Six ways to fund a Black Hawk County business sit side by side here: working capital, term loans, lines of credit, inventory financing, equipment financing and merchant cash advances. Crestford Lending, a small-business funding broker in Waterloo, Iowa, explains each one and sends requests to lending partners, which decide and set the terms.
All six routes in one table
| Route | Typical use | Repayment pattern | Common security |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working capital | Wages, rent and supplier invoices during a receivables gap | Regular installments over months | Often unsecured, frequently with a personal guarantee |
| Term loan | Remodels, expansions, refinancing | Amortized installments over years | Equipment, receivables or property behind it |
| Line of credit | Recurring costs that vary in size | Payments on whatever balance is drawn | Depends; smaller lines may be unsecured |
| Inventory financing | Stock purchased months ahead of selling it | Paid down as goods sell, or on set dates | The inventory |
| Equipment financing | Machines, vehicles, kitchen and clinic equipment | Installments or lease payments | The equipment |
| Merchant cash advance | Brief gaps at businesses that take mostly cards | Taken from future sales; not a loan | The purchased receivables |
Read a row from left to right. The useful question is which repayment rhythm your receipts can sustain, not which product sounds biggest.
Matching the length of the money to the life of the purchase
A rule that saves trouble: the funding should not outlive the thing it paid for, and it should not run out much sooner either. Payroll across a slow collection month is a short-term problem, so a term loan stretched over five years would keep charging interest long after the gap has closed. A walk-in cooler that runs for a decade is the opposite case: squeezing it into a few months of heavy debits can starve the business of cash it needs elsewhere.
Short money (working capital, a line of credit, an advance) suits gaps and recurring costs. Longer money (term loans, equipment financing) suits assets and projects. Inventory financing sits in the middle, because its life follows how fast the stock turns.
Secured and unsecured funding
Secured funding is backed by something the partner can claim if payments stop: the equipment, the inventory, receivables or a general lien on business assets. Unsecured funding has no specific collateral, though many partners still ask the owner for a personal guarantee. Secured requests tend to be easier to justify because the asset carries part of the risk; unsecured requests rest more heavily on cash flow and credit history.
Most secured business funding is recorded with a UCC financing statement. If you are not sure what is already filed against your business, the Iowa UCC search guide shows how owners look it up before they apply.
Where SBA loans and business credit cards fit
SBA-backed loans are made by banks and other approved lenders, with part of the loan backed by the U.S. Small Business Administration. SBA lending is outside our work: Crestford Lending neither makes nor arranges SBA loans. If an SBA loan suits your purpose, the Cedar Valley resource list points to free help with that process.
A business credit card works for small, frequent purchases you clear each month. Once a balance rolls over, the card is usually a costly way to carry it, and a line of credit or a term loan is the more common next step.
Legitimate uses, and the one that is not
Business funding can pay for almost any legitimate business purpose: payroll, rent, equipment, inventory, a build-out, marketing, or paying off costlier debt. It is not meant for personal spending, and partners will ask what the money is for. A clear purpose with a visible way to repay it is the strongest part of any request, so start there before choosing a product.
Two routes from this table get extra explanation elsewhere on the site: how a request reaches a partner and the owner questions for quick answers.
By Crestford Lending · Updated
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