The 3 Best Business Credit Cards for Freelancers (and Why You Absolutely Need One)

Managing your finances as a freelancer—whether you’re a sole proprietor or a freelance LLC—is all about equipping yourself with the right tools. One resource that everyone working on their own needs to help them spend intelligently is a business credit card. The best business credit cards for freelancers are even more useful than you might imagine.

Though, as a whole, freelancers are a diverse demographic, they all tend to face similar hurdles due to the independent, invoice-based nature of their work. And business credit cards for freelancers can really help with a lot of these shared challenges—they’re actually a crucial part of a solopreneur’s finances.

We’ll explain why, and show you three of the very best freelance business credit cards on the market. Here’s how to make the most out of all that business credit cards have to offer.

 

Why Business Credit Cards Are Essential for Freelancers

Among the most common questions we hear freelancers ask is whether or not they should get a business credit card. The answer, almost 100% of the time, is yes.

Just because you’re a freelancer doesn’t mean you don’t have credit needs—you do! And that’s why business credit cards for freelancers exist. But don’t just trust us (well, do—but you know what we mean). Trust this list of reasons why every freelancer needs a business credit card.

We’re sure you’ll see at least one of your major needs in these top reasons why you need to do your freelancing spending on a business credit card:

1. It’ll make tax season a heck of a lot easier.

No freelancer likes tax season (no one we know, at least). If you don’t separate your business and personal expenses, you and your accountant will have to spend hours together distinguishing between personal and business expenses. And not only is that annoying, but if you’re paying your accountant on an hourly basis, that’s expensive, too.

One of the most important reasons to get a business credit card for freelancers is to keep your business and personal expenses separate. By getting a business credit card for your freelance costs, you won’t have to put office supplies on the same card as your family’s groceries.

Keeping all of your freelance costs on one business credit card means you’ll just need a copy of your card statements to total your business expenses for the year.

With a freelance business credit card, you won’t have to waste hours sorting through credit card statements, documents, and paper receipts highlighting to your accountant which expense are business expenses and which aren’t. That’ll help you quickly figure out your profits and taxable income.

2. It’ll make sure you get the legal protection you’re supposed to have.

If you went through all of the paperwork and time to set up your freelance business as an LLC—which we highly recommend you do—you want to make certain that you actually get that “limited liability.”

Part of the reason you establish an LLC (aka limited liability corporation) is to protect your personal assets in the case of any unforeseen small business lawsuit. But if you don’t actually separate your finances—splitting up your spending on a business credit card and keeping your business money in a business bank account, for instance—you’re actually forfeiting all of that legal protection. And that’s just nuts!

That’s enough to make you go apply for a business credit card right this second, isn’t it?

3. It’ll help you through cash droughts.

When you’re new to the freelance world, it’s easy to overlook costs that typically go into running a business. And being new to a freelance career can be especially tricky, because most freelancers experience payment droughts—even if your work is steady. You can’t be sure your clients are going to be diligent about paying you.

If you spend responsibly, you’ll be able to use a business credit card to invest in resources that will help your freelance business grow even when you may not have the necessary cash on hand.

The credit line that a freelance business credit card gives you access to can help you smooth over cash shortfalls and see you through gaps in projects.

4. It can help you budget your business expenses.

Every freelancer needs a budget. In fact, budgeting tends to be especially important for freelancers because potentially unpredictable income cycles.

Generally speaking, freelancers need to figure out how to save for the “valley” times and for long-term needs, like putting money away for retirement and their kids’ college tuitions.

Having a business credit card can help track your expenses by itemizing your spending on your statements and letting you see what you’re investing in your business each month. And, in turn, budget more effectively.

Plus, you’ll be able to keep an eye on your expenses as often as you need to make sure you’re not going over your budget. Over your time with a business credit card, you’ll be able to track cyclicality in your business expenses and get a better sense for when you may need more cushion to support your business.

5. It can help you build business credit.

Your business credit is different than your personal credit, and you’ll need it to get a business loan if you decide to scale down the line. Banks can look at your personal income and credit during the underwriting process, but it’s harder to land large capital for your business with just your personal financial information.

Banks in particular look at business credit when evaluating applications for business funding. And they typically want to see a track record of business credit history and on-time payments before extending their largest and most affordable loans.

Spending responsibly on a business credit card for your freelance career will help you build up business credit history and ultimately improve your future business funding options.

6. It can help you share funds with collaborators.

If your freelance career entails a working partnership or having contractors working for you, you can add them to your freelance business credit card account. This means they’ll get access to your business credit line and can charge project expenses on your business card.

Additionally, you can get the card in the other person’s name so you know who’s spending what. With this supplementary information, you can track spending and spot any problems that may arise.

→TL;DR (Too Long; Didn’t Read): Using a business credit card for freelancers will help you during tax season, maintain legal protections if you filed for an LLC, help you get through a cash crunch, allow you to budget effectively, and work with contractors and collaborators, too.

The Top 3 Business Credit Cards for Freelancers

The next step to getting a business credit card for freelancers is choosing the right one for you.

And though the biggest reasons for getting freelance business credit cards are built into the design of any unsecured business credit card, there are also some additional perks that will vary depending on which business credit card you choose.

There are three top business credit cards that can address particular needs particular to freelancing:

If You Want More Spending Power, Try the American Express Blue Business Plus

If you’re looking for even more spending wiggle room than your typical business credit card can offer, then the American Express Blue Business Plus will be the best freelance business credit card for you.

That’s because the Blue Business Plus offers one of the longest 0% intro APR period on the market. For your 15 months with this freelance business credit card, you’ll be able to carry an interest-free balance from month-to-month as long as you make your monthly minimum payment on time every month.

After that intro period, your APR will set in at a rate that will depend on your creditworthiness and the market prime rate, so be sure to see the issuer’s terms and conditions for the latest APR information.

Even after this 15-month intro period, though, you’ll be able to outspend your credit limit without penalty, as long as you pay off your balance in full on time. Of course, the amount you spend above your Blue Business Plus credit limit isn’t unlimited, but Amex will be less stringent with limiting your freelance spending on the Blue Business Plus than other issuers will be.

→TL;DR: The Blue Business Plus’s 15-month 0% intro APR period will smooth out the financial peaks and valleys of freelancing even more than a typical business credit card.

For Steady Cash Back Rewards, Apply for the Capital One Spark Cash

If you’re looking for a more sustained buffer from your business credit card than the Blue Business Plus provides, then your best business credit card for freelancers will be the Capital One Spark Cash.

To start off your card membership, this card has a welcome offer of $500 cash back if you spend $4,500 during your first three months with the card.

But the main draw of spending with the Spark Cash will be the solid, unlimited 2% cash back you’ll earn for every single dollar you spend. No matter what your freelancing expenses end up being, you’ll be earning 2% of every dollar you spend back.

Be sure to note that after you first year, the Spark Cash will have an annual fee of $95, but your first year with the card will be completely free.

→TL;DR: The flat-rate, unlimited 2% cash back rewards you get with the Spark Cash will reward your freelance spending and provide a buffer for any shortfalls you might experience.

If You Need Payment Flexibility, Try the American Express Plum Card

The American Express Plum Charge Card rounds out our list of the very best business credit cards for freelancers. This card is a really solid pick for freelancers who have an unpredictable income schedule becomes of its incomparable payment and rewards flexibility.

For every statement balance you carry with the Plum Card, you’ll have a payment grace period of 60 days. Alternatively, if you’re able to pay off your statement balance early—within 10 days of the statement closing date—then you’ll receive a 1.5% discount on your statement.

The Plum Card comes with a $250 annual fee that will set in after your first year as a cardholder, but the flexibility and the flat-rate rewards that this card offers could make this card more than worth its annual fee.

→TL;DR: The 60-day grace period that the Plum Card provides allows for unparalleled payment flexibility. Freelancers can avoid late fees when customers delay in paying them and earn 1.5% cash back when they’re able to make early payments.

The Best Business Credit Cards for Freelancers Will Transform Your Financials

We don’t often make blanket statements, but we’ll make an exception here. We feel very strongly that all freelancers need some form of business credit card. There are too many benefits to leave on the table if you don’t have one—you don’t know the way your business is going to grow, so set yourself up for all of the possible potential with a business credit card for freelancers.

Whether you apply for a freelance business credit card with cash back, travel rewards, a hefty signing bonus, or even no rewards at all, just be sure you get your hands on one so you can reap the benefits.

The post The 3 Best Business Credit Cards for Freelancers (and Why You Absolutely Need One) appeared first on Fundera Ledger.

from Fundera Ledger https://www.fundera.com/blog/business-credit-cards-for-freelancers

Variable Expenses Defined, Plus 5 Ways to Make Sure They Don’t Destroy Your Business Budget

In every business budget, you’ll find certain expenses that can change dramatically from month to month. These are variable expenses, and they make up a large portion of small business spending (unlike fixed costs, which remain the same each month). The fluctuating amounts behind variable expenses makes planning for them in your business budget hard—but not impossible.

Budgeting for variable expenses isn’t an exact science, but there are some tricks you can use to make sure they don’t derail your business’s finances. Before we get into the how-tos, though, let’s get a solid variable expenses definition in place.

And we’ll also need to get really clear about the difference between the three types of expenses that impact your business budget: variable expenses, discretionary expenses, and fixed costs.

What Is a Variable Expense?

Variable expenses—also known as variable costs—are expenses that change depending on how much you use a product or service.

By comparison, fixed costs stay the same over an extended period of time.

Then there are discretionary expenses. Discretionary expenses change depending on use, too, but they are different from variable expenses.

Examples of Each Type of Business Expense

You need variable expenses to run your business. Discretionary expenses are those little extras you enjoy. They’re nice to have, but you can run your business without them.

These examples will help clarify what fixed costs are, the variable expenses definition, and allow you to understand discretionary expenses, too:

Fixed costs:

• Rent
• Insurance payments
• Most loan payments
• Dues and subscriptions
• Annual salaries

Variable expenses:

• Utilities payments
• Automobile usage expenses, like fuel and maintenance
• Office supplies
• Professional services charged by the hour
• Payroll for hourly employees

Discretionary expenses:

• Most meals and entertainment expenses
• Client gifts
• Staff parties and bonuses (sorry, staff)

Variable Expenses Are More Than Operating Costs

The lists above focus on operating costs, but variable expenses apply to your cost of goods sold, too. If your business produces a product, you need to be aware of the variable costs of production.

Why is this important? Your variable costs of production have a direct impact on your break-even point. Your business’s break-even point is the quantity of your product you need to sell in order to cover your costs for the month. And this is important to know, because once you exceed your break-even point, your business becomes profitable.

→TL;DR (Too Long; Didn’t Read): A variable expense is a cost that changes; a fixed cost stays the same over a long period of time, aka spending you can predict; and you can think of discretionary expenditures as your “nice-to-haves.”

How Do Variable Expenses Affect My Business Budget?

Now that we have a good understanding of the three types of expenses in your business, let’s take a look at how variable expenses affect your business budget.

You can easily adjust your variable costs of production in response to a downturn in sales or production… actually, they usually adjust themselves, because when production slows, you stop incurring those costs. Overhead variable costs—like those listed above—are harder to adjust. That also means they are harder to plan for in your budget.

Let’s look at a variable expenses example we can all relate to: electricity costs. Depending on where you live and your options for heating sources, your electric bill might range from around $100/month in the milder months of the year to upwards $300/month in the harshest parts of summer and winter.

Changing climate conditions also affect these already variable expenses. You could have a year or two of very mild winter weather, only to be struck out of the blue by a winter that doesn’t end. Yikes!

Although you can take steps—like using a smart thermostat—to reduce the amount you pay for electricity, this variable expense is largely out of your control. This is frustrating, since an unexpectedly large electric bill can wreak havoc on your budget, especially if it coincides with a revenue slump. (And if you’re manufacturing a temperature-sensitive good, for instance, it’s not like you can just go without heat or cooling to save cash—and we’re sure your workers would agree, no matter what kind of work you do.)

How do you fix this?

5 Ways to Reduce the Impact of Variable Expenses on Your Budget

Sometimes, you can reduce the impact of variable expenses by asking your service provider to let you pay a fixed amount each month. (Deceptively simple, but really helpful.) This fixed amount is based on the average of your bills for the previous 12 months. Many utilities companies offer this option to help their customers budget, but an average payment option won’t be available for every variable expense in your budget.

You can still use this average payment concept to reduce the impact of variable expenses on your budget, though. Here’s how:

• Determine the annual average for each variable expense in your budget. When you’re determining the annual average for a variable expense, avoid the temptation to only look at the past 12 months. Take the time to review the average of three years’ worth of expenses. This will help you account for anomalies that may impact your average for an expense. Unless you have taken steps to permanently reduce a variable expense, err on the side of caution and use the highest average amount.

• Add a buffer. After you have determined the average for each variable expense, add a buffer to it. A buffer of 3% to 5% should be more than enough to cover price increases and most anomalies that will result in an outlier year for the expense. If you want to be really cautious—and if your budget can handle it—build in a buffer of 10%.

• Track your actual spending. Each month, compare your actual expenditure for each variable expense to the budgeted amount. Note if you were over budget or under budget for each expense category.
  
  If you use business accounting software, look for a Profit and Loss to Budget Comparison Report. This report can usually be customized to do the dollar amount increase or decrease calculation for you, so you can see at a glance if you were over or under budget without having to do the math yourself.
  

• Set up a savings account for variable expenses. This is the crucial step in this process. Each month you are under budget for a variable expense, move the excess into your savings account for variable expenses. This will create a reserve you can draw from during months when your expenses are higher than usual.
  
  For example, let’s say your electric bill averages $375/month. You’re having a mild winter, so your actual electric bill was $355 in January and $325 in February. March comes in like a lion, though, and a week of unexpected below-freezing temperatures results in a March electric bill of $445, when the bill for March is usually closer to $245.].
  
  Most business owners budget their variable expenses based on the actual expense from the previous year. But because you have budgeted an average of $375/month for electricity ($130 more than your usual electric bill for March) and because you moved the excess money budgeted for your electric bill in January ($20) and February ($50) into your savings account for variable expenses, you have enough money for the unexpectedly high electric bill for the month of March.
  
  If you had only budgeted the $245 for a “normal” electric bill for March, you would have had to quickly come up with an extra $200. For a very small business, or a business experiencing a drop in revenue, this can be very difficult to do.

• Reassess your variable expenses annually. You might be tempted to use the same variable expenses projections in your budget each year, especially if you have saved a decent amount in your variable expenses savings account. Avoid this temptation.
  
  You should reassess your variable expenses each year. Especially in expense categories where you have a bit more control than you do with utilities—like automobile usage expenses—opportunities exist to make strategic changes to reduce the expenses, like investing in new equipment or taking advantage of available upgrades.

Helpful Tip: Capturing All Variable Expenses in Your Budget

Most budget templates are designed to match a typical business’s chart of accounts. This means fixed costs, variable expenses, and discretionary expenses are scattered throughout the template. This layout makes it really easy to compare your actual numbers to your budgeted numbers (remember the Profit and Loss to Budget Comparison Report mentioned earlier?), but it also makes it easy to “gloss over” your variable and discretionary expenses when you are setting your budget numbers.

When you’re first putting together your business budget, start by listing out your expenses by type (fixed, variable, and discretionary). After you have determined the appropriate amount for each expense, you can plug those amounts into your budget template so it is ready to use to compare your budget to actual numbers each month.

→TL;DR: The best ways to make sure that you’re prepared to mitigate the impact of variable expenses boil down to paying attention to the costs of those expenses in the past, and preparing yourself with a buffer or some savings to take care of them in the future. Averages are good indicators of where you might land so you’re not surprised—and keep paying attention so you’re not shocked by changes.

Variable Expenses Affect Your Budget… but They Shouldn’t Destroy It

It’s frustrating to form a plan, only to have circumstances beyond your control throw that plan off course. This is one of the reasons why many small business owners avoid budgeting altogether. Especially if most of your business expenses are variable—as is often the case with very small businesses—trying to come up with an accurate budget can seem impossible.

With a little bit of planning, even the most volatile of your variable expenses can be accounted for in your budget with ease. Building a buffer in a business savings account to carry you through the months when your variable expenses are higher than projected will keep your budget on track and protect your cash flow. Reassessing your budget for variable expenses annually will help you identify areas for savings and other improvements.

The post Variable Expenses Defined, Plus 5 Ways to Make Sure They Don’t Destroy Your Business Budget appeared first on Fundera Ledger.

from Fundera Ledger https://www.fundera.com/blog/variable-expenses

Getting a Loan with a Tax Lien Is Possible—and Here’s How to Do It

Your financial history’s impact on your ability to get a small business loan is undeniable. When you have excellent credit and a record of managing your finances well, a large number of business loan options are at your disposal. But if you have bad credit or other red flags in your financial history, many lenders won’t want to work with you. Getting a business loan with a tax lien can be especially difficult.

If you’re one of the nearly 14 million Americans with a tax lien or judgment on your record, you might think it’s impossible to obtain small business financing. And although there are unavoidable consequences to having a lien, such as a more limited selection of lenders and higher interest rates, you can get a loan with a tax lien. (We know, because we’ve helped small business owners get the funding they need to grow their businesses, even with a lien.) But finding the small business loan is the most challenging part, because you need to know which lenders to work with, plus how to minimize the impact of a lien.

Here’s everything you need to know about getting a business loan if you’re a small business owner with a tax lien. We’ll also guide you through how to search lien records, which lenders to consider, and the options for obtaining a business loan. We’ve included some money saving tips, too, so you can put yourself and your business on the path to financial success.

Why Tax Liens Impact Your Search for Business Financing

A tax lien is like an “IOU” to the government. When you owe more than $10,000 in taxes, the government will file a written claim to your property with the county clerk or secretary of state’s office. If you then sell or liquidate the property, the lien gives the government first rights to the money. And if you don’t pay back the taxes for a long time, the government will eventually enforce the lien by seizing and selling your property to satisfy the debt. 

The government typically files a lien on personal property—like a house, car, or personal bank accounts—when an individual is delinquent on their personal income taxes. If you’re late on your business taxes, the government can file a lien on business property. This includes equipment, buildings, intellectual property, accounts receivable, and more. 

The federal government (IRS), as well as state and local governments, can file liens on property. All of these liens become part of the public record, where lenders can easily find them. As a result of the lien, the government gets priority, sending other creditors (and any prospective lenders) to the back of the line. If your business fails and you default on a loan, creditors with lower priority might even get nothing. So, lenders are naturally wary of lending to borrowers who have liens.

In addition, until you pay off the tax debt, the government assesses interest and late penalties. A lien can negatively impact your cash flow and overall debt burden—other factors that lenders look at when deciding whether to approve you for a business loan.

Lenders Can Find Tax Liens Several Ways

Until recently, consumer credit reports contained tax lien data, but credit bureaus removed all tax liens from credit reports in April 2018. So, tax liens no longer affect your credit score—which means that you might have experienced a boost to your raw credit score. Great news for that number—but that doesn’t mean lenders can’t find out about a lien or that having one won’t affect your business loan search.

Lenders still search for liens during business loan underwriting. A lien is one piece of data that separates a strong borrower from a riskier borrower, so lenders want to have this information before they approve a loan.

Although lenders can no longer obtain lien data just by pulling your credit report, they can still find liens in one of three ways:

1. Purchasing lien data from third party companies who scour the public record
2. Searching public records on their own at the county clerk or secretary of state’s office
3. Looking at your business credit report for business lien data (business credit reports aren’t subject to the recent credit report changes)

If a lender finds a tax lien on your record, they might reject you right away. But other lenders might be receptive to working with you.

→Too Long; Didn’t Read (TL;DR): The government can file a lien on your personal or business property if you or your company fail to pay taxes. The lien harms your ability to get financing because the government has the first claim to your assets. Although liens no longer show up on credit reports, lenders can find them in other ways.  

How to Get a Business Loan With a Tax Lien 

Having a tax lien on your record makes getting a business loan far more difficult. Most traditional business lenders will simply refuse to extend credit until your resolve the lien. This means that banks are not an option. However, having a lien isn’t a complete deal breaker. There are alternative lenders who will extend credit under certain conditions and steps you can take to improve your chances of getting approved.

Here are some pointers when trying to get a business loan with a tax lien:

First, Ensure Lien Records Are Accurate

Your first step as a prospective borrower should be to verify that any liens on your record are accurate. The IRS has made errors when filing liens, and state and local agencies could also make errors. For instance, the government might report the wrong amount of outstanding taxes, or they might fail to release a lien after you pay the amount due. Correcting these mistakes can make your search for a business loan much easier.

After the recent credit report changes, you no longer have to worry about lien errors on your credit report—lien information won’t show up there at all. However, there are a number of government agencies that record liens, so it’s important to correct inaccuracies.

Start by contacting your county clerk, recorder, or assessor’s office to sift through lien records. All you need is your residential and business address to check for liens on real estate. The process varies for other types of liens. If the government filed a lien on your car, for instance, you can find out by contacting the DMV.

If you receive a notice of lien from the IRS or another government entity and believe there’s been an error, follow the steps in the notice for correcting mistakes.

Try Alternative Online Lenders

Online, alternative business lenders are a diverse bunch—they provide medium-term loans, short-term loans, invoice financing, and merchant cash advances. The common element is that they work with less qualified borrowers than banks. These lenders can overlook weaker credit histories, lower business revenues, and even liens under certain conditions.

Many alternative lenders are okay with liens under a certain size. “Usually, liens under $250,000 are less of an obstacle,” says Michael Yang, a small business loan specialist at Fundera. Other lenders view the lien through the lens of your annual business revenue. Liens that are smaller than 7% to 10% of your annual revenue are more likely to make it through a lender’s underwriting process.

The size of the lien affects the likelihood that the lender will get their money back if you default on the loan. There will likely be money left over for the lender after the government gets its due if the lien is for a small amount of money.

What’s the catch? Since alternative lenders work with borrowers who have a higher risk profile, they charge more. Expect annual interest rates in the range of 10% to 80%, which is 2 to 10 times higher than what banks customarily charge. Alternative lenders also tend to charge higher origination fees, prepayment penalties, and other fees. These all factor into the total cost of your loan, so make sure you understand exactly what you’ll be responsible for paying back.

Set Up a Repayment Plan

One of the best ways to get financing with a tax lien and put yourself on the path to financial recovery is to arrange a repayment plan with the government agency that filed the lien. Bank financing is still out of the question, but alternative lenders will often extend a loan to borrowers if they are on a repayment plan for a lien.

The procedure for arranging a repayment plan varies based on which government agency filed the lien, how much money you owe, and the type of property that’s subject to the lien.

The IRS, which files the majority of liens, offers three main repayment plans:

1. Installment plan: Borrowers who have liens under $50,000 can pay off their debt in monthly installments over a six-year period.
2. Offer in compromise: If you cannot pay off the entire debt, you might be able to settle the debt by paying as much as you can afford. The IRS will review your business’s revenues and other sources of income when determining your ability to pay.
3. Bring down the debt to $10,000 or less: The IRS typically files liens only when you owe more than $10,000 in taxes. If you manage to pay off any amount greater than that, you can request the government to withdraw the lien.

Visit the IRS’s website to learn more about repayment plans and to apply online.

Remember that tax debt is like any other debt. You’ll need to pay interest on the debt (and any penalties that the government assesses) while you’re on the payment plan. Lenders will account for the tax debt when calculating your overall debt burden and cash flow. “If your total debt—tax debt included—is too high,” explains Yang, “then you won’t be able to qualify for the loan, even if you’re on the repayment plan. The lender always wants to make sure you can afford your monthly payments.”

So, a repayment plan is no guarantee that you’ll qualify for a business loan, but is a good way to minimize the impact of a lien. Once you’ve set up a repayment plan, the government will give you a document that contains the details. This is what you’ll need to show lenders to prove you’re on a repayment plan, so keep it safe (replacing this document can be time consuming).

Pay Off the Lien Before Applying For the Loan

The best way to get past a tax lien is to pay off the tax debt in full before applying for a business loan. Once you pay the outstanding debt, the government will send you a certificate of release to prove that you’re in the clear. At that point, many more business loan options become available to you, including bank financing.

Ideally, you want to pay off a tax debt with excess business revenues or personal funds. However, if that’s not an option, another possibility is to use a personal or business credit card to pay the delinquent taxes. Some cards even have a 0% APR introductory interest rate for up to 15 months, so you don’t have to pay interest to the issuer during that time.

There are two big caveats here. First, the IRS charges a payment processing fee when you use a credit card to pay taxes. Second, you should definitely have a plan for paying off the credit card debt once your introductory rate expires. Otherwise, you could be left with more debt than you started with.

→TL;DR: Contact your county clerk to find out if lien records are accurate. After that, approach alternative lenders, who usually work with borrowers who have liens under a certain size or who are on a repayment plan. These lenders can be expensive, so the best solution is to pay off the lien in full.

Next Steps: Try to Refinance After Resolving the Lien

If you manage to get a business loan with an outstanding lien, chances are good that the lender will charge a high interest rate. However, you’re not “stuck” in an expensive loan product. If you’re able to pay off the tax debt with surplus business revenues, then you might be able to refinance the expensive loan with a more affordable product.

Yang says, “While the lien is outstanding, we try to get the borrower into the best product they’re eligible for at that time, such as a short-term loan. If the borrower pays off the tax debt and the government releases the lien, we can sometimes refinance the debt with a more affordable loan, such as an SBA loan.”

The advantage of this approach is that you receive the capital you need right away—through a lender who has easier qualification requirements and is willing to overlook the lien on your record. You can begin investing the capital in your business immediately. However, once you pay back the tax debt and resolve the lien, you might be able to “graduate” to a more affordable loan product.

→TL;DR: Having a lien might limit you to an expensive loan product. But, once you resolve a lien, you might be able to save money by refinancing.

Bottom Line: Tax Liens Are Challenging, but Not a Deal Breaker

Although a tax lien doesn’t make getting a business loan impossible, it does narrow your options considerably. Many traditional lending channels are simply unavailable to business owners with liens. But that doesn’t mean the situation is hopeless.

Here’s what to keep in mind if you’re trying find business financing with a lien on your record:

• Contact the county clerk, secretary of state, or other appropriate government agency to check if your lien records are accurate.
• Follow the government agency’s instructions for resolving any errors.
• Try alternative online lenders, many of whom will work with borrowers who have tax liens under $250,000.
• Some lenders will lend money to borrowers who are on a repayment plan.
• Try to pay off the lean in full before applying for a business loan.
• If you can only get expensive capital due to the lien on your record, you’re not stuck. You might be able to refinance to a less expensive product in the future.

Finding a small business lender who is willing to work with a lien isn’t easy, but it’s possible. By taking steps to address your debt—and carefully researching and evaluating all the available options—you can find the loan that best fits the current needs of your business.

The post Getting a Loan with a Tax Lien Is Possible—and Here’s How to Do It appeared first on Fundera Ledger.

from Fundera Ledger https://www.fundera.com/blog/getting-a-loan-with-a-tax-lien

The 40 Top Small Business Ideas You Need to Know in 2018

They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder—and, as it turns out, the same can be said for the best small business ideas.

There are tons of small business ideas, and what defines a “best” small business idea largely depends on an aspiring entrepreneur’s personality and skillset (and its potential to earn you money, of course). So, when you’re considering the best ideas for your future small business, you’ll need to answer a few clarifying questions, including:

• What are your interests?
• Where is there a need in the market, and how can your skills satisfy that need?
• Who is your ideal client?
• What is your ideal work environment?

Your answers to these questions should point you in the direction of a certain industry. But if you’re not quite ready to dive into self-reflection—or if you’re curious about expanding your horizons—take a look at this list of 2018’s 40 best small business ideas.

These 40 small business ideas suit soon-to-be entrepreneurs in a range of industries, and with a variety of interests, but there’s a need in the modern market for all of these services. So, if you’re qualified to start a small business in any of the following fields, you just might find some serious success by striking out on your own.   

Best Small Business Ideas for B2B Thinkers

One of the most lucrative customer bases for small businesses are, in fact, other businesses. If you ever worked for a large company, you likely know that those businesses often require outside services. So, instead of continuing to work as an employee, use your skillset to strike out on your own and start your own B2B business.

1. Accounting & Bookkeeping

Are you a licensed CPA or a business accounting software wizard? Your less math-friendly entrepreneurs could use your help in keeping their personal and business finances in order.

As a bookkeeper, you’ll process invoices and payroll, compile expense reports, and more. If you have a CPA license, you can help business owners file taxes, generate balance sheets and other accounting documents, and make your professional recommendations about your client’s bottom line. 

If you have the skills to make your own accounting or bookkeeping service happen, then this is the best, and most lucrative, small business idea for you.

2. Consulting

If you’ve been in the business world for a long time, folks might be clamoring for your knowledge and expertise within your industry. Why not turn all that know-how into a new career as an independent consultant? You can get paid to speak at industry conferences or events, serve on a board of advisors for a fledgling business, or lend your expertise to shape the strategy of an existing business on a contract basis. Whatever your field of expertise, starting your own consulting firm is a great way to make a sizable income while working on your own terms.

3. Marketing Services

Most business owners have some idea of how they want to market their companies. Executing that plan, on the other hand, can be a whole other ballgame—especially for new business owners with little, or zero, marketing experience.

As an independent marketing professional, you can work with small businesses who don’t have the in-house bandwidth to execute their marketing plans. Write their blogs, firm up their SEO strategy, generate ad campaigns, deploy inbound marketing tactics, and do whatever it takes to get their name in (proverbial) lights.

4. Social Media Management

Social media is a specific marketing specialty that most business owners know they need, but few are capable of doing well. If you’re glued to your phone, Instagram all your meals, and carry out most of your conversations in 280 characters or fewer, consider cultivating a client base of business owners who need help managing their brand’s social media platforms.

5. Website Development & Design

Every business needs at least a basic website to succeed, but many business owners don’t know how to set one up for themselves. So, if you’re an IT and design wizard, you’ll have endless opportunities to custom-build websites. Use a platform like Upwork or Envato to gain your first clients, then use your portfolio and word-of-mouth recommendations to grow your client base (and eventually boost your prices).

6. Business Planning Service

If you’re the serial business owner type—and have successfully launched and run a few businesses now—you’ve probably crafted a couple business plans in your time. Writing a business plan is a crucial start to any business, but it’s a process that not all entrepreneurs have down.

One of the best small business ideas for seasoned business owners ready for their next venture is a business planning service. If you know how to see the whole process of writing a business plan through—including business funding plans, market analysis, competitor research, and so on—clients will be lining up for your services.

Best Small Business Ideas for Creative Entrepreneurs

Often, the best small business ideas are borne of an entrepreneur’s greatest passion. So, those with a creative edge might have an easy time coming up with business ideas—but some may be more financially viable than others. These in-demand small business opportunities definitely suit artistic types, but there’s also opportunity to make some good money.  

7. Photography

Professional photographers are highly demanded for weddings, corporate events, family portraits, and more. And because you can build this business out of your home (with the right tools, of course), a freelance photography business has relatively low startup costs. Plus, you’re in charge of your client load and schedule, so professional photography is a great way to build a side hustle while working full-time elsewhere.

8. Event Planning

More and more individuals and companies are hiring freelance event planners to manage the design, logistics, and coordination of pulling off major events. If you love every little detail of coordinating your kid’s birthday or your dad’s retirement party, start offering your Type-A services to partiers in your community or within your personal network. You just need to pull off one great party, to start, and your event-planning business will take off with all those word-of-mouth recommendations.  

9. Event Space

Take a look at your local market: If there’s a demand for weddings, birthdays, corporate events, and fundraisers, but few venues to host those events, seize the opportunity and start an event space yourself. You could offer planning services along with the venue, or partner up with another local event-planning business to become the ultimate party-planning team.

10. Interior Decorating

Rather than redecorating your living room for the fourteenth time, apply your love of design to an interior decorating business. To star out, leverage your personal network to offer help decorating residential and commercial spaces. You can charge an hourly fee to clients for your work, partner with your favorite furniture stores or manufacturers to work on commission, or a combination of the two.

11. Woodworking or Furniture Building

Do you love working with your hands to build beautiful, custom furniture? Take a page from Harp Design Co. in Waco, Texas (of Fixer Upper fame), and start your own custom woodworking business. You might start working weekends out of your garage, but as business takes off, you’ll be well on your way to your own shop and a brand new, full-time career doing what you love.

Best Small Business Ideas for Foodies

If the kitchen is your favorite place to be (by which we mean cooking in the kitchen, not just eating there!), consider one of these food-related small business ideas for your next entrepreneurial venture.

12. Bed & Breakfast

Do you live in an interesting tourist destination? Does your home have a guest house, mother-in-law suite, or even just a spare bedroom? Do you love to cook and entertain guests? If so, you might be the perfect candidate for turning your home into your own B&B. Sites like VRBO and AirBnB have made it easier than ever to market your home to travelers in need, and you may even make new friends along the way.

13. Catering

If you’re a professional chef but tired of the restaurant grind, starting a catering service is a great opportunity to strike out into the world of self-employment. You’ll need access to a commercial kitchen, a part-time staff of servers, and a couple of assistant cooks to start. But, compared to opening your own restaurant, the overhead costs of starting and running a catering company are much more manageable.

14. Custom Baking

Similarly, if you’re a professional (or semi-professional, or aspiringly professional) baker or cake designer, consider starting your own custom-design bakery. Unlike caterers, bakers are often allowed to work out of a non-commercial home kitchen as long as they meet health department requirements. Check your state and local regulations to confirm exactly what you’ll need to get your bespoke bakery started.

15. Food Truck

Food trucks are hugely popular, often offering unique, specialty foods that often wouldn’t sell as easily in brick-and-mortar restaurants. Take your mom’s famous dumpling recipe or your off-the-wall dessert idea and hit the road to local events, farmer’s markets, your local town square, large corporate complexes at the lunchtime rush—wherever you’re likely to draw a crowd. Keep in mind that food trucks usually have to meet a special set of ordinances and safety compliance standards, so contact your local health department to determine what your mobile restaurant will require.

16. Restaurant or Cafe

If you’re truly culinarily (and entrepreneurially) ambitious, your ultimate dream might be to open your own deli, diner, cafe, or full-service restaurant. While opening a restaurant is one of the most challenging, risky, and expensive business ideas on our list, the reward can be great for those willing to put in the work. If you’d like a safer bet than starting your own restaurant from scratch, consider opening a franchise of an established restaurant chain, and reap the benefits of an already-popular brand.

17. Craft Brewery

Craft breweries, aka microbreweries  are booming in the United States—in fact, 98% of this country’s operating breweries are independently owned. So, if you’ve been tinkering with beer-brewing in your garage, calling it official and opening up a microbrewery can be a great way to monetize your hobby.

Best Small Business Ideas for Outdoor Enthusiasts

For some people, the prospect of spending their lives in a cubicle or behind a desk is a recipe for disaster—or at least serious ennui. If you’re happiest when you’re active, ideally with the sun on your face, check out these small business ideas that allow you to spend most of your days outside.

18. Landscape Services

If you have a green thumb, an eye for design, and a love for the sweet sound of lawnmowers (to each their own), consider starting up your own landscape service. You’ll mow lawns, planting flowers, and even designing elaborate landscape plans for homes and office complexes. If you’re uncertain about the administrative side of the landscape business, check out software options like Arborgold to help you out with the back-end management so that you can focus on your happy customers.

19. Private Lifeguarding Service

If you have experience as a lifeguard, or you’re CPR-certified, consider launching a private lifeguarding business to service pool parties and other aquatic events. This business would pair well with a private swimming lessons service for children.

Obviously, this business is best suited for climates that stay warm year-round. But you can swing private lifeguarding as a seasonal business if you live in a cold climate, as long as you’re supplementing this service with another stream of income—just take your pick from any of the other 40 small business ideas on this list.   

20. Moving Company

Here’s your fun fact for the day: The average American will move 11.7 times in his or her lifetime. That accounts for a lot of boxes, sofas, refrigerators, and dining room tables that need to be hauled from place and place every single day. If you hate spending time behind a desk and don’t mind lifting heavy stuff—or hiring, managing, and coordinating a team of super-strong friends to help you do that heavy lifting—consider starting your own moving company. 

21. Pet Grooming

Animal enthusiasts can probably think of nothing better than hanging out with pets all day. It might take some time to build up the funding to open up your own pet-grooming facility. So, keep overhead low in the beginning by offering a mobile service, and bring your grooming skills and tools directly to your clients’ homes. You can also offer dog-walking services to supplement your grooming business.

22. Guide Service

If you live near a tourist attraction or in a highly trafficked town, you could start your own walking tour or speciality guide service. This is the perfect small business idea for those who love to hike, bike, walk, explore the outdoors, and who are deeply knowledgeable about their local areas.

Best Small Business Ideas for Health & Wellness Professionals

You’ve probably noticed an exponential increase in the number of green juices, kale smoothies, and gluten-free everything on cafe and restaurant menus around your town. That’s because the health, wellness, and personal care spaces are rapidly gaining in popularity, and money: As of 2016, the wellness industry was worth $3.72 trillion and grew by 10.6% from 2013 to 2015, with no signs of slowing down.

So, if you’re passionate about helping people feel and look their best, now’s the time to start your own small business—whether you heal with your hands or a mascara wand.

23. Doula

Doulas guide expectant mothers through all the non-medical aspects of the labor and delivery process, operating either in a home setting, at a hospital, or both. And because doulas primarily travel to their clients to perform their work, you won’t need to splurge on office space. Of course, you’ll need to go through training and earn certification to work as a professional doula. But if you’re passionate about women’s health and wellness, inspired by the prospect of bringing new life into the world, and don’t want to work a regular 9-5, that training will be worth it.  

24. Massage Therapist

There are so many healing modalities in the world, but massage therapy is one of the most tried-and-true (and enjoyable) practices out there. As an occupation, massage therapy is in high demand: The US Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts a 26% growth in massage therapy jobs between 2016 and 2026, a much higher rate than average.

You’ll need special training and licensing to legally operate as a massage therapist, so check your state requirements to make sure you’re operating within local laws. But once you’ve jumped through the licensing hoops, you’ll be free to open an in-home studio, travel to your clients (check out Zeel to start, an on-demand massage therapy service), or eventually open your own facility.

25. Nutritionist

If you’re a proudly gluten-free, vegan, whole foods health junkie, and you love sharing your clean-eating habits with others, consider starting your own business as a nutritionist and getting paid to help others achieve their health goals. But before you start prescribing those spinach-and-chia smoothies, do your research about licensing requirements. As is the case with every personal-care occupation on this list, you’ll need training as a registered dietician to operate your practice.

26. Personal Trainer or Fitness Instructor

If you’re the first one in the gym every morning, or dream of taking over from your yoga instructor, the next step might be to take that physical energy and put it toward becoming a licensed trainer. As a licensed personal trainer, you can offer private training sessions in your own home or in clients’ homes, lead group sessions in local parks, become a certified instructor for a whole host of workouts (Zumba, anyone?), and, eventually, even open your own gym or studio.

27. Beauty Services

Whether you’ve graduated from cosmetology school, developed a following for your makeup tutorials on YouTube, or you’re your friends’ go-to for hair and makeup recommendations, becoming a freelance hair or makeup artist is a logical next step. Before you set up a brick-and-mortar salon, or carve out a space in your own home, get started by signing up as a professional stylist for an on-demand beauty app, so you and your tools will travel right to your clients’ homes. Working on the weekends or evenings is the perfect way to slowly transition out of a 9-5 job and build up a loyal client base.

Best Small Business Ideas for Teachers & Aides

Here are some great small business ideas for entrepreneurs who love teaching, guidance, or taking care of toddlers or the elderly, but who don’t want to work in schools/daycare/nursing homes anymore (or at all).

28. College Application Consultant

According to the National Association for College Admission Counseling, only 28% of public schools employ at least one college counselor. And yet, the process of studying for entrance exams, completing college applications, and navigating the financial process is complex. If you’re organized, knowledgeable about the higher education process, and enjoy working with adolescents and their parents, consider starting a side business as an independent college application consultant to help more smart, ambitious, and qualified kids get into the schools of their dreams.

29. Daycare Provider

Opening up a daycare facility can be a great option for parents who want to work from home, or simply for people who love working with toddlers. The process to becoming a licensed child care provider is relatively simple, but be aware that requirements vary by state. Cities, towns, and municipalities occasionally have their own regulations, too.

32. Senior Care Provider

As the baby boomer population ages, more and more senior citizens are in need of at-home care. These needs range from medically-specific requirements to simple companionship or help with cooking, tidying up, or transportation to and from appointments. This is a great option for anyone with nursing experience who would like to move into working for themselves.

31. Tutor

Almost every kid needs access to tutoring at some point in their academic careers. And not only is tutoring a highly demanded occupation, but on average you can earn up to $40 an hour as a private tutor. So, if you’re fluent in a foreign language, or you excel in math, science, or writing, set yourself up as a freelance tutor for students of all ages in your local community.

Better yet, grab your equally qualified, eager-to-teach friends and establish a full-service tutoring business. By offering a variety of subject areas to parents in your neighborhood, you’ll quickly build a client base eager to pay you for your help in achieving the best possible academic results.

Best Small Business Ideas for Repair Services

No matter how much of the world has gone digital, people still wear clothes, drive cars, and live in houses—and all of those physical comforts will inevitably fall apart, break down, or get a little messy from time to time. That’s why repair-service jobs will always be in demand, and these businesses have the potential to become quite lucrative. So, if you love working with your hands, and don’t mind getting them dirty, these small business ideas for repair services might be right up your alley.  

32. Alterations Services

Even with millions of shopping and fit options, it’s rare that 100% of a person’s wardrobe will fit perfectly 100% of the time. If you’re a fit and alteration expert, consider building your own, in-home alterations service. Better yet, supplement your basic alterations service by launching a custom clothing company. By designing and manufacturing bespoke suits, or repairing well-worn favorites, you can develop a client base by helping out those of us who just barely passed home ec in high school.

33. Automotive Repair

From oil changes and engine repairs, to tire services and body work, to interior and exterior deep-cleans, automotive repair businesses run the gamut of all things car-care. Alternatively, car repair businesses can focus on an automotive specialty, such as foreign cars, antique cars, or specific brands. Whatever niche you choose for your car repair business, watch out for state licensing or insurance requirements to make sure your venture complies with local laws.

34. Handyman Services

As a handyman, you have a couple of options: You can either complete odd repair jobs, or you can specialize in certain repairs, such as plumbing, electrical, locksmith, home security installment, or HVAC work. It all depends on your skillset, and on whether you have, or are willing to earn, special licensing (your state might require a contractor’s license to do certain repair work). But, once you’ve established a client base, you can hire a team of handymen with complementary skills to your own.  

35. Housecleaning

As the economy bounces back, more Americans have a little extra disposable income—and since we’re all busier than ever, the market is ripe with opportunity for professional house cleaners. If you’re willing to get your hands dirty, you can keep your business small and strike out on your own. Or, if you have dreams of a larger enterprise, hire a few employees or contractors and you can manage several cleaning teams. Overhead might include equipment, marketing costs, and wages for personnel, but otherwise a cleaning service is a relatively low-cost enterprise to start up.

Best Small Business Ideas for Entrepreneurs Who Work from Home

Whether you’re a student, a working mother, or you’re simply tired of the 9-to-5, in-office grind, you might be ready to strike out on your own—and right onto your couch—with these work from home small business ideas. (By the way, many of the small business ideas on this list are conducive to working at home, particularly those in the B2B service industry.)

36. Virtual Assistant Service

If you’re the most organized person your know, your best small business idea from home just might be a freelance virtual assistant service: You might be surprised by how many companies are increasingly outsourcing administrative tasks to remote workers. As a virtual assistant, you can choose your clients, then manage their emails, schedule meetings, book travel, and complete other essential tasks to make your clients’ lives and businesses run more smoothly—all from the comfort of your own home. To become an admin yourself, all you need is a laptop, an internet connection, and a true passion for daily planners.

37. Freelance Copywriting & Content Creation

Need to support yourself while you chip away at your magnum opus? Then starting a copywriting or content creation service could be one of the best work from home small business idea for you.

You might have heard it before—”content is king.” And with more businesses trying to produce high-quality written resources—like blog posts, ebooks, white papers, and newsletters—there’s tons of room in the freelance market for a wordsmith like you.

38. Music Lessons

Chances are, if you’re a musician—either professionally, semi-professionally, or professionally only in your daydreams—you already have the skills, and tools, needed to become a freelance music teacher. Make those daydreams a reality by offering music lessons out of your own home. Reach out to your local schools and newspaper and ask whether you can offer flyers, or ad space, to begin building up your client base.

39. Blogging

For a certain kind of person (i.e., the hermetic kind), blogging is a true dream job: You get to write about your passions, test out new products/recipes/lifehacks (or whatever your specialty is), and earn money through advertising or by earning sponsorships from companies in exchange for reviews—all without ever needing to get out of bed. It takes some time, dedication, and hard work to build up your readership enough to make blogging your full-time job. But, if you stick with it, you just might join the ranks of the world’s top-earning bloggers.

40. Ecommerce

Thanks to online marketplaces like eBay, Amazon, and Etsy, and apps like Depop, it’s easier than ever to sell your items online. If you open up an ecommerce store, you won’t need to handle the logistical and financial stress of leasing a space, finding small business financing, and hiring labor that you would if you were to open up a brick-and-mortar store. Plus, unlike a physical retail location, ecommerce stores are open 24/7, so you’ll supercharge your earning capacity—making this one of the most potentially lucrative small business ideas from home on this list.

The Best Small Business Ideas for Entrepreneurs in 2018

These days, more and more people are shifting out of traditional, 9-to-5 jobs and striking out on their own. In fact, according to the 2017 Kauffman Index of Startup Activity, about 540,000 people switch into self-employment every month. So if you’ve caught the entrepreneurial bug, you’re certainly not alone. 

While we rounded out this list of the best small business ideas at 40, the options for starting a small business are pretty much endless—you’re limited only by your skills, interests, and imagination. So decide what you’re good at, what you love to do, and turn that into your new career.

The post The 40 Top Small Business Ideas You Need to Know in 2018 appeared first on Fundera Ledger.

from Fundera Ledger https://www.fundera.com/blog/best-small-business-ideas

10 Things Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Superheroes

Our favorite superheroes have inspired us for decades, teaching us more than a few lessons along the way. People of all ages and backgrounds have been influenced by the experiences and insights shared by our favorite heroes in comic books and on the big screen. If you are a hardworking entrepreneur, chances are you need a little inspiration now and then. While there’s no shortage of business advice online, sometimes it’s helpful to look to unlikely sources for a little encouragement.

Heroes like Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman can teach us a lot about what it means to take risks, work hard, and fight for a cause you’re passionate about. These traits are just a few of the important characteristics that entrepreneurs must employ while striving to build their businesses from the ground up. If you’re a small business owner, you probably already feel like you have to act like a superhero daily to keep your company running smoothly!

Whether you are looking for a little motivation or specific business tips, check out this infographic on business lessons that entrepreneurs can learn from superheroes.

Sources: Under 30 CEO | Power of Positivity | Forbes | Bright Drops | Hello Giggles | Screen Rant | Revelist | Hypable | DC Wiki | growth business.co.uk | Good Reads

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from Fundera Ledger https://www.fundera.com/blog/business-lessons-from-superheroes

What Is Fundbox Pay? Now You Can Use Fundbox Kind of Like Venmo

In the world of small business commerce, there’s a problem: B2B buyers and sellers want two fundamentally incompatible things. Sellers want to get paid for goods and services as soon as possible, but buyers want—and often truly need—extended time to pay. Fundbox Pay is looking to be the solution to fix this.

Usually in transactions between small businesses (also called SMB2B), the needs of buyers win out. That forces sellers to offer net-30, net-60, or other net payment terms to buyers in order to stay competitive. But that can often cause cash-flow issues that puts stress on accounts payable.

This friction between sellers’ and buyers’ needs has created the current system of trade credit, and in the US today, 43% of the total B2B sales value is transacted on credit. Small businesses in particular feel the pressure that delayed payments creates. Based on an analysis of Fundbox customer data, 64% of small businesses are affected by late invoice payments.

Fundbox Pay is a new SMB2B payments and credit network, developed specifically to address this predicament.

Fundbox Pay Is Built for the Small Business Credit Crunch

One reason sellers are forced to extend terms and spend so much time waiting for payments is that small business buyers face significant barriers to getting credit any other way.

When most business owners think about business financing, traditional term loans from major banks are usually the first option they try. However, that generally isn’t an option for most business owners.

In a recent SBA survey, 27% of businesses reported that they weren’t able to get the funding they needed. Conventional lending requirements aren’t built with small businesses in mind, and often fail to take the health of the business (as separate from the owner’s personal creditworthiness and metrics like FICO score) into full account.

What Is Fundbox Pay?

Fundbox Pay is a new payment solution from Fundbox, the small business financing-focused fintech firm that you might know from their business line of credit and invoice financing products. Fundbox Pay, their new product, offers a way to give B2B buyers and sellers what they want.

Fundbox Pay allows sellers to get paid right away, while also allowing buyers to take up to sixty days to pay. It’s kind of a win-win in that regard.

To use it, sellers simply invite their customers to Fundbox Pay (kind of like Venmo!). If approved, those customers have access to Fundbox Credit™. When buyers pay their vendors using Fundbox Pay, they get convenient sixty-day terms, while the vendor gets paid by Fundbox right away.

Why Use Fundbox Pay?

For buyers: Those sixty-day terms come without any interest or fees. If they want, they can even extend the terms up to a year, for a flat weekly fee.

For sellers: Fundbox Pay grants ability to shift the risk and hassle of offering terms (and following up with buyers to chase late payments) onto a trusted partner. It’s similar to how consumer credit cards backed by financial institutions have functioned in the business-to-consumer world for decades.

How Fundbox B2B Payments Work

Let’s look at the Fundbox Pay dashboard. Here’s what buyers see when selecting a vendor to pay:

If you’re a buyer using Fundbox Pay and you’re trying to pay a vendor you’ve paid before, you can begin typing that vendor’s name and it’ll auto-populate their information. That way, buyers only have to enter information once, saving time when making future payments.

If you’re a merchant using Fundbox Pay, you’ll see payments in your merchant dashboard, like this:

 

As a seller, you’ll see a prompt to review and accept the payment. Once you’ve accepted it, the funds are sent directly to your verified business bank account as soon as the next business day.

When using Fundbox Pay, all fees are flat and shown to you up front, giving you a chance to review and accept them. As a buyer, those first sixty days to pay are completely interest-free. That makes payments with Fundbox Pay the same kind of simple as using a credit card (and in many cases, an even better deal).

Change Up Your Payments with Fundbox Pay

Platforms like Fundbox Pay are leading a wave of change in the way small businesses transact with each other. Thanks to the expanding availability of faster, data-driven credit for small businesses, SMB2Bs can finally take advantage of the type of credit-card-convenience that consumers have long enjoyed.

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from Fundera Ledger https://www.fundera.com/blog/fundbox-pay