Crownmark Loans, a small-business funding broker in Salisbury, North Carolina, describes how a funding request moves: a first conversation about the expense, shaping the request, review by a lending partner, and your decision. This page explains what partners look at, how to compare APR, factor rates and total cost, and which warning signs to watch for.
Step 1: the conversation
Phone the Innes St number, (704) 879-5660, or send the short form with your name, email, phone and business name for a callback. On that call we ask what the money will pay for, when it is needed, roughly what the business brings in each month and what it already owes. Those four answers rule out most options quickly.
Step 2: shaping the request
We match the expense to a structure: working capital for a defined gap, a term loan for a project, a credit line for recurring needs, inventory financing for stock, equipment financing for machines, or a merchant cash advance, which is not a loan. Then we list the documents a partner in that category usually asks for.
Whether to continue is your call alone. Nothing is sent to any partner without your permission.
Step 3: a partner reads the file and decides
With your go-ahead, we pass the request to lending partners that offer that structure. Each partner runs its own review and makes its own credit decision. Partners typically look at:
- Business bank statements and the deposit pattern
- Time in business and how the business is organized
- Owners' credit, often through a credit check the partner runs
- Existing loans, leases, advances and liens
- For a specific purchase, the quote or invoice
A partner may decline, ask for more, or make an offer. Any offer comes from the partner, in writing.
Step 4: comparing offers
Offers are hard to compare because they are priced in different units. A term loan is quoted as an interest rate or APR; a merchant cash advance as a factor rate; a lease as a payment and a buyout. Put them on one footing:
| Ask for | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Total amount you will pay back | The single figure that compares across products |
| Payment amount and frequency | Daily, weekly and monthly debits feel very different in the bank account |
| Amount actually deposited | Fees deducted at funding reduce what you receive |
| Early payoff terms | Shows whether paying early saves anything |
| Collateral and personal guarantee | Shows what is at stake if the business struggles |
Our loan cost calculator shows the monthly payment, total interest and total repaid for a term loan, which helps when you test a quote.
Red flags worth stopping for
- A push to sign before every page has been read
- Blank spaces in a document you are asked to sign
- Terms in writing that differ from what you were told on the phone
- A total payback figure nobody will state plainly
- Any promise that approval is certain
If you see one of these, stop and ask questions. Free advisors listed in our Rowan County resource directory can review an offer with you.
Where to go next
Short answers are on the FAQ page, and the broker disclosures explain where our role stops.
By Crownmark Loans ยท Updated
