Capital that fits how the business actually trades

Short-term financing covers business capital arranged for a shorter duration than a conventional term loan. It suits a need a business can already see the end of.

When businesses look at it

Most often when timing is the problem rather than profitability. Stock has to be bought before the season it sells in. A supplier wants paying before a customer does. An opportunity has a deadline attached to it that a longer arrangement would not be organised in time to meet.

What to weigh up

The shorter the duration, the more the repayment has to be absorbed inside a smaller window of trading. That is manageable when the funded activity generates its return inside that same window, and uncomfortable when it does not. It is worth being honest with yourself about which of the two you are looking at before you apply, not after.

Structures, durations and costs differ between programs, and what is available to any particular business depends on the review that follows an application.

A term loan is business financing structured around two things agreed at the outset: how much is borrowed, and the period over which it is repaid.

When businesses look at it

Usually for something planned rather than something urgent. A second location. A machine that will be earning for years. A refit that closes the doors for a fortnight and changes the takings afterwards. The common thread is that the thing being funded outlasts the funding of it.

What to weigh up

A defined repayment period cuts both ways. It makes the commitment possible to plan around, which is the main reason to choose this structure, and it holds that commitment steady whether or not a particular quarter goes the way you expected. Funding a long-lived asset this way is ordinarily sensible; funding a short-term gap this way is usually the wrong tool.

Amounts, periods and costs are set by the applicable lender or program following a review of the business, and they vary between programs.

A business line of credit provides access to capital that may be drawn as business needs arise, rather than being taken in a single amount at the start. Availability, drawing and repayment are governed by the terms of the applicable program.

When businesses look at it

When the need is real but its timing and size are not yet known. Trading that swings between quiet and busy. Costs that arrive without notice. A stock cycle that has to be funded again every few months rather than once.

What to weigh up

A line of credit is not an unlimited or guaranteed facility, and it should not be planned around as though it were. What is available to draw, whether it remains available, and on what terms are all matters for the applicable program, and they can be reviewed. Treating a line as a permanent safety net is where businesses most often get caught out.

Used deliberately, its advantage is that you are not funding capital you have not needed yet.

SBA-related financing refers to business loan options offered by participating lenders under programs associated with the U.S. Small Business Administration.

What Apex's role is, and is not

Apex can help a business explore SBA-related financing options through applicable funding relationships. Apex is not the U.S. Small Business Administration, does not act on its behalf, and does not issue SBA guarantees. The lending decision, the program rules and the final terms belong to the participating lender and the applicable program.

When businesses look at it

Typically for substantial, planned purposes rather than immediate gaps: expanding, buying equipment, acquiring a business, and in some cases property, where the purpose qualifies under the applicable program.

What to weigh up

These programs have their own eligibility rules, documentation requirements and processes, and they are not the fastest route to capital. Which program a business might qualify for, what it would need to provide, and what the resulting terms would be are all determined through the participating lender rather than in advance of an application.

We can tell you what the process would involve for your business before you commit to it.

A merchant cash advance may provide business capital in exchange for an agreed portion of future business receivables, depending on the specific program.

Why we do not call it a loan

Where a program is structured as a purchase of future receivables, it is not a loan, and describing it as one would misdescribe what a business is agreeing to. The obligation is tied to receivables rather than to a fixed instalment schedule, so it does not behave the way a loan behaves. Any business considering one should read the specific agreement on this point rather than rely on a general description, including this one.

When businesses look at it

Often when card takings are steady but conventional financing is not a fit, or when a need is immediate enough that a longer process would miss it.

What to weigh up

Because repayment moves with receivables, it eases when takings fall and accelerates when they rise — which some businesses find fits their trading and others find harder to plan around. The cost of an advance is not expressed the way loan interest is, so it is not directly comparable to a loan rate, and it is worth having somebody walk you through the actual figures in an actual offer before you accept one.

Approval, the amount and the timing all follow a review of the business. None of them is guaranteed, none is offered without that review, and Apex does not publish a factor rate or a funding time in advance of one.

Business funding consolidation is a potential way to combine eligible existing business obligations into a single, more manageable funding structure, where an applicable program is available.

When businesses look at it

Usually when the problem is no longer the amount owed but the administration of it: several obligations, several schedules, several counterparties, and a cash-flow picture that has become difficult to see clearly.

What to weigh up

This is the program where the honest answer depends most on the specifics. Consolidation does not forgive debt, does not repair credit, and does not automatically produce a lower payment, a lower rate or a saving. Whether it improves anything depends on the obligations being consolidated and on the terms of the offer actually made — and it is entirely possible for a consolidation to simplify administration without reducing cost, or to extend a commitment while easing a monthly figure.

Those are trade-offs a business should make deliberately with the real numbers in front of it. We can go through what a consolidation would actually look like against your existing obligations before you decide whether it is worth doing.