Applying for a Business Loan
Starting a New Business Tips
As a commercial loan officer of many years, our friend learned that the first and last question one has to ask is "Does It Make Sense?" to get involved with this particular deal.As a prospective loan customer, you should have answered this question before you made your first appointment with the bank and be prepared to convince the commercial loan officer that it is in the bank’s interest to finance your proposed loan.
What's Your Business Plan?
The point of starting a new business is to make money. If you are starting up a new business and want to make a profit, you will need a business plan. A business plan is just that. It is your idea put on paper. A business plan lets the bank know what type of business you are starting and where you are going to do this business. It also tells the bank who your customers will be and how much money you need for the start up and how much you will need to keep the business running. It also tells how much of a contribution you are making to the new business and what your estimated or projected income and expenses with be. Typically business projections are done for the first three years of operation.
A business plan lets you know if your business idea has a chance of succeeding. If you have not completed this most important step, the banker’s assumption will be that you have not thought this out and don’t know everything that is involved in starting your business. You may have all the facts in your head, but the only way the loan officer will know is he can read your business plan. Your business plan should be typed and easy to read.
If you don’t know how to do write a business plan or how to do projections, there are local chapters of S.C.O.R.E in most communities. S.C.O.R.E. is an organization of retired businessmen and woman who contribute their time to teach people how to start and stay in business. Most local community colleges also offer this type of help in their continuing education department.
Citi Bank offers four types of credit cards designed to meet small business needs: the CitiBusiness® Card, CitiBusiness® Card with Thank You Network® Card, CitiBusiness® PremierPass and the Citi® / AAdvantage® Business Card.
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