This is great advice for approaching a lender, understand your needs and be able to explain the why behind the ask. Be prepared by having updated financial statements and previous 3 years tax returns ready to be provided to the lender. If your project is for expansion, having a business plan along with projections with detailed assumptions is critical. If new equipment or construction is part of the project, have some written estimates from vendors to support anticipated request.

It is always most important to know your business, its strengths and weaknesses, its debt and its values. Be ready. To have a strong chance of success it is of impeccable importance to fill out application forms correctly (not by the penny) but for sure by large numbers and the overall scope of things, and to not forget to mention any important things that come to mind as side note that are not asked about. Keep in touch, always be a pro and kind and calm. Never make a fight, threaten or bully the lender or investment group. We are commercial finance brokers, make the introductions, and for sure, these are issues that can make it go wrong as a lender "must always have the choice to do the request or not" (based on facts in the application).

Can not advocate researching the market / educating yourself on all the available finance options enough to people. Once you have decided you require funding, match what you are looking to finance e.g. a machine against the most appropriate finance product e.g. Asset Finance. In this example funding a depreciating asset with a term loan would not be a good mix. Then research / talk to providers of the product. Don't let price be your only yardstick, put a Value on what you are trying to achieve, ensure the offering works for you and your ambitions. There are options out there, it may take some patience but better to put the time in to get the right solution than be stuck with one that does not deliver what you were originally looking for.

Another way of putting this; Money is a set of tools to get things done. As a small business, you must pick the correct tool for the job at hand. You don't go out to the garage and get a hammer is there is a leak under the sink - you get a wrench. The same is true with borrowing money. Don't apply for a term loan to help pay for ongoing payroll. Don't finance a capital expenditure with cash flow financing. Making a mistake in choosing the right tool can be costly and time consuming.

The business finance market has a variety of lenders and products. You should use this to your advantage. It is important to consider: 1. The lenders and their reputation in the market. Not all lenders are reputable. Find a lender that wants a long term, mutually beneficial relationship. 2. The cost of the solutions. Compare like with like and consider total costs. Look beyond headline rates. 3. The structure of the facilities. This is so important. Make sure the structure works. We structure finance facilities for businesses every day. I would suggest it is important to take impartial and independent advice.

Be ready, be calm, prepare, correct mistakes, errors, and any kind of things that come up. Make sure you show you are on top of things. **Make sure your information was correct at the start (at the application form), and always remember to remind if a change occurred during the process and why, which may help your case (if it made things harder to do).

UCC’s are filed in the State where the company was organized. UCC-1 filing is good for 5-years on all loans from creditors during that period and not just on a loan made when the UCC was filed. It can be renewed at the five year anniversary. I also recall that in some industries suppliers may come ahead of a creditor that filed a UCC.

Potential and regular commercial borrowers should always know the status of any UCC-1 filings on their company. The Uniform Commercial Code is the gate keeper for lenders to know what assets have been pledged for security on a loan. Too often business owners are not aware or not paying attention to which lenders have filed a UCC Financing Statement. This is complicated by the fact that Lenders now use outside vendors to file UCC's. The result being, Lenders have to rely on Borrowers to know who has filed against their company. Not knowing who filed an old UCC-1 years ago can result in delaying access to capital. Always request the lender file a UCC-3 Termination when paying off a loan.