Small Business Lenders in Columbia, South Carolina

Local Columbia Lenders

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

Lenders for Columbia Businesses

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

Business Loan Advice for Columbia Businesses

Prior to meeting with 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 introduce your business to the banker, explain how much you want to borrow, describe what the money will finance, and show how you intend to to pay the money back to the bank.

Being able to present a well-written business plan is essential. If the loan is to for an existing business, you should also have financial statements covering the last three years. Bankers will also want to know 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, the bank may ask you to to pledge your personal assets, such as stocks and bonds that you might own or life insurance policies. The banks will look at your personal credit report 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 do your homework 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

Our Gaebler.com site is deeply committed to helping entrepreneurs, and we have a lot of resources related to to Raising Money. If you want to learn about raising money, we would suggest you read Angel Investors.