Alternative funding options for businesses include all those possibilities outside the traditional loans offered by banks and other lending institutions. After the 2008 economic crash, many bank loans dried up, and alternative funding options began to appear from a number of sources, and these are now mainstream opportunities for businesses to fill in financial gaps.

Advantages of Alternative Funding

As opposed to going through the process of applying for a conventional loan, alternative funding tends to be much quicker. Applicants who are approved for alternative funding can have their cash in hand in as little as one week, or even a few days in some cases, as opposed to the several months generally necessary for a bank loan.

A great many more applicants will also be approved for alternative funding, as opposed to the low percentage of applicants normally approved for bank loans. It’s also much easier to go through the entire process when you’re applying for alternative funding, because far less documentation is needed, and it’s not necessary to have perfect credit in order to be approved.

Alternative Funding Options

Some of the most popular alternative funding options are those which put cash in the hands of applicants very quickly. Factoring is one of these options, as is a merchant cash advance, both of which can supply cash to an applicant within a week or so. An ACH advance might have sorely needed funding in your hands within just a few days, and the same can be said for invoice financing, for those companies which generate a high volume of invoices each month.

Asset-based loans will generally take a little longer to arrange, but even these can put significant cash in the hands of a business person in three weeks or less. All these alternative funding options can be approved for a great many more candidates than conventional loans will allow for, and it will always happen much more quickly than with a bank loan.

Is your business in need of alternative funding options? 

For many small businesses, conventional loans from banks are just not a viable option. We can provide some alternative funding options for you at Aspen Commercial Lending, so if you contact us today, we can explore some of these options with you, to see which one is the best fit for your business.

For more information on alternative financing and how money works, check out this book.