Walmart Does All…Even Small Business Loans

Sam’s Club, a division of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. announced yesterday that it is testing an online program with Superior Financial Group to offer small businesses loans between $5000-$25,000 to its members. The decision to offer these small business loans came as a result of a November 2009 survey, in which nearly 15 percent of Sam’s Club’s business owners reported being denied a loan to run their operation.

According to the official press release, “the Sam’s Club small business loan pilot program is a first-of-its kind and will complement other offerings that cater to small business including low rate merchant credit card processing, convenient order-ahead programs and early shopping hours.”

Sam’s Club members who apply for a small business loan will receive $100 off the application fee, a 20 percent discount and a 7.5 APR, which is a 25 basis point discount. (NOTE: The Sam’s Club Membership fee is $35/year.)

PRN Funding’s Take:
It’s a good thing that Wal-Mart is trying to fill a business loan gap with their pilot program, however, the loans are backed by the Nation’s leading Small Business Administration (SBA) lender. Therefore, there will still be stringent lending criteria that a small business owner will need to meet in order to qualify. This is bad news for brand new businesses and companies who have less than three years of operation.

Still, there’s hope, as small business owners can test out accounts receivable factoring to help fill in the cash flow gaps. Even if a small business owner has been turned down by a traditional lender, accounts receivable factoring firms will be able to fund them.

Little is Known about Small Business Lending

A $30 billion plan to offer capital to small banks with incentives to loan it to small businesses just passed the House of Representatives on June 17, but no one really knows whether or not it will increase small business lending.

There’s an underlying problem when it comes to small business lending – lack of information.There’s no data available to discern why small business lending is down, nor is there any information available to determine what a proper fix might be.

The three most common hypotheses are as follows:

  1. Banks are unwilling to lend,
  2. Small businesses are not interested in borrowing, or
  3. Today’s small businesses don’t have good enough credit to borrow.

In order to help shed some light on the small business lending picture, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta recently started a quarterly survey. In addition, regulators are starting to make banks report small business lending each quarter, rather than annually, and the Treasury is considering using data from credit bureaus as well.

For more information, read: What We Don’t Know About Small Business Lending.

Healthcare Reform – 1099 Nightmare for Small Businesses

Last week, BusinessWeek published an article entitled: Health-Care Bill Surprise: 1099 Nightmare, and we thought the small business owners who read The Factoring Blog should be aware of its contents.

In essence, the article says: Small business owners should be aware of page 737 of the recently-approved healthcare reform bill, as it contains a three-paragraph provision, inserted by Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee to help offset the cost of the bill. In a nutshell, this insertion requires companies to report to the IRS payments of more than $600 a year to any vendor. The intent is noble: to capture $2 billion or more a year in taxes on income that currently goes unreported by contractors and small businesses.

Business advocates fear that the new rule will create a massive paperwork headache for small businesses because come 2012, the new rule will expand 1099-MISC reporting to include payments to companies, and for goods as well as services.

Read more here: Health-Care Bill Surprise: 1099 Nightmare.

Lingering Small Business Credit Crunch

Did anyone see the Wall Street Journal article: A Credit Crunch That Lingers earlier this week?

The reporter, Emily Maltby, wrote that even though the economy us “on the mend,” small business entrepreneurs are still struggling to land credit. She went on to discuss the myriad of explanations:

  1. Most of the government programs created to address the problem have been focusing primarily on Small Business Administration loans, which amount to just 10% of all small business lending.
  2. Some bankers claim that loan volumes are dwindling because the demand is down. These bankers say that business owners aren’t willing to take on more debt during these difficult times.
  3. Other bankers blame federal regulators for insisting that banks to be more prudent with lending.

Entrepreneurs are stuck in the middle of the finger-pointing debate with limited or no access to cash. Many of these small business owners are being forced to curtail their growth and hiring, which in turn, is slowing the nation’s recovery and keeping unemployment high.

The article highlighted Julio Valencia’s business, JTI Landing Systems because his somewhat new business has been turned down four times by larger banks. Exhausting his personal cash and retirement savings, Mr. Valencia struggles with cash flow, though not because of poor money management. Rather, his cash flow problems stem from slower-paying customers.

PRN Funding’s Take: Mr. Valencia and other small business owners who are struggling with poor cash flow should look into accounts receivable factoring as a lucrative alternative financing option.

2010 Small Business Credit Problems

The Gallup Organization conducted a survey in November-December 2009 for The National Federation of Independent Business Research Foundation (NFIB) of 751 small business employers (employing people 1-250) to help better understand the small business credit crisis.

Below are some of the survey’s key findings (as reported by The Secured Lender:

    1. 55% of small businesses attempted to borrow in 2009.
    2. 23% of those businesses were not able to have all of their credit needs met (which dropped significantly from earlier in the 2000s when up to 90% of businesses had their credit needs met).
    3. The financial institution extending a line of credit changed the terms/conditions of the line(s) during 2009 for 29% of small businesses.
    4. The most frequent “change” was increased interest rates for small businesses.
    5. The best predictors of success in meeting the credit needs were higher credit scores, customers of banks with less than $100 billion in assets, more properties collateralized for business purposes and fewer second mortgages held.
    6. Most common planned purpose of credit rejected was to fill cash flow needs. (SIDE NOTE: Payroll Funding and Invoice Factoring companies are used every day to fill cash flow needs.)

      How to Jumpstart a Successful Medical Billing Business

      Did anyone see Vanessa Best’s article in the July issue of BC Advantage? In the article, How to Jumpstart a Successful Medical Billing Business (page 31-32), Vanessa lists 10 steps to start a medical billing and consulting business:

      1. Choose a business type.
      2. Choose the name.
      3. Develop a business plan.
      4. Learn about your market.
      5. Keep abreast of the medical field.
      6. Get reasonably priced software from vendors listed with the BBB.
      7. Develop your marketing strategy.
      8. Launch your marketing campaign.
      9. Establish how much your time is worth and set fees for service.
      10. Put it in writing!

      Although the medical billing account receivable specialists agree with everything on Vanessa’s list, we thought medical billers and medical billing consultants should add one more thing to the list.

      Team up with a medical billing accounts receivable factor. Most medical billing companies and medical billing consultants have to wait weeks to be paid for their billing services. Imagine a world where you sent an invoice to a physician, and you got paid on the same day. PRN Funding’s medical billing account receivable program is designed to do just that!

      Check out our medical billing factoring web page for more details.

      PRN Funding to Exhibit at 2010 AAPC Show

      Jacksonville, FL-PRN Funding will be exhibiting in booth #111 at the 2010 AAPC Conference, and the crew is excited to talk to medical coding business owners and medical coding consultants about the benefits of medical coding invoice factoring.

      In addition, AAPC Conference attendees are encouraged to stop by booth #111 June 7-9 to enter for a chance to win an iPod Shuffle and $50 iTunes gift card.

      Click here to read the official press release: PRN Funding Talks Medical Coding Factoring.

      Small Business Credit Conditions Tightest Ever

      Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke announced last week that banks need to restore a proper balance between making loans to creditworthy  borrowers and lending prudence.

      He clarified that banks have erred too far on the side of caution since the beginning of the financial crisis, and as a result, “credit conditions for small business are the tightest they have been in recent memory.”

      Click here to see the entire story: Bernanke: Small Business Lending Tightest in Recent Memory.

      2010 National Nurses Week Starts Today

      National Nurses Week begins every year on May 6, the birthday of Florence Nightingale, who was the founder of modern nursing.

      The American Nursing Association encourages agencies, employers and the general public to show nurses your appreciation this week.

      Not sure how to say thanks?

      Check out the National Nurses Week Media Kit for great ideas to create positive events that will show nurse appreciation while show-casing your organization!

      NY Staffing Association To Hold Health Care Reform Seminar

      In this week’s edition of Inside ASA, The American Staffing Association announced that the New York Staffing Association will have a featured luncheon speaker on Super Seminar Day (May 18).

      General Counsel, Ed Lenz, intends to speak about how the new health care reform law will affect staffing agencies.

      Attendees will also receive a comprehensive written outline of the new health care reform law that will include the following topics:

      Major new tax provisions
      Requirements for individuals to buy health insurance
      Small business tax credits
      Employer penalties if employees receive government assistance
      Employer notice requirements
      Medicare tax withholding obligations
      Auto enrollment requirements for certain large employers

      For more information, visit the New York Staffing Association web site.

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