Mantis Funding - My 5-step Guide to finding the best alternative financing deal for your business

1. My 5-step Guide to finding the best alternative financing deal for your business

2. A few years ago, my business (I own an auto repair shop) was struggling with persistent cash flow problems. The revenues (for different reasons) always stayed just a little bit behind my expenses. Every month I would try to cut down costs, but the business started suffering as the money always came out of the marketing budget or the maintenance I had planned. I just couldn’t get ahead of the situation – until a friend suggested that I apply for funding.

3. Now, the reason I hadn’t thought of this before was that I didn’t need a lot of cash to set me up – just about $10,000. And it seemed like an awful lot of trouble to run after banks and do all that paperwork for such a small amount. Thankfully, before I maxed out my credit cards, I heard of alternative financing.

4. Some simple research convinced me that an alt-lender could solve my problem. I just had to find the right financing company and choose the perfect funding deal. It sounds simple, but with so many alt-fin companies in the country, it is hard to decide which deal from which lender is the best. I finally settled on a cash advance from Mantis Funding (a New york-based alt-lender), which worked out perfectly for me. So here I am going to share my experience of identifying the best alt-fin deal for my business –

5. STEP 1: Know Your Exact Requirements Before you start looking for funds, you have to determine how much you need and what you plan to do with it. Any credit comes with fees, so you have to have a plan to use it correctly. Will you pay off your current business debts, or will you use it to remodel or expand your store? How much do you need and how much can you return comfortably? Once the purpose and the amount are clear, you can start looking around the credit market.

6. STEP 2: Research Online To Understand Different Funding Options There is plenty of information online to help you understand different funding options. The most popular ones in the alternative lending industry are the business line of credits, merchant cash advances, equipment financing, and invoice factoring. They are each structured differently, and you need to understand which ones match your needs. For example, I chose the Mantis Funding cash advance as my requirement was small and urgent.

7. STEP 3: Shortlist A Reputable Alt-Lender Finding an alternative lending company can become a long and confusing process unless you do your research. Look for recommendations from trusted sources or similar companies in your industry and follow up on these recommendations with some in-depth analysis of their reputation. Meeting the core team is also a good way to understand the details of their offer as APRs, processing fees, and repayment terms and timelines vary with each company. I met several alt-lenders, and finally, the lack of Mantis Funding complaints (along with their super helpful team) convinced me to sign up with them.

8. STEP 4: Understand Your Eligibility Requirements While alternative lenders are a much easier nut to crack when it comes to proving your creditworthiness, they still have specific criteria for approvals. Their risk assessment model is much more evolved and holistic compared to the traditional banking sector that relies solely on credit scores, but its best to understand their paperwork and minimum requirements thoroughly. I found that each type of funding offer had a slightly different requirement, and one’s creditworthiness, to a large extent, affects the rates and timelines one is offered. I needed a small amount, so I wasn’t required to submit much paperwork for my Mantis Funding cash advance. But for a line of credit or a substantial equipment funding, the company digs deeper.

9. STEP 5: Apply And Negotiate Finally, just fill in the application and click send! For small amounts, the whole process is online, for slightly larger amounts, you will get a call from the lender’s team member, and this will give you a chance to negotiate better terms. I find that most alternative online lenders keep some margin for personalization and will be willing to accommodate your particular requirements.

10. If you are looking for a business funding deal, then I would like to recommend the company I dealt with – Mantis Funding. Their customer-friendly offers an empathetic customer care executive leave me with no Mantis Funding complaints! Do try them out!