Charleston, Illinois Small Business Loans

Local Charleston Lending Resources

To assist you in finding a small business banker, here's our list of small business banks in Charleston.

SBA Lenders for Charleston Businesses

This is a list of banks outside of Charleston, Illinois that have provided SBA loans to Charleston businesses. Some of these may be national banks with local branch locations.

Charleston Bank Loan Tips

As a prerequisite to contacting banks to get a bank loan, you will need to determine exactly what size loan you will be asking for.

You need to be able to clearly explain your business, explain how much you want to borrow, describe what the money will finance, and show how you plan to pay the loan back to the bank.

Being able to present a well-written business plan is an important prerequisite. If the bank loan is to for a going concern, you should also have financial statements covering the last three years. You will also need to discuss what collateral you have available to secure the loan. Collateral is relevant because banks always want to be prepared for a worst-case scenario in which cash flow from the business does not meet your projections.

If the business has few assets, you will likely be asked to pledge your personal assets, such as stocks and bonds that you might own or life insurance policies. The banks will check on your personal credit history in any case, so hopefully you have good credit history -- you may want to get a copy of your credit history prior to meeting with the banker.

Many of these banks are SBA lenders. Prior to visiting local banks, you may want to get up to speed on SBA loans programs to see if you qualify. SBA 7(a) loans, SBA 504 loans and SBA disaster assistance loans may be available to you.

Gaebler.com Advice on Raising Money

If you are serious about Raising Money, you need to educate yourself. If you haven't read it already, we recommend you review 504 Loans.