Small Business: Financial Tips and Predictions For The Year Ahead

Small Business: Financial Tips and Predictions For The Year Ahead

Two years ago, in the midst of global pandemic, financial analysts predicted 2023 as a time for financial recovery. But rising inflation, unreliable supply chains, months of major tech layoffs, and potential for financial recession have small business owners forecasting their economic future with some anxiety. As a business owner or entrepreneur considering the year […]

Good news: On September 7th, 2021, the U.S. Small Business Administration announced the COVID EIDL cap will increase from $500,000 to $2,000,000.  Even more, the cap for a single corporation will increase to $10.0 million. Though you can apply for a COVID EIDL loan of more than $500k today, any decisions on funding will occur […]

How Business Owners Can Best Work with Lending Partners

How Business Owners Can Best Work with Lending Partners

Whether you’re just starting your first business, or you’re getting ready to invest more into your current business, there will inevitably come a time when you need a loan. The easier it is for you to work with your lender and the smoother your application process goes, the easier it will be to find the […]

Powered by BLUE: A Borrower’s Guide

Powered by BLUE: A Borrower’s Guide

What does it mean to be “powered by BLUE™?” For years, this question has driven the Loan Mantra ethos. Though an acronym for “Business Lender Underwriting Environment,” the BLUE™ platform is far more than pith. It’s an ecosystem. Designed with the small business borrower in mind, the platform takes historically confusing and opaque financial services […]

You Can Still Be Forgiven: The Virtue of Patience in PPP Loan Forgiveness

You Can Still Be Forgiven: The Virtue of Patience in PPP Loan Forgiveness

Main Street and the U.S. Small Business economy have been major discussion points in the media and around dinner tables since the coronavirus pandemic began, upending consumer behaviors and the marketplace. The frenzied, and oft politicized discussion, reached amplified levels on August 8th when the U.S. Paycheck Protection Program closed to applicants and as borrowers […]

Is COVID-19 the New 5th ‘C’ of Credit?

Is COVID-19 the New 5th ‘C’ of Credit?

Most borrowers and lenders are familiar with The 5 ‘C’s of Credit. These are basic guidelines that lenders use to evaluate loan prospects or grade credit investments. Historically the fifth ‘C’ (or “conditions”) has been the most ambiguous category of all, serving as a catch-all designation for lenders who seek to quantify any superseding factors of […]

For U.S. small business owners who received PPP loan assistance, one question plays over and over in their minds: What happens next? What happens next: In the months since the PPP was originally passed as part of the $2 Trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, U.S. industry leaders, financial institutions, advocacy groups, […]