9 Ways to Handle Business Loan Rejections from Banks and Investors

What if your loan application is denied by your bank or investors ? It's not just you 73% of loan requests from businesses are turned down by banks.

What to do if your lender denies your request for a Business Loan

If your application for a business loan is denied, don't be shocked. Contrary to popular assumption, banks cannot take a chance on a successful business without adhering to tight regulations. No matter how promising the business, they are prohibited by banking law from lending without collateral.

A successful business does not end with the first rejection, though. What you do following the loan denial is crucial. Here are the specific actions you need to perform.

1. Obtain Favourable remarks from the Lender

Examine the reasons behind the loan denial. Be careful to follow up with a specific individual; don't just use a form letter or secure message. Do some investigation to find out who the loan manager is if you don't already know them.

It doesn't follow that you should disregard a form letter, especially if it provides you with an explanation. Pay great attention to the details provided in the rejection on issues like collateral or financial position.

When you meet someone, focus on the specifics and probe more. Ask your bank whose credit reporting agencies they used to obtain information about your company and what would have made a difference. Determine the best time to reapply, how to do so, and what changes you would need to make to get accepted.

Be sure to properly structure the discussion as you do this. Act respectful and curious rather than irate or aggressive, as though you accept the decision. Instead of trying to justify the choice, you're searching for input to help you fix any issues you identify.  

2. Discover the reasons your company loan was denied

There are a few highly typical and frequent causes for business loan denials. Be prepared for one of the following possibilities:  

Common grounds for company loan denial

• Bad credit
• Poor ratios
• Insufficient financial data
• The level of cash flow
• Insufficient security
• Excessive debt
• Inadequate credit history

Some of these are simple to resolve. For instance, incomplete financials allow you a way to resubmit with more specific information to reverse the judgement. Too much debt offers the chance to pay down some previous debt or, possibly, spot inaccuracies in the bank-provided financial reports.

However, some of these are more difficult to address, so you'll need to find different approaches to your funding issues. For instance, it takes time to change a credit history that is insufficient.

Keep in mind that finding the real reason a lender rejected your application may need some investigation. For instance, I came across a situation where the loan manager attributed a denial to the absence of monthly financial forecasts for the following five years. In actuality, the bank avoided dealing with the important individuals due to certain long-standing problems.

3. Deal with your credit report

Is a lack of credit preventing you from getting a loan? Reviewing your credit report to make sure everything is accurate is time well spent. Additionally, it offers advice on what you should do to strengthen your credit.

Start by requesting copies of your credit report from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, the three main national credit bureaus. You can also ask for a copy of the credit report that was used by the loan company you used to submit your application.

Investigate the specifics of your credit report and check for mistakes. Each of the credit report providers has a specific procedure for adding helpful information and fixing mistakes. You may occasionally discover serious problems that are easily corrected.

If no serious faults are discovered, your credit rating has to be raised. Pay attention to making timely payments, bringing down your credit utilisation, and accumulating a balanced amount of debt. Instead of borrowing money, you might look for investment capital that you can use to pay off debt or renegotiate terms with suppliers.  

4. Assess your Important Financial Ratios

Bankers employ common financial ratios that are produced from your income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement, and profit or loss statement. The following are some of the crucial financial ratios bankers look at:

Total Debt to Total Assets

Your overall debt to total asset ratio is as follows. With a score of 1, debt and assets are equal. A score of 0.5 indicates that the debt is only equivalent to 50% of the assets. For bankers, anything above 0.5 or so is concerning.

Current Ratio

determines how well a firm can satisfy its financial responsibilities. expressed as the amount by which current assets outweigh current liabilities. A high ratio suggests that a business can settle its debts. A value less than one denotes possible cash flow issues.

Quick Ratio

Using its most liquid assets, a company's capacity to pay its present obligations is gauged by this ratio. It displays the ratio of Total Current Assets minus Inventory to Total Current Liabilities.

Acid Test Ratio

The quick ratio and this ratio are very similar. It is computed by dividing Current Assets by Current Liabilities, omitting Inventory and Accounts Receivable.

Pre-Tax Return on Net Worth Ratio

Specifies the pre-tax return to shareholders for each rupee invested. If the subject company's net worth for the time being examined is negative, this ratio is not applicable.

Pre-Tax Return on Assets Ratio

The amount of profit expressed as a proportion of all assets before taxes. evaluates a company's capacity for resource management and allocation.

Also,Read about our blog on easy guide to finacial ratio.

5. Improve your Cash Drivers

Back to the basics: sell more, make more cash sales than credit sales, get rid of old or outdated inventory, and encourage your clients to pay their bills more swiftly. You might be running a significant campaign to boost sales or giving customers who pay on time a discount.

6. Change Lenders and Loan Proposal

You might wish to look into alternate lenders if your figures aren't too bad and you don't understand why your bank rejected your loan application. Banks compete for the business of small businesses, and occasionally a questionable case can be approved by another bank.

Make sure to correctly set the stage if you try that. When you speak with the following bankers, be open and honest about your circumstances. Don't stretch the truth because they chat to one another.

Additionally, you can think about seeking for venture debt. where you take out a loan from venture capitalists or angel investors who are prepared to lend money to entrepreneurs in exchange for higher interest rates and frequently also an equity kicker. Because they are not using depositors' money, investors are exempt from banking regulations and so have more freedom.

For venture debt, you typically provide some ownership as well as paying a higher interest rate on a loan. Giving an equity kicker entails transferring a little portion of ownership. For instance, even after the loan is repaid, the financiers receive one or two percent of your company as shareholders.

7. Explore other Financing Options

You might discover that getting finance from a conventional bank won't be possible. Perhaps you haven't borrowed much in the past or you don't have enough sales to demonstrate the viability of your company. In that situation, looking into different financing solutions might be worthwhile.

It's a brave new world, and traditional financing methods are no longer the only options. As previously said, other excellent choices include venture capital, angel investing, and even peer-to-peer lending.

8. Get a co-signer or co-promoter

A co-signer might help allay some of the worries a bank might have about extending you credit. However, asking a business partner, friend, or member of your family to co-sign a business loan is a lot. The co-signer assumes a significant risk because, in the event that the firm defaults on the loan, they will be liable for the full amount.  

9. Change or update your business plan

Your bank loan may occasionally be denied for reasons that are unclear. In that case, you might have to start over. your business plan for evaluation and modification.

You may need to develop more gradually. To boost profitability, concentrate your efforts in a few crucial areas of your business. There are a number of things to take into account, including risky debt, strong financial ratios, and the probable need to concentrate on strengthening the business without raising revenue.

What if your loan is rejected again?

On occasion, your bank loan may be rejected for unknown reasons. Your business strategy may then need to be rewritten and evaluated in that situation.

You might have to grow more gradually. Focus your focus on a few key areas of your firm to increase profitability. Risky debt, excellent financial ratios, and the likely requirement to concentrate on improving the firm without increasing revenue are just a few of the factors to consider.  

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