What’s Behind The Protests Against Stay-At-Home Orders

These protests have popped up around the country. How coordinated are they? Diane asks Jane Coaston, Vox senior political reporter.

The post What’s Behind The Protests Against Stay-At-Home Orders appeared first on Buy It At A Bargain – Deals And Reviews.

New comment by NCharby in "Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (April 2020)"

Location: Greater Seattle

Remote: Yes

Willing to relocate: No

Technologies: JS, React, Backbone, Node, Express, Apollo, REST, GraphQL, Flow, Sketch, Adobe CC, Whatever’s clever in modern webdev

Résumé/CV: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickcharbonneau/

Email: nick.charby@gmail.com

Designer turned Engineer turned Product Manager. Another Startup hopeful cast out into the cold during Covid19. 9 years professional experience creating everything from games to government to ML powered financial tools most recently.

I thrive in the chaos of the startup world. I remove ambiguity and lead teams to build great products through Design Thinking, honest communications, and never being afraid to get my hands dirty in the code.

Founders, I’m looking for you.

Lima One Recession Funding – Reliable Research So You Know What You’re Getting Into

The COVID-19 pandemic caught the world by surprise.  The economy is upside down.  If you are a business trying to make it during this time, we can help.  The Federal government has approved funding through  The CARES Act, including the Paycheck Protection Plan.  In addition, many states and local organizations are offering their own COVID-19 … Continue reading Lima One Recession Funding – Reliable Research So You Know What You’re Getting Into

Email Advertising and marketing– The importance as well as the timing

Email Marketing– The significance and also the timing , if you look hard sufficient you will certainly locate research study on practically any kind of provided subject.. Were you conscious that there are particular times when sending out e-mail advertising and marketing is possibly a negative concept? When sending out advertising and marketing e-mails makes … Continue reading Email Advertising and marketing– The importance as well as the timing

Electronic banking basics

Electronic banking principles

Historically financial institutions were organizations that held your cash under lock and also trick. Times are altering, with the net redefining the financial market over the last 5 years. Do not be puzzled as it remains to establish, the lots of names it passes all suggest the exact same point digital, on the internet and also COMPUTER financial are all simply basic synonyms conventional financial solutions offered via a safe net site.
Conventional financial institutions have actually checked the appeal and also development of the web, as well as knowing consumers desired higher control of their events, have actually produced their very own electronic banking website. Consumers currently have the flexibility to firmly do their financial 24 hrs a day 7 days a week, where they can pay costs and also established repeating settlements or financial savings, screen check clearances and also carry out various other jobs like transfers as well as equilibrium queries with a web link. The financial institutions additionally gain from a minimal requirement for team as a result of the movement to electronic banking where consumers offer themselves.
These financial institutions, as well as all various other web financial proceed to expand in appeal due to the fact that they are hassle-free, conserving clients time as well as cash. To aid the development and also help clients to make the adjustment, lots of conventional financial institutions provide very little cost or totally complimentary transfers to assist clients move to their on-line financial solution.
Electronic banking has actually revolutionalized financial with prompt worldwide accessibility to your savings account making use of a safe web link. Paying expenses, moving funds as well as simply ordinary checking your account are all feasible with very little stress and anxiety whether you are ravelling, holidaying or functioning throughout the globe.

The post Electronic banking basics appeared first on ROI Credit Builders.

The Number Of Dollar Checks Do You Want To Receive?

The Number Of Dollar Checks Do You Want To Receive? Associate Marketing is without a doubt, among the simplest methods to generate income online. It is an income sharing organisation connection in between the associate that consents to advertise the solutions or items, as well as the vendor that provides them. The associate promotes the …

How to Get Minority Loans to Start a Business

If you are reading this, I suspect you are a minority looking to start a business.  You either need to know where to start when it comes to finding a business loan, or you have already tried and are having trouble. Maybe you are wondering to yourself “Are there minority loans to start a business?”  This is a logical thought, because it would seem it would be easier for minorities to get loans geared specifically toward them.

The truth is, there are some types of loans that are easier than others for minorities to get, but they may not be what you expect.   In contrast, some of them probably look exactly like you think they will. Here’s how to find the best minority loans to start a business. 

Getting Minority Loans to Start a Business Works Differently than You May Think

In this MBDA study  that was recently reprinted, “Disparities in Capital Access between Minority and Non-Minority-Owned Businesses: The Troubling Reality of Capital Limitations Faced by MBEs,” Robert Fairlie, Ph.D. and Alicia Robb, Ph.D. looked at both national and regional studies over several decades.  They found that limited financial, human, and social capital, as well as racial discrimination, were the major reasons for the disparities between non-minority and minority businesses. The study is 10 years old, but many of the realities remain the same. 

Find out why so many companies use our proven methods to get business loans

There are minority specific loan programs out there.  Most of them, however, work better for existing businesses rather than for starting a business.  Your better option is to simply find loans that, minority specific or not, will work despite the challenges that are unique to minorities when it comes to starting a business.  

Also, work to build your business in a way that will make it appear fundable to lenders, regardless of who the owner is.

Minority Loans to Start a Business: What Challenges do Minorities Face When Applying for Business Loans? 

According to Forbes, these are major challenges faced by minority business owners in getting business funding. 

Lower Net Worth

In general, the level of wealth for Latino and African Americans is 11-16 times less than for Caucasians. White business owners typically have more working capital when they start their business.

Lack of Collateral

For the most part, banks are not as  likely to approve loans to applicants with less collateral to use against a loan. Lower net worth means less home ownership and fewer high-value assets to sell if a loan defaults. This combination of less security and net worth means banks will likely issue smaller loans that need to be paid back quickly, slowing long term growth.

Poor Location

Businesses owned by minorities in locations that have not traditionally supported new business are not as likely to get funding.

Little to No Credit History

Credit is a huge factor for banks when considering loan applications. Since minority business owners tend to have lower credit scores, for all the reasons already listed, it is harder to get the best rates and terms.

Are Minority Loans to Start a Business Even Possible to Get? 

Absolutely.  You just have to know where to look.  The first stop is the Small Business Administration. As a general rule, they do not lend money themselves.  However, they do offer a federal guarantee on loans made by traditional lenders.  This makes it easier for borrowers that may not otherwise qualify to get a loan.

In addition, the SBA offers valuable resources that can help business owners and entrepreneurs prepare for the loan application process as well as running a business.  

When it comes to minority loans to start a business, one of the best SBA options is the SBA Community Advantage Loan program.

Minority Loans to Start a Business: SBA Community Advantage Loans

These are designed to meet the needs of small businesses in neglected markets.  Of course, that includes minorities. The goal is to get local lenders to increase loans up to $250,000.  It does this by backing up to 85% of the loan amount. It helps small business owners who might not be able to get traditional financing. 

Consequently, credit decision makers overlook factors such as poor credit or low revenue if the business has the potential to stimulate the economy or create jobs in underserved areas. 

Loan amounts range from $50,000 to $250,000 with a maximum interest rate of 11%. Terms range up to 25 years.

Find out why so many companies use our proven methods to get business loans

Minority Loans to Start a Business: Accion U.S. Network 

Accion is a non-profit that offers loans in all states.  Funds are available to the following: 

  • minorities 
  • veterans
  • females
  • those with disabilities
  • and low to medium income business owners

Loan amounts start from $300 and go up to $250,000. Business owners can use them to help build businesses from the beginning.  In addition, Accion will provide you with ways to strengthen your chances of approval should you not qualify. 

The qualifications for Accion loans vary by location. You can enter your zip code to see the eligibility requirements for where you live.  I entered several different zip codes to get a feel for what I was looking at. Sometimes the minimum credit score was 575. Other times there was no minimum credit score requirement.   In addition, there were other requirements that varied by location including not being 30 days late on credit cards, loan payments, or bills.  Not being late on rent or mortgage payments over the past year also popped up as a qualifier in some locations.

Minority Loans to Start a Business: Kiva 

Kiva is a good place to start to find business startup loans.  There is no credit check. It is absolutely free. You have to repay the money, but the interest rate is 0%. The only thing required from you is a thorough business credit profile. Also, you must loan $25 to another business on the site. Last is the requirement that you raise funds from a certain number of friends and family. Usually, it is at least five people from your own network that need to be willing to pitch in.

Start Building Business Credit and Fundability from the Beginning

Since you are reading about minority loans to start a business, it’s likely your business is in the very early or planning stage. This is the perfect time to set your business up to be fundable, build business credit, and increase your chances for funding approval from all financing sources.  

Set Up Properly to Build Business Credit and Overall FundabilityMinority Startup Biz Loans Credit Suite

Fundability is the ability of your business to get funding.  The first step in building fundability and business credit is to have a fundable foundation.  These are the building blocks you need. 

Separate Contact Information

The first step in setting up a foundation of fundability is to ensure your business has its own phone number, fax number, and address.   That’s not to say you have to get a separate phone line, or even a separate location.  You can still run your business from your home or on your computer. You do not even have to have a fax machine.  

Actually, you can get a business phone number and fax number pretty easily that will work over the internet instead of phone lines.  In addition, the phone number will forward to any phone you want it too so you can simply use your personal cell phone or landline if you want.  Whenever someone calls your business number it will ring straight to you. 

Faxes can be sent to an online fax service, if anyone ever happens to actually fax you.  This part may seem outdated, but it does help your business appear legitimate to lenders. 

You can use a virtual office for a business address. How do you get a virtual office?  What is that?  It’s not what you may think.  This is a business that offers a physical address for a fee, and sometimes they even offer mail service and live receptionist services.  In addition, there are some that offer meeting spaces for those times you may need to meet a client or customer in person. 

EIN

The next thing you need to do is get an EIN for your business.  This is an identifying number for your business that works in a way similar to how your SSN works for you personally.  Some business owners used their SSN for their business. This is what a lot of sole proprietorships and partnerships do.  However, it really doesn’t look professional to lenders, and it can cause your personal and business

credit to get all mixed up.  When you are looking to increase fundability, you need to apply for and use an EIN.  You can get one for free from the IRS.

Find out why so many companies use our proven methods to get business loans

Incorporate

Incorporating your business as an LLC, S-corp, or corporation is necessary to fundability.  It shows your business is legitimate. It also offers some protection from liability. 

Which option you choose does not matter as much for fundability as it does for your budget and needs for liability protection.  The best thing to do is talk to your attorney or a tax professional.  What is going to happen is that you are going to lose the time in business that you have.  When you incorporate, you become a new entity. You basically have to start over. You’ll also lose any positive payment history you may have accumulated as well. 

This is why you have to incorporate as soon as possible.  Not only is it necessary for fundability and for building business credit, but so is time in business.  The longer you have been in business the more fundable you appear to be.  That starts on the date of incorporation, regardless of when you actually started doing business. 

Dedicated Business Bank Account

You have to open a separate, dedicated business bank account.  There are a few reasons for this.  First, it will help you keep track of business finances.  It will also help you keep them separate from personal finances for tax purposes. 

There’s more to it however.  There are several types of funding you cannot get without a business bank account.  Many lenders and credit cards want to see one with a minimum average balance.  In addition, you cannot get a merchant account without a business account at a bank. That means, you cannot take credit card payments.  Studies show consumers tend to spend more when they can pay by credit card.

All Necessary Licenses

For a business to be fundable it has to have all of the necessary licenses it needs to run.  If it doesn’t, red flags are going to fly up all over the place.  Do the research you need to do to ensure you have all of the licenses necessary to legitimately run your business at the federal, state, and local levels. 

Professional Business Website

I am sure you are wondering how a business website can affect your ability to get funding.  Here’s the thing.  These days, you do not exist if you do not have a website. However, having a poorly put together website can be even worse.  It is the first impression you make on many, and if it appears to be unprofessional it will not bode well for you with consumers or potential lenders. 

Spend the time and money necessary to ensure your website is professionally designed and works well.  Pay for hosting too. Don’t use a free hosting service.  Along these same lines, your business needs a dedicated business email address.  Make sure it has the same URL as your Website. Don’t use a free service such as Yahoo or Gmail. 

Having these things helps establish your business as a separate entity from yourself as the owner.  This is not only important for fundability, but also in building business credit, which is essential to fundability also. 

Minority Loans to Start a Business: Don’t Give Up

You may need to use one of the minority loans to start a business listed above to get your feet off the ground.  Don’t stop there though. You have to work on building a fundable foundation and building business credit at the same time.  This is essential to opening doors to more and better financing opportunities as your business grows. 

The post How to Get Minority Loans to Start a Business appeared first on Credit Suite.

Equifax Business Credit and Overall Fundability

Business credit is just one of many factors that affects the fundability of your business.  Your Equifax business credit score, your D&B business credit score, your Experian business credit score, and any other agency your lender may pull a credit score from all have a huge impact on your ability to get funding for your business. 

They might use reports from any of these agencies or a combination.  Since you can’t know which reports they will look at, you have to understand each one.  You need to know what information it gives them and where that information comes from. It is important to understand Equifax business credit. 

Keep your business protected with our professional business credit monitoring

How Equifax Business Credit Can Affect the Overall Fundability of Your Business

In order to build and maintain strong fundability, you need to understand everything you can about the reports from each of the big three credit reporting agencies, and what they tell lenders about your business.

Equifax Business Credit Reports

Equifax collects information similar to Dun and Bradstreet, including data from the following sources. 

  • information from public records
  •  financial data from the business
  •  payment history from creditors
  • Credit utilization is also a factor, which accounts for how much credit you are using versus the amount of credit you have available to use.

The information is used to calculate various scores, including the business credit risk score and the business failure score. The first measures how likely it is that a business will become 90 days or more delinquent on bills over the next year.  It ranges from 101 to 992.  

The second, ranges from 1,000 to 1610.  Likewise, it predicts how likely it is that the business will file for bankruptcy over the next 12-month period.  A lower score indicates higher risk. 

They also calculate what they call the business payment index.  This is the Equifax version of the Dun & Bradstreet PAYDEX.  It even runs on the same scale of 0 to 100.  It’s an indicator of payment history over the past year. In contrast to the PAYDEX however, you must  reach a score of 90 or higher for it to be a good score.  

In addition, Equifax offers business identity reports to confirm a company actually exists. It verifies details such as the company’s tax ID, number of employees, and yearly sales. 

Equifax does not allow business owners to request a file be opened for their own company.  They decide themselves when to start a credit file on a specific company. 

Financial and trade data are combined, and they add in utility and telephone payment data.  Public records are also a source of information.  

Equifax Business credit scores include: 

The Small Business Credit Risk Score for Suppliers

It is scored on a scale of 1 to 100, with 90+ indicating that a business has paid its obligations as agreed.  An 80 to 89 means they are 1 to 30 days past due, 60 to 79 indicates they are 31-60 days overdue, 40 to 59 is 61 to 90 days past the payment date.  It  just goes down from there. 

Business Failure Risk Score

This score indicates the chance of a company paying its bills late on the following scale: 

  • 497 – 816: 25% or less chance of payment being overdue
  • 452 – 496: 26 – 50% chance of payment going overdue
  • 415 – 451: 51 – 74% chance of delinquent payments
  • 101 – 414: 75 – 100% chance of delinquent payments

Public Records Report

The purpose of this report is to list bankruptcies, judgments, and liens along with the amount, date of the most recent filing, and how they were satisfied. 

Credit Usage Report

This a pie chart that shows your company’s credit usage.  It gives a visual of what percent of your available credit you are using. That is known as your credit utilization ratio, and it has a pretty big impact on your overall credit score.

Credit Report Summary

The summary report shows the number of your business’s credit accounts, as well as the date each one became active. It also lists any amounts past due, along with your most severe status of the past 24 months. 

The highest amount of credit extended, the median balance, and the average open balance are included as well. 

Additionally, the report lists recent activity such as number of new accounts opened recently, delinquent accounts, number of updated accounts, and inquiries. 

Financial Account Highlights

This report shows details for the past 36 months, including credit accounts and leases. It lists the status, open and close date, original and current credit limits, and any past due amount for each.  In addition, the payment amount and frequency for each account, as well as whether or not it is secured are also noted.

Does Equifax Business Credit Really Matter? 

Yes, all business credit matters! Why do you need separate business credit? Here’s why. According to Inc.com, small business owners who understand their business credit scores are 41% more likely to get approval when they apply for a business loan. You can’t understand it if you don’t have it. Right? 

Keep your business protected with our professional business credit monitoring

Also, if the unthinkable happens and your personal credit tanks, you need to be able to continue to run and grow your business. If your business credit is strong, you can still do that no matter what is happening with your personal credit. 

It’s true, a new business will not have any business credit.  However, it doesn’t have to stay that way. Building business credit is important, so that when the time comes, you can keep your personal credit separate and finance business growth using your business credit. 

How Can I Improve my Equifax Business Credit? 

What if your Equifax business credit isn’t so great?  Here are some simple things you can do to boost it. 

Add New Trade Lines

Don’t pay for them. There is no proof that buying tradelines actually helps.  If you do things the right way, it happens for free and it for sure works. There are a few ways to get it done. 

First, you can ask the vendors you already work with about starting a credit relationship.  Ask if they will extend you credit based on the merits of the business relationship. Then, ask if they will report the payments.  Even if you only get one or two reporting, your credit score will increase with every on-time payment recorded. 

Next, you can ask utilities, telephone companies, and internet companies to report the payments you already make to them on a regular basis. They don’t have to do it, but there is no harm in asking and it is an easy way to get more accounts reporting without actually opening new accounts.

Lastly, if you have a poor credit score, you can work with starter vendors in the vendor credit tier.  These are retailers that sell things you use everyday in your business anyway.  Often, they will extend net terms on invoices without a credit check and report your payment to the credit agencies.  

Ask to Delete Paid off Collections

Did you know that if you have an account that goes to collections, it will stay on your credit report even after you pay it off?  That’s right. The negative hit stays on your report even if you pay off the account in full. However, you can ask that they remove it. 

Ensure All Information is Correct and Up to Date

Take the initiative to notify credit agencies of changes in address, phone number, email addresses, etc.  In addition, monitor your business credit reports so you can dispute any mistakes.  

Update the details if there are errors or the information is incomplete. Do this for Equifax here: www.equifax.com/business/small-business. 

Ask for An Increase to Your Credit Limit 

Your credit utilization ratio is the amount of debt you have in relation to the amount of credit you have available to you. If you are using a ton of your available credit, your ratio will be high, and vice versa.  When people ask themselves how to increase business credit, they often realize this. The next step, for most, is to add accounts to increase the amount of credit available. 

However, this isn’t always the best option because the average age of all reporting accounts affects your credit score as well.  If you are adding new accounts, that average age decreases, which negatively affects your account.  

Another option, which works much better, is to ask your current accounts to raise your credit limit.  This way, you have more available credit, decrease your credit utilization ratio, and leave your average age of accounts unaffected. 

Make Payments on Time!

The number one way to increase Equifax business credit is to make consistent, on-time payments.  Here’s a bonus tip too. If you find that you need to stop carrying so many balances and have the means to pay a little extra on minimums, pick the balance with the highest interest rate and put all of your extra onto that balance.  

Once it is paid off, take the total payment amount and pay that amount extra on the balance with the next highest interest rate.  This will create a sort of snowball effect. As you see your balances getting paid down, you will see your business credit score increase. You’ll save money on interest also, since you are paying off the highest interest rate balance first. 

Monitor Your Business Credit Regularly

It’s important to monitor your Equifax business credit to know which accounts are reporting, which are not, and to catch any mistakes that may pop up.  Because you will catch mistakes faster, this could help you build business credit faster. 

You can purchase reports directly from Equifax.  Unfortunately, you can’t get a Equifax business credit report like you can a personal credit report. 

The only real way to get a free copy of your credit report is if you are denied a loan based on your business credit.  Of course, this is not a fun way to see your business credit reports for free. After denial, you will receive a letter in the mail from the agency that provided the lender with your report.  You will have the opportunity to request a free copy of the report that the lender saw, so that you can see why the result was denial. You have 90 days to submit your request. Note that if your lender did not use Equifax, you will not be getting a copy of your Equifax report.

Other than being denied for a business loan, here are a few other hacks to get you at least a sneak peek  of your business credit. 

Nav

Nav is a service that will let you see a summary of your credit reports from all three of the major credit reporting agencies.  However, these are only summaries, not full reports. Generally, that means you can see your score, and maybe the accounts you have listed.  While this will help you see where you stand, it will not suffice for the purpose of correcting mistakes or even to show you what you need to do to improve your score. You do have the option to pay for more information though.

Credit.net

Credit.net does not offer ongoing free business credit reports.  However, you can get a free trial. There is no credit card requirement either.  After you pull the report, you have 30 days to check it out. This means at least once you can get a totally free look at your report, because there is no fear of missing a cancelation deadline and having to pay anyway. 

Scorely 

This is a lesser known credit reporting agency that will let you see your credit report for free before you pay for an ongoing subscription.  Unlike Nav or Credit.net, they are actually calculating their own score similar to the big 3 (Experian, Equifax, and Dun & Bradstreet.) They strive to be totally transparent and to make their reports easy to understand. Seeing your Scorely report will give you an idea of where you stand, but it will not help you know exactly what your Equifax business credit report says. 

Keep your business protected with our professional business credit monitoring

Your Equifax Business Credit Can Have a Huge Impact on FundabilityEquifax Biz Credit Report Credit Suite

Really, all business credit definitely has a huge impact on fundability.  I mean, in truth your scores from all of the big three should be similar because they are pulling information from the same general sources.  They will likely not be exact however, and there is no way to know which one a lender may pull. 

That is why it is important to understand each one and how they impact fundability.  Remember though, there are lots of factors that affect fundability. Even if your business credit score is stellar, you could still run into issues.  You need to take the whole picture into account. 

The post Equifax Business Credit and Overall Fundability appeared first on Credit Suite.

Bonus Bill – Ep. #425

Listen in on the jokes only Bill’s audience got to hear. 

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Overtime – Episode #425: WH Spokesmen, American Oligarchy, Public Service

Bill and his guests – Rep. Adam Schiff, Jon Favreau, Michael “Killer Mike” Render, Matt Welch, and Annabelle Gurwitch – answer viewer questions after the show. (Originally aired 5/12/17)

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