Personal Finance, Loans & Insurance

Everyone should have insurance of some kind and businesses should certainly have business liability insurance. Public liability insurance will protect them from a great many disasters such as storm or damage or vandalism or litigation if an employee or customer is hurt on the premises.

Choosing insurance options can seem like a headache, but it will not be nearly as big as the headache you will get if you don’t have insurance when disaster strikes. Many businesses have been wiped out by flood or fire because they had no insurance. And while it is necessary to get the right kind of insurance for your needs, it is just as necessary to examine your current insurance each year to see if it still fits.

If your business has expanded or changed direction you could need different or additional insurance. So don’t be fooled into thinking you have coverage when you may not have exactly what you need. The results could be just as devastating as having none at all.

Some of the more basic types of insurance coverage are: –

• Small business liability insurance for property and employees: this is for natural disasters such as flood or fire, and for accidents to employers or damage to property such as an accident to your business transport vehicle.

• Professional liability insurance for directors and officers: this will provide protection from personal liability if there is a claim against the business.

• Marine insurance coverage insures boats and marine equipment and differs from ordinary vehicle insurance.

• Builders warranty insurance will protect employees if injured on the construction site.

• Home owners warranty insurance needs to be taken out by the builder before starting work on a home. It must also be provided by an owner/builder if the home is sold within six years of renovations/building work.

A business insurance broker will be able to help you figure out exactly what type of insurance cover you need for your business.

Even though longer-term business finance techniques might be appropriate for many circumstances, there are some important short-term business loan options that will be less costly in producing improved credit card processing and commercial mortgage results for business owners. Short-term business financing choices can be misunderstood because of a preference by many business owners for long-term commercial real estate loan and commercial loan programs.

Two Important Short-Term Business Finance Options

Two of the most overlooked short-term working capital business loan strategies are short-term commercial mortgage loan programs and business cash advance programs in conjunction with credit card processing. Both of these business finance options are relevant for most business owners but are frequently misunderstood.

Short-term Programs for Commercial Real Estate Investment Financing

A long-term business loan is appropriate for many businesses that own commercial real estate investment property. Business properties should normally be financed with a combination of short-term and long-term business finance funds. When a longer-term commercial mortgage is viable, it is preferable to secure long-term business financing, preferably for 30 years.

However there will be many commercial mortgage loan situations in which longer-term real estate business financing is not appropriate for the business owner. In such circumstances it is important for a business owner to realize that there are viable short-term working capital management options.

When a Short-Term Commercial Mortgage is Appropriate

If a business owner plans to sell or refinance their business within a few years, it is preferable to explore short-term business finance options. The best short-term business loan will have minimal prepayment penalties in comparison to terms commonly included with long-term commercial real estate investment property financing.

The avoidance of business finance prepayment fees and lockout fees fees in some short-term business financing programs is an important benefit of these short-term commercial mortgage approaches. The absence of these potential fees could produce a savings of up to 20% or more if the business property is sold during the period which would have involved lockout fees in a longer-term commercial loan.

Short-Term Commercial Real Estate Investment Property Financing Limitations

There are some trade-offs that need to be understood if a business owner chooses shorter-term business financing even though prepayment fees will usually be avoided with a short-term business loan. When short-term commercial real estate financing is a realistic option, the loan-to-value will usually be no higher than 70%, the commercial mortgage will not be readily available for special purpose business investment properties such as golf courses and the interest rate will frequently be in the range of about 12%.

Best Investing Possibilities for a Short-Term Commercial Mortgage Loan

Warehouse, multi-family, office, mixed-use and retail business properties are the best possibilities for short-term business financing. Business owners should be comfortable with a time period of less than three years for a typical short-term business loan.

Fewer Mortgage Lenders for a Short-Term Commercial Real Estate Loan

There will typically be a very small number of commercial real estate investment property lenders who are effective at implementing the short-term commercial mortgage loan strategy properly. There are also a number of problems to be avoided with a short-term commercial real estate loan, so choosing an appropriate provider is extremely important to any business owner considering a short-term business finance program.

Credit Card Processing and Business Cash Advance Programs

For any business that accepts credit cards as a method of payment, a business cash advance is a critical working capital management tool that is often overlooked. Even thriving businesses frequently need more working capital than they can borrow. One of the least-known business finance strategies for successful businesses is potentially the single best working capital loan strategy for obtaining needed cash for growing their business: the use of a merchant cash advance or business cash advance program.

Primary possibilities to take advantage of this business financing program are service and retail businesses. This credit card processing and credit card financing strategy uses credit card receivables to determine the amount of a merchant cash advance.

Working Capital Management: Credit Card Financing and Credit Card Processing

This business financing technique is called credit card financing or credit card factoring. Some business owners might have used a business finance technique referred to as receivables factoring to sell future receivables at a discount and receive immediate cash.

Many service and retail businesses cannot document business receivables to obtain a business loan. Businesses such as bars and restaurants do not typically have receivables to use for business financing.

What these businesses do have in many cases is documented sales volume and documented credit card sales activity. It is this documented level of sales volume and credit card sales activity that becomes a financial asset to the business and its business finance strategies. Business cash advances from ,000 to 0,000 can usually be obtained based on a merchant’s sales volume and future credit card sales.

A business financing merchant cash advance must usually be paid back in less than 12 months. For business owners that want to renew the working capital cash advance program, it is typically possible to get more working capital after payback of the initial advance.

Limitations and Problems to Avoid with Credit Card Processing and Merchant Cash Advance Programs

As with any successful business finance strategy, there will typically be only a small number of commercial lenders who are effective at implementing this working capital management strategy properly. There are also a number of problems to be avoided with business cash advance programs, so choosing the appropriate provider of this commercial financing service is extremely important to any business owner considering a credit card financing program.

Whenever one invests in real estate the most important thing that they have to look for are the finances. Any real estate property be it apartment or other requires huge amounts of money and hence the need of apartment financing. The choice of a particular financing option largely affects the investment outcomes and hence one must tread cautiously in the matter of apartment financing. There are many financing options that one can go for in apartment financing such as banks and private lenders. There are also some prerequisites that one can consider before going in for apartment financing. The traditional methods of apartment financing do not allow much flexibility but with the growth of private lenders there is much flexibility which one can consider in apartment financing.

Apartment Financing Options

Before considering the different financing options one must make sure how long one is going to hold the property and whether the investment is long term or short term because this has important implications in the choice of finance one can get. When one is considering owning the apartment for a short period then one can surely go in for the adjustable rate mortgage or the ARM for short. The ARM apartment financing option offers an interest rate that changes with the index. The initial interest rate in the ARM is more competitive than other apartment financing options. Interest rate fluctuations in the future impact the finances and hence the ARM is important in this regard. Also the maximum interest rate also works as protection for those who hold the mortgage. For those wanting to remain long in the business there is the fixed rate mortgage apartment financing. The rate of interest for the borrowers in this apartment financing remains the same for the whole period of the mortgage and hence it offers the borrowers cost effective apartment finance.

When one goes for the fixed interest rate apartment financing when the interest rates are low all the advantage is for the borrowers since they qualify for the same interest rate until all the loan is repaid. The opposite happens when the interest rates are higher in the market. First time investors must also look for the value of the apartment because it affects the type of finance they will receive. Generally higher the value of the apartment the best interest rates will be got from direct lenders or investment companies. However when the value of the property is smaller one can consider the financing options from ones local banks.

Apartment financing from smaller banks or direct lenders is another important option that one can consider in apartment financing because they offer flexible apartment loans as compared with other reputed banks and lenders. One can have finances like non-recourse as well as partial-recourse loans from the small banks and the direct lenders who are always on the look out for borrowers. In the event of non-repayment of the amount the traditional lenders can claim the property and recover their loan while in the conventional loan the lender cannot claim the apartment for which finance is given but they can claim the property that has been mortgaged as the security for their finances.

Find out more at Learn Apartment Financing

http://www.commercialfinance.org.au

HOW TO HELP YOUR COMMERCIAL FINANCE APPLICATION SUCCEED -THE THREE CRITICAL FACTORS

These days, whether you are borrowing 0,000 for your first Propery Development or Refinancing a ,000,000 Equity Line of Credit, it’s all about a few critical factors in determining the Funding Application outcomes. Understanding these will give you a much improved chance of obtaining commercial funding.

RISK: It may well be a great Project, but if there are delays, cost increases, lower Sale prices, how will the Lender recover their money?

REWARD: See above. Lenders actually lend money to make a profit. Sounds obvious, but many borrowers forget this at their peril.

EQUITY: If you can demonstrate you have a significant amount of your own funds invested in the Project it always helps in getting to the front of the queue. After all, if the Lender wanted to build anything from a Rainforest Retreat in the jungle to an Apartment Complex in Adelaide using 80%, 90%, or 100% of borrowed funds , they could do it themselves.

SUMMARY: Various weighting factors & averages are applied to all the above. Knowing how to present this information is a key element, and can add much to your chances of success.

http://www.commercialfinance.org.au

FINANCE BROKERS! *We have an excellent program to assist you*

Finance Broker Support   (“ABR” program)

Commercial Finance Comparison Lenders offers a full service back-office and deal management solution for professional finance brokers ( i.e. professionals engaged in regularly arranging finance on behalf of clients, for reward ).

The principle behind this service offering is that a professional finance broker is able to focus on obtaining and maintaining clients / relationships, while Commercial Finance Lenders handles the “admin” or “packaging” and “follow-up” elements of an application.

Professional finance brokers interested in this service are invited to join the Finance Broker Support program as an Authorised Business Referrer ( “ABR” ), and instantly receive the benefits of our complete back-office support structure. Our ABR network is growing to be one of the largest in the country – and the value of being part of a winning team under a recognised brand is becoming more and more critical for any independent broker or arranger of finance wanting to survive in this changing economic climate!

How does one go about submitting finance applications through Commercial Finance Lenders as an Authorised Business Referrer ( “ABR” )?
Simply follow the three steps below, and Commercial Finance Lenders would be delighted to assist with your clients’ applications:

1. Apply with us to Register as an “Authorised Business Referrer”, and you will receive contact from our office within one business day;

2. We may require some basic information ( profile / brief CV + registration / MFAA information ),

and upon receipt / approval will activate your ABR registration. Registration is free and instant (upon activation );

3. Submit applications on behalf of clients – Simply log in ( if you haven’t already ) and complete the very basic one page finance application / information form.  

How does the submission of client transactions / applications work in practice? Commercial Finance Lenders simply requires an ABR to log in and complete + submit the basic one page application / information form; We ask the ABR only to forward us a signed mandate ( generated
automatically when the deal / application is logged ), and any documentation they may already have in respect of the client / deal.

Thereafter, we are happy to liaise with the client ( i.e. the person requiring finance ), provide advice,
collect all required documentation for submission to appropriate financiers / capital providers, and manage the sign-up / closing of the transaction. We are able to advise clients at the outset ( i.e. upon initial receipt of the application and supporting documentation ) as to the prospects of success of their application.

In cases for example where we are aware of circumstances ( from experience ) that mean a client’s application is highly unlikely to be successful, we are able to save the client the time and trouble of submission and follow up. We are often also able to suggest alternative structures of products which may in the circumstances accomplish the same result for the client.

All communications with the client are typically copied to the ABR, and the ABR is sent regular weekly updates on the progress of all transactions / submissions; Should the ABR prefer us not to deal with the client ( i.e. for all communication to flow solely through the ABR ), this can be accommodated, but the ABR needs to make specific note of this when submitting the application to Commercial Finance Lenders. We do caution however that this tends to slow down the process, and we find this defeats a great deal of the benefit to the ABR from our offering ( i.e. the ABR still needs to be actively involved in the packaging / submission of applications ).

What information / documentation is necessary from my client, in order for an application to be submitted by Commercial Finance Lenders? Although each financial product or capital structure to be arranged may have a unique or specialised ‘recipe’ of required documentation, most applications or capital structures will require the submission of at least the following basic five items of standard documentation, eg: full personal & company A & L , Project Cashflow, Business Plan, completed Questionaire & Application.

What benefits are there for a professional finance broker in joining our ABR Programme?

Independent or even affiliated finance brokers who join Commercial Finance Lenders as ABR’s, receive the following advantages: Credit markets and financiers have become very conservative, given the global credit crisis and volatility in the world’s financial markets.

Approval rates for applications for most forms of finance have halved ( or worse ), and now more than ever an application for finance needs to be diligently and skilfully prepared / packaged in order to stand a chance of being approved; Our team is specifically skilled and experienced in this aspect, and is able to seamlessly add this value to any application referred through Commercial Finance Lenders.

Commercial Finance Lenders & associated Partners has contractual relationships to provide business to more than 30 various financial institutions and capital providers, many of whom may be more aggressive or have a specific appetite for a particular type of finance.

We are uniquely able to analyse any application, and submit it to the most appropriate financier or capital provider ( and often are able to submit to multiple financiers ). This ensures the best possible chance of a successful application for your client.Due to the volume of applications submitted by Commercial Finance Lenders to financiers, we are usually able to obtain better service and turnarounds than our ABRs or their clients may be able to alone. In this way, your clients benefit from our aggregated input to banks / institutions and clients’ applications are taken seriously.

In addition, in this market we find that Banks and Financiers are not prepared to accept referred applications, unless a broker has a very significant deal flow, and they have pulled / cancelled referral contracts with all but the largest volume referrers.

What fees or commission can I earn as an Authorised Business Referrer?
The ABR business model is very simple – 50% of the commission or fee actually received by Commercial Finance Lenders in respect of a successful transaction or application, is shared with the ABR who referred the transaction or application.

Higher percentages are shared with the ABR in circumstances where monthly finance volumes exceed certain thresholds;

It should be noted however that further terms and conditions may apply and are governed by specific contractual agreement to be entered into between Commercial Finance Lenders and the ABR.

Does my client pay more if the deal / application is referred through the ABR Program?
No – Commercial Finance Lenders shares its income with the ABR, and the client does not pay any more by virtue of being introduced by an ABR;

What does it cost my client to have Commercial Finance Lenders assist with a finance application?
We work purely on risk – i.e. there is no fee or commission earned by Commercial Finance Lenders (or therefore by an ABR ) unless an application is successful in receiving an offer.

In respect of a number of the more complex finance applications ( such as Commercial Property Finance ), we may charge a service / funding fee in the order of 1.5% to 2.5% ( excluding GST ) of the principal value originated. This would however be communicated prior to submission to financiers ( after initial evaluation by us of the application ), and it would naturally be up to the client to accept or reject our proposed fee – in any event, this fee would be the same as would be charged on personal application by the client.

It should be noted that any fee raised by Commercial Finance Lenders on this basis is completely separate from fees levied by the financiers, who may well charge their own raising or documentation fee.

DON’T DELAY -TOLLFREE CALL TODAY!

In Australia 1300 776 703

http://www.commercialfinance.org.au