Cobbleview Loans, a small-business funding broker in Frederick, Maryland, follows four steps: learn the purpose, match it to a funding structure, introduce the request to suitable lending partners, and help the owner compare any offers. A Frederick County LLC, corporation or sole proprietor may apply. Each rate, term and credit decision belongs to a lending partner.
Step 1: The purpose
Every request starts with what the money will pay for and how the business will pay it back. Wages until a client pays, a kitchen fit-out, a dental chair and a delivery of stock lead to different structures, and naming the purpose first saves applying for the wrong one.
Step 2: The structure and the partners
We match the purpose to one or two of the six structures: working capital, a term loan, a line of credit, inventory financing, equipment financing or a merchant cash advance, which is not a loan. Then we list the records partners in that structure usually ask for.
Step 3: A partner underwrites the Cobbleview file
The partner underwrites the request using its own rules. It may ask for bank statements, tax returns, financial statements, quotes or invoices, and entity records. It decides whether to make an offer and sets the amount, rate, term and conditions.
- Bank statements: deposits, balances and existing debits.
- Tax returns and financial statements, especially for term loans.
- Owner credit history and, often, a personal guarantee.
- Entity standing and ownership records.
Step 4: Comparing offers
Offers rarely use the same terms. A loan may quote an APR, an advance quotes a factor rate, and a lease quotes a monthly payment and a buyout. The fairest comparison is the total you will pay against the cash you receive, together with how often payments are taken and how long they last.
| Offer type | Headline figure | What to calculate |
|---|---|---|
| Term loan or revolving line | Interest rate or APR | Every payment plus every fee, summed |
| Merchant cash advance | Factor rate | Purchased amount minus cash received |
| Equipment lease | Monthly payment | Each lease payment summed, plus the buyout |
Applying as an LLC
An LLC can apply for business funding in its own name. Partners usually want the LLC's legal name exactly as registered, its EIN, the operating agreement or a list of members and their ownership shares, and proof that the entity is in good standing. Most also check the credit of members who own a significant share and ask them for personal guarantees. Our Maryland loan checklist lists the records to gather.
Warning signs Cobbleview flags in an offer
- Pressure to sign before you have read the contract.
- Promises of approval before anyone has looked at your records.
- An offer that will not state the total cost in writing.
- A daily debit you cannot match to the sales it is meant to follow.
- Collateral or guarantee language you were not told about.
Short answers to related questions are on the owner questions page, and our role is spelled out in the broker disclosures.
By Cobbleview Loans · Updated