Crestford Lending, a small-business funding broker in Waterloo, Iowa, works in four steps: learn the purpose, match a funding type, pass the request to lending partners that offer it, and help the owner compare any offer. Partners underwrite, decide and set rates and terms; Crestford Lending never approves or prices funding.
Where the lender's job starts and ours stops
A lender funds the request from its own money or its own credit facilities, reviews the business, decides and sets the terms. A broker such as Crestford Lending does none of those things. We help you work out what you need, explain the options and introduce the request to lending partners that offer that kind of funding.
A loan broker's value is in the preparation: a request that states its purpose clearly, goes to partners that actually fund that purpose, and arrives with the documents those partners expect.
Step 1: the purpose
Everything starts with what the money will do. Payroll across a slow month, a remodel, a delivery van and a stock order each lead to different structures. We ask about the purpose, rough cost, timing and how you expect to repay. The short request form collects contact details and three ranges (time in business, revenue, amount); the purpose question comes on the call.
Step 2: purpose meets structure
The purpose points to one or two of the six routes: working capital, a term loan, a line of credit, inventory financing, equipment financing or a merchant cash advance, which is not a loan. We explain the trade-offs of each before anything is sent.
Step 3: underwriting on the partner's side
Underwriting is the name for the partner's review of your business. It usually covers bank statements, time in business, revenue patterns, existing debts, credit history and the purpose. Larger requests may add tax returns, financial statements and collateral details. How long underwriting takes depends on the partner, the product and how complete the file is; incomplete paperwork is the most common cause of delay, so we cannot give you a timeline in advance.
Whether a written plan is needed depends on the request. Do you need a business plan to apply covers when partners ask for one and what a Waterloo owner usually already has on hand.
Step 4: an offer lands on your desk
If a partner makes an offer, compare it on total cost, not on one headline figure. A loan's rate, an annual percentage rate and an advance's factor measure different things. Put every offer into the same terms:
- Total dollars you will pay back, including all fees
- Payment amount and frequency
- Length of the term or expected collection period
- What is pledged: collateral, liens, a personal guarantee
- Prepayment terms and default provisions
For loans, the loan cost calculator gives the monthly payment, total interest and total repaid. Saying no to an offer costs nothing and ends nothing.
Warning signs while you shop around
- Anyone who promises approval before a lending partner has reviewed anything
- Pressure to sign the same day without time to read the agreement
- Offers that will not state the total amount you will pay back
- Agreements that call a merchant cash advance a loan, or a loan an advance
- Requests to share online banking passwords instead of statements
Free, independent advice is available too; the Cedar Valley resource list collects it. Short answers to common questions are on the FAQ page, and the formal statement of our role is in the broker disclosures.
By Crestford Lending · Updated
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