To be honest - business loans are no harder to get then they should be.  We saw what happened to the economy when banks threw their lending policies out the door and went after the quick buck. Just like any other business - banks / lenders just want to get repaid and if you have shown in the past that you could not repay or have walked away from a loan - you have no chance - and, that is the way it should be. Lenders look for two main things: 1) The willingness to repay - this is shown by how you have repaid previous lenders.  So, your credit score / history needs to be clean. 2) The ability to repay.  Banks don't put a lot of stock in your future financial projections.  They look at your past and present. The reason is that once they give you the money - they have a very hard time getting it back if you don't make your payments.  Thus, they want to see that you have the ability to service the debt at the time you make your loan request.  It is also why (from the other post here about having to be in business for several years), banks want to see that you can consistently make enough money to cover their payments. Sorry, but that is just the way it is. Now, that does not mean there isn't other ways - research bootstrapping.  Many successful business owners could not get financing when they started - but they found ways to trudge along until their business was ready and able to handle debt. I self funded - using personal credit cards and savings - even cut back my personal living expenses to their bare minimum.  Then, when I was able to get bank financing - I did not need it. Bottom line - you have to show a lender that you can and will repay them.  If you can show that, getting a loan is easy.  If you can't, getting a loan is impossible. Also, you probably are wasting your time with grants - they just don't work the way you want them too.

Currently, it is very difficult to qualify for a business loan, particularly if you want to refinance debt or need working capital.

Mortgage lenders are typically more risk averse at present. they are taking longer to make decisions on margunal calls and sticking more strictly to lending criteria. that said, if you have a decent credit score or good debt servicing ability you can get away with having less equity in the loan. It's a balancing act, but credit score, income to debt ratio and total equity in the security all play a big part.if you're weak in one part but strong in the others you may just be ok. Message Edited by jamestkirk on 12-09-2009 11:24 PM --- This post was edited to remove a commercial link. Readthe Community discussion policies. Message Edited by NicoleD on 01-21-2010 03:05 PM