“Asset Based Loans Can Be Applied To a Broad Spectrum of Business Financing Requirements”

While the category of asset based loans and asset based lending is continually growing in terms of application and money supply, the overall financing category remains confusing and misunderstood by many business owners.

The general idea is that an asset based lender is more focused on the market value of the underlying security being offered and its liquidation pathway in the event of loan default.

While this is a strong underlying theme, this financing category is goes much farther a field in almost every direction.

There are asset based lenders that only focus on one type of asset such as inventory lenders, purchase order financiers, accounts receivable factors, equipment lenders or leasing companies, real estate lenders, and so on.

By focusing on a particular classification of asset, the lender can more accurately assess the market, set up a predictable and efficient liquidation pathway, and attract investor or lender financing to fund their asset based loan model.

But there are also asset based lenders that work across categories such as working capital models that finance against accounts receivable, inventory, and potentially equipment. Or term lenders that focus more on equipment and real estate.

And there are also different slices to the market in terms of bank and institutional lenders versus private lending sources.

The more the lending decision is based on the value of the asset alone, the higher the rate is likely going to be. Because banks also participate in asset based lending, greater scrutiny is applied to lower cost forms of asset based loans.

While there is large variation in business loan size among lenders, there are once again slices of the market that service different levels of financing. In general, asset based loans are for commercial financing requirements above $500,000 in order to justify the work that goes into assessing them and the ongoing monitoring that may be required on a monthly basis.

The more an asset based facility is based on working capital cash flow, the more monitoring that will be required and the more control the lender will have with respect to the cash inflows and out flows.

Because there are so many types of asset based lenders that tend to overlap with respect to the deals they will look at, there can be several different types of options and related pricing to consider.

Unless the asset based financing is bank or institutionally based, its likely going to be short term in nature (one to two years) and is being used as a bridge loan to allow the borrower the capital and time to get into a better financing position which will allow refinancing into a lower cost institutional program.

And the right choice is not always the lowest cost. Some programs have very restrictive operating requirements that may not provide you with the flexibility you need to operate properly. Others may require high repayment penalties if you have the opportunity to refinance them before the term is up.

Regardless of the application, you will likely have a list of options to consider that can be hard to locate and harder to secure.

Because asset based loans will typically be one step in a multiple step financing process, you would be well advised to work with a business financing specialist who can help you map out a financing strategy that will work the best with the most relevant asset based loan sources available to you.

Click Here To Speak To Business Financing Specialist Brent Finlay