Truevale Loans, a small-business funding broker in Reading, Pennsylvania, handles a request in four steps: understanding the need, matching it to a funding type and partners, partner underwriting, and the owner's decision. Every credit decision, rate and term comes from the lending partner. Owners compare offers on total cost and payment schedule, and can decline any offer.
What does a loan broker do for a small business?
A business funding broker does not lend. It learns about your business and the need, knows which lenders and funders offer which products, prepares the request so a partner can assess it, and helps you compare whatever offers result. A direct lender, by contrast, uses its own money, makes the credit decision and services the loan. With a broker, you still sign with the partner, and the partner's agreement governs the funding.
Truevale Loans is a broker, not a lender.
Broker vs lender: when each makes sense
Going straight to your own bank makes sense if the bank already knows the business and offers the product you need. A broker is useful when you are not sure which product fits, when your bank has said no, or when you want to see how different kinds of partners view the same request. Neither route promises approval.
Steps to get a business loan through Truevale Loans
- The first conversation. By phone, or after you send the short form and we call you. We ask what the money must pay for, how revenue arrives, and what the business already owes.
- Matching. We suggest the funding type that fits, from working capital and term loans to credit lines, inventory financing, equipment financing and, where it fits, a merchant cash advance, which is not a loan. Then we identify partners that provide it.
- Partner review. The partner asks for documents, may check business and owner credit, and decides. It sets the amount, price and conditions of any offer.
- Your decision. We help you read the offer: payment schedule, total cost, fees, collateral, guarantees and prepayment terms. You accept or decline.
What partners usually review
- Several recent months of business bank statements.
- Business tax returns, plus financial statements for bigger requests.
- Existing debts and their payments, including any advances being remitted.
- Each owner's credit history, and in many cases a personal guarantee.
- For equipment or a fit-out, the quote or contract.
- Proof the business is properly registered, such as a Pennsylvania Department of State entity record.
Getting those records in order is covered in how to get a business loan in Pennsylvania.
Comparing offers: APR, factor and total cost
Offers rarely arrive in the same format. A term loan may quote an interest rate and an APR; a line of credit may quote a rate plus fees; a merchant cash advance quotes a factor rather than an interest rate. The most reliable common measure is dollars: the total you will pay back, minus what you receive, over the period you expect the funding to run. Then look at the rhythm of payments, because a daily debit and a monthly payment of the same total put very different pressure on cash.
How the broker is paid
Ask us directly before you proceed, and see the broker disclosures.
Red flags, from any broker or funder
- Approval promised before anyone has reviewed a single document.
- A push to sign today, or before you have read every page.
- A request to send Social Security or bank account numbers by ordinary email or text.
- An advance described as a loan, or a loan described without a payment schedule.
- Upfront payments requested before an offer exists.
More answers are on the FAQ page.
By Truevale Loans · Updated