Starting a new business and Bank loans

bijou

Evening All,
I was just pondering the current climate and wondered if anyone had any thoughts on how the banks might be handling loan applications for Start Ups at the moment?

As I understand it the County Enterprise Boards are still considering applications for Grant Aid for Start Ups and from what I heard it has usually been seen as favourable by the banks if CEB Grant Aid has been approved prior to application to the bank.

Say for example, if someone is looking for a only a small loan (say €20k) towards start up do you think the banks would consider it - things being the way they are at the moment and all that?

Bijou

Darragh29

Forget it! What they will do is give you the impression that they are lending so you will open an account with them, so they can make interest off your credit balance, make money off the internet and merchant services facilities that they will give you. They're shut for lending business at the moment for start-ups. It wouldn't be such a problem if they were just honest about their own situation, which is that they can't get money to lend...

deepriver

my (small) business got refused for a credit card (5k limit) recently, which I am sure is due to the credit crunch

CEBs are a great source of start-up capital, but I am sure they are going to be slightly busier now with the crunch

government needs to step up and do something... in France first two years of a company are 100% tax free

bijou

Hi Guys,
I thought as much (I suppose:rolleyes:) What about the Credit Unions, how or are they affected???

bijou

Culchie

The credit unions don't lend for business purposes as far as I know, but I guess they won't really ask too much as long as you meet their lending Criteria.

Enterprise boards are hard enough to get money from.

Darragh29

deepriver wrote: »

my (small) business got refused for a credit card (5k limit) recently, which I am sure is due to the credit crunch

CEBs are a great source of start-up capital, but I am sure they are going to be slightly busier now with the crunch

government needs to step up and do something... in France first two years of a company are 100% tax free

CEB's have a fairly narrow remit, their support criteria are filtered for politically sanctioned ideas. For example, try going to your local CEB and telling them you want to start up a hair salon, take away, restaurant, laundry service, etc.

If your waiting for your government, you'll have a longer beard than Santa Claus before you see action on that front... These c*nts are inpotent when it comes to small business.

bijou

So - is the general opinion that it is not a good time to be looking at starting a business then?

Although I have to say my local CEB has been very supportive (so far). If I was to be approved for grant aid, in your opinions, is it even worth it for me to approach a bank at the moment for extra assistance?

Thanks guys:)

bijou

Darragh29

bijou wrote: »

So - is the general opinion that it is not a good time to be looking at starting a business then?

Although I have to say my local CEB has been very supportive (so far). If I was to be approved for grant aid, in your opinions, is it even worth it for me to approach a bank at the moment for extra assistance?

Thanks guys:)

bijou

There hasn't been a better time to start a business OP!!! Just don't rely on the bank to help you at the moment. With all the change going on at the moment, opportunities are absolutely everywhere. Get whatever help you can get but if you are looking at something with high start up costs, well you'll be pushing water up hill at the moment. If you have an idea that doesn't need a lot of capital to get it off the ground, you are laughing...

I had a business until recently where everyone was making a killing out of it except me. One day very recently I just got sick of it for the last time, I let everyone go, pulled down the shutters, no more rent headaches, staff costs, rates, advertising, arguing with the bank, etc. I've none of those headaches now and I'm earning more now than I ever did, for a fraction of the headaches I had to suffer until recently. I could have let it drag on for ages and ages being unhappy, I just made a decsision about what I was doing and that was the end of it.

There are loads of business opportunities out there that you can take up without needing big capital outlay. Start small, find something that you are happy doing, and hammer away at it.

racepark

Darragh, I agree--it's going to be tough to get a bank loan in this economy but there are other options. For example, if you are looking to become a type of merchant which processes credit cards you may qualify for a cash advance through your payment processing company. Here in the States, I've had experiene with cynergydata (http://www.cynergydata.com).

bijou

Darragh29 wrote: »

There hasn't been a better time to start a business OP!!! Just don't rely on the bank to help you at the moment. With all the change going on at the moment, opportunities are absolutely everywhere. Get whatever help you can get but if you are looking at something with high start up costs, well you'll be pushing water up hill at the moment. If you have an idea that doesn't need a lot of capital to get it off the ground, you are laughing...

I had a business until recently where everyone was making a killing out of it except me. One day very recently I just got sick of it for the last time, I let everyone go, pulled down the shutters, no more rent headaches, staff costs, rates, advertising, arguing with the bank, etc. I've none of those headaches now and I'm earning more now than I ever did, for a fraction of the headaches I had to suffer until recently. I could have let it drag on for ages and ages being unhappy, I just made a decsision about what I was doing and that was the end of it.

There are loads of business opportunities out there that you can take up without needing big capital outlay. Start small, find something that you are happy doing, and hammer away at it.

Thanks guys for your responses - it's appreciated.
Well, as I mentioned I'm hoping for a little help from the CEB and if that comes through (fingers crossed;) ) I would need to approach a bank for further capital - I would be looking for roughly €20k - would I be laughed out of the doors for that much

On the subject of Credit Unions, my local branch advised me that they have a "social fund" which considers new businesses for loans. I haven't approached them yet - I'm gonna wait till I've heard from the CEB first - but if my local one does that, then maybe others might too. You never know:D

Darragh sounds like you know what you want;) hope all goes well for you.

bijou

deepriver

Darragh29 wrote: »

CEB's have a fairly narrow remit, their support criteria are filtered for politically sanctioned ideas. For example, try going to your local CEB and telling them you want to start up a hair salon, take away, restaurant, laundry service, etc.

wouldnt necessarily agree with that... my experience with them they are helping all kinds of businesses and indeed actually focus more on the ones you mentioned above with mentoring & training programmes, as these guys typically struggle with business practises more than others

the OP never mentioned what line of business he is in.. but the CEB website very simply sets out qualifying criteria... and they deal with mostly every kind of business

DesignLady

I'm applying for a CEB grant at the moment but have been warned that they're very difficult to get right now. It also depends on the CEB. I know people who have got the grant I'm applying for with DCEB, no problem but because I'm Fingal, they have different priorities and I'm probably not what their looking for.

Still, my theory is that there's no harm in trying. Let me know how you get on.

Darragh29

deepriver wrote: »

wouldnt necessarily agree with that... my experience with them they are helping all kinds of businesses and indeed actually focus more on the ones you mentioned above with mentoring & training programmes, as these guys typically struggle with business practises more than others

the OP never mentioned what line of business he is in.. but the CEB website very simply sets out qualifying criteria... and they deal with mostly every kind of business

http://www.sdenterprise.ie/services/local_services.505.374.html

Looks pretty restricted to me to be honest...

DesignLady

The Enterprise boards also run free seminars on financing start-up busineses. I found the one I attended more or less just repeated the information on the website but there was advise on what banks are looking for in business plans etc..