Chelsea Krause is a writer who specializes in accounting, payroll, and small business loans. She has been with Merchant Maverick helping small business owners manage their finances since 2016. She is a QuickBooks Certified User and former eCommerce store owner. Her accounting expertise has been quoted in Forbes and her work appears in Startup Nation, Small Business Bonfire, and Women on Business. Chelsea graduated summa cum laude with a BA in English & Creative Writing from George Fox University and studied abroad at the University of Oxford as well. She currently resides in Boise, Idaho.
Looking for an accounting definition? We cover all of the basics in our quick guide to accounting terms, so you can quickly understand important accounting terms and get back to running your business.
Credit bureaus arose to help lenders quickly gauge the reliability of a potential borrower. In the past, you could go to the good ol' general store and the owner would know you, your character, and whether or not putting your items on "charge" (or on credit) was a good idea. That method may have worked in the past, when communities were small and isolated, but there had to be a better way moving forward. Thus credit bureaus were born.
Learn what invoice financing is, whether it’s right for your business, and how to find a great financing company to work with in our complete guide.
Lenders like to know exactly how you plan on using the money they may potentially lend to you. If you've made successful investments in the past, like purchasing additional equipment that increased your sales revenue by 25%, and are planning on purchasing more equipment with the loan your applying for, be sure to tell your lender! It will demonstrate that you're experienced in business and that you're likely to increase your cash flow (which a lender hears as "we're getting our money back").
A complete break down of the different business structures and the benefits and drawbacks of each to help you make the most informed decision for your business.
Newtek is a direct lender that provides personalized solutions to fit the specific needs of each small business that seeks financing. Newtek is ideal for small businesses but be wary of its opaque rates and terms.
ReadyCap Lending LLC is a non-bank lender that specializes in Small Business Administration loans. ReadyCap Lending helps small business owners and entrepreneurs gain access to affordable, long-term SBA loans to start or expand their businesses.
If you’re in the trucking industry, there are several business loan options available for you. For the purchase of a commercial truck, you should consider equipment financing. You may also be able to qualify for the SBA Microloans program, which provides up to $50,000 in financing for expenses.
Fundwise Capital is a financial service company that specializes in connecting qualified customers with third-party funders. For new entrepreneurs with good credit, Fundwise can make a significant impact, especially if you qualify for zero interest during your first year. Beware of being upsold on credit counseling.
If your business, like many others, has outstanding invoices and slow-paying customers, you don’t have to be stuck without cash flow. Invoice factoring — selling unpaid invoices to a factoring company in exchange for immediate cash — could be the answer to your troubles. But how exactly does invoice factoring work? Should you use small business […]
Picture it. You are buying a house, and you live a 30-minute drive from your realtor. Every time they have another paper for you to sign (which feels like once or twice a day at this point) you have to abandon your very pregnant wife and drive over just to put your John Hancock on […]
Bank of America offers a large, versatile breadth of loan products at competitive rates, but at the cost of fairly conservative lending practices and standards. Business loans from Bank of America are suited for small to large businesses. Despite its low-interest rates, it has stringent borrower qualifications and a poor public reputation.
Small business owners searching for a merchant cash advance (MCA) or short-term business loan (STL) are often surprised to learn that their capital has come with a very high effective annual percentage rate (APR). The fact that your cash advance might have an effective APR reaching into the triple digits can be a big surprise. After all, that’s a very large number. […]
If you need business financing, an installment loan is probably the first type of loan you think of. As some of the most common and straightforward type of loans available, installment loans are a popular type of business financing. Also commonly referred to as term loans, installment loans can be useful for many business financing needs—from […]
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The vendors that appear on this list were chosen by subject matter experts on the basis of product quality, wide usage and availability, and positive reputation.
Merchant Maverick’s ratings are editorial in nature, and are not aggregated from user reviews. Each staff reviewer at Merchant Maverick is a subject matter expert with experience researching, testing, and evaluating small business software and services. The rating of this company or service is based on the author’s expert opinion and analysis of the product, and assessed and seconded by another subject matter expert on staff before publication. Merchant Maverick’s ratings are not influenced by affiliate partnerships.
Our unbiased reviews and content are supported in part by affiliate partnerships, and we adhere to strict guidelines to preserve editorial integrity. The editorial content on this page is not provided by any of the companies mentioned and has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone.
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