Before a call, an owner can lay supplier due dates against customer payments to size a gap, set a plan out as sources and uses, and gather the records that go with the funding type in question. The calculator turns an equipment quote into a monthly payment. The sign shop, the driving school and their dollar amounts are invented for illustration.
A supplier-payment timeline for Wayne County, MI owners, drawn up before any loan request
Getting ready for a small business loan starts with dates rather than documents: when each supplier wants its money, and when the customer pays. Laid out on one timeline, those two lists show how much the request needs to cover and for how many days.
Illustration only, invented figures: a Livonia, MI sign shop signs a $46,800 order for wayfinding signs at a medical office park. The invented customer pays a 30% deposit, $14,040, on signing, and the other $32,760 thirty days after the signs are delivered on day 35. Three suppliers bill the materials on their own terms:
| Day | What happens | Money in | Money out | Running total for the order |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day 0 | Order signed; deposit received; vinyl and inks paid on order | $14,040 | $3,960 | $10,080 |
| Day 15 | LED lighting modules paid, net 15 | - | $6,420 | $3,660 |
| Day 30 | Aluminum and acrylic sheet paid, net 30 | - | $11,280 | $7,620 short |
| Day 35 | Signs delivered and installed by the customer's contractor | - | - | $7,620 short |
| Day 65 | Customer pays the balance, 30 days after delivery | $32,760 | - | $25,140 |
The order is $7,620 short from day 30 to day 65, a 35-day gap, and it ends $25,140 ahead before the shop's own labor and overhead. That is the invented request in numbers: $7,620 for 35 days. Drawn on a line of credit at a 13.65% annual rate in this invented case, $7,620 held for 35 days costs $99.74 in simple interest, and the draw is paid off out of the customer's balance.
Sources and uses on one page: a Livonia, MI driving school's plan for a second training car
A business plan behind a loan request can be short. For one added piece of equipment it needs two lists that reach the same total, what the money goes to (uses) and where it comes from (sources), and the payment the request creates.
Illustration only, invented figures: a Livonia, MI driving school runs one dual-control training car, booked for 46 of its 50 lesson hours a week, with 31 students on a waiting list. Its plan for a second car reads:
| Plan line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Use: dual-control sedan, brake fitted by the dealer | $31,450 |
| Use: dash camera kit and a magnetic car-top sign | $1,280 |
| Total uses | $32,730 |
| Source: owner's cash | $6,730 |
| Source: equipment financing request | $26,000 |
| Total sources | $32,730 |
| Payment each month on the request: 10.95% annual rate, 48 months | $671.35 |
Across its 48 payments the request costs $32,224.80, and $6,224.80 of that is interest. The rest of the plan names the instructor who will teach in the second car and the lesson hours already promised to students on the list. A partner may ask how the waiting list was counted; the school's scheduling records answer that. The car itself goes through equipment financing.
Which records go with which funding type: a sorted list for Livonia, MI owners
Some records go with every request and some depend on the funding type. Each funding partner sets its own list and may ask for more or fewer.
| Funding type | Records tied to that type | What they show a partner |
|---|---|---|
| Working capital loan | A list of the bills the money covers, with due dates | What the money pays for and when each bill falls due |
| Term loan | Quotes or estimates for the larger outlay | That the amount matches a real cost spread over years |
| Line of credit | Receivables aging and a list of supplier accounts | How long customers take to pay and which bills a draw would cover |
| Equipment financing | The vendor quote with make, model, price and new or used | The item that secures the financing |
| Inventory financing | Supplier invoices or purchase orders, and recent sales by item | How much stock is being bought and how it has been selling |
| Merchant cash advance | Card-processing statements for recent months | The card sales a holdback would be taken from |
Records any request can draw on: recent business bank statements, the latest business tax return, a list of current debts with their payments, the owner's ID and the business EIN. The short request form asks for none of them; they come up during a partner's review.
The shop equipment payment calculator: what to type in for a Livonia, MI sign shop's flatbed printer
Give the shop equipment payment calculator a quote price, the cash going down if there is any, a guessed annual rate and a length in months. It hands back a monthly figure, the interest that figure carries across the whole term, and an all-in cost with the cash down added back.
Illustration only, invented figures: a Livonia, MI sign shop prices a UV flatbed printer at $58,900 and plans $5,900 down. Typed in at a 10.85% annual rate over 60 months, the $53,000 financed comes to about $1,148.39 a month in this invented example. If the printer needs a new circuit, the wiring is property work outside this site.
A rate typed into the calculator is the owner's own estimate; a real rate comes only from a funding partner's offer.
By Lakebridge Finance ยท Updated