franchise: Costs and Lender ChecksBudget for the high end of Item 7 in the franchise disclosure document.
- Veteran-Owned Business Financing: Options and SavingsSBA's veteran page lists no loan reserved for veterans.
- Women-Owned Business Financing: Options and ProtectionsNo SBA loan is reserved for women-owned businesses, but every SBA program is open to you, and Women's Business Centers support women entrepreneurs.
Big purchases and refinancing
Buying a business or a building, refinancing debt and financing exports.
- How to Finance Buying an Existing BusinessA lender sizes a business purchase on cash flow it can verify, not on the asking price.
- Owner-Occupied Commercial Real Estate Loans ExplainedYour business's cash flow repays an owner-occupied building loan, so lenders size it on your earnings.
- Refinancing Business Debt: When It Saves MoneyRefinance when the new loan costs less in total dollars or fixes a real problem.
- Export Financing for Small Business: SBA, EXIM, TermsSBA export loans give lenders up to a 90% guaranty, and EXIM's export credit insurance covers up to 95 percent of sales invoices.
Ask lending partners about your loan
Tell us the amount you need and what it is for. We refer you to lenders that may fund businesses like yours, and it costs you nothing.
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