Cleveland, Georgia Small Business Loans

Local Cleveland Lending Resources

To help you learn more about local small business lenders, here's our list of small business banks in Cleveland.

SBA Lenders for Cleveland Businesses

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

Cleveland Bank Loan Tips

As a prerequisite to contacting banks to discuss getting a bank loan, you will need to have a specific plan.

You need to be able to clearly explain your business, explain how much you want to borrow, walk the banker through the planned use of proceeds, and show your ability to pay the loan back to the bank.

Being able to present a well-written business plan is is critically important. If the loan is to for an existing business, you should also have financial statements covering the last three years. In addition, you should itemize what collateral you have available to guarantee 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 secure the business with your personal assets, such as the equity in your home. 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 the banks in our list participate in the financial assistance programs available through the SBA. Before you sit down to talk with a small business banker, 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

Take the time to learn as much as you can about Raising Money. To get the ball rolling, we recommend you read Find Start-Up Capital.