Posted by: Debt Relief : Category: 
by ShashiBellamkonda
In the midst of the global economic crisis, many small businesses are on the brink of closing down if not enough capital infusion is found. It is now even more difficult to get small business loans from banks, though. Ironically, the exact reasons why small businesses need such small business loans – the fact that business has slowed down and profitability has plummeted – are the same reasons why banks turn them down for loans.
Small businesses now have to be more resourceful in finding alternatives to small business loans.
Government Grants and Contracts Instead of Small Business Loans
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act signed by President Obama in February 2009 caused the pumping of billions of dollars for the revitalization of the economy. Because of it, there are plenty of government grants and contracts available to small businesses. These can be alternatives to small business loans.
But how can small businesses avail of the stimulus program?
The Association of Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (APTAC) has the responsibility for helping small businesses obtain and perform federal, state and local government contracts. It has Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (PTAC) throughout the country, ready to help small business owners to get registered and find opportunities in the area of government grants and contracts. Counselors assist small businesses in filling out bids, proposals and quotations.
The PTAC holds seminars teaching small business owners all the ins and outs of government legalese, including acronyms and registries. A one-day seminar with PTAC covers what small business owners may take months to learn on their own.
The PTAC then helps small businesses with Central Contractor Registration (CCR), a requirement for doing business with the federal government. This registration can be so complicated that some companies take two days to do it when the PTAC counselor can help them get through it in 15 minutes.
Local PTACs will be of help in acquiring state and municipal contracts.
Other resources that small business owners should consult include the Small Business Administration (SBA) which also coordinates with the APTAC; the General Services Administration (GSA) which acts as the government’s purchasing department and provides information on becoming an approved vendor; the Federal Business Opportunities website (fbo.gov) where federal contract opportunities currently available are posted; and the Small Business Innovation Research website (sbir.gov) where grant and funded research opportunities for small businesses are listed.
Cash Advances from Credit Card Services Instead of Small Business Loans
Another alternative to small business loans are cash advances from credit card services. This option is much easier than winning government grants and contracts.
Most small businesses are already availing of credit card services that enable them to accept payments by credit cards or debit cards. This is practically a requirement to doing business these days, with people hardly paying cash for goods and services. Many small business owners do not know that they could avail of cash advances from these credit card services, though, and that such advances can actually equal small business loans.
The amount that a small business can borrow is based on its average monthly income from credit card sales. This is so because the cash advance does not require collateral and future sales receivables from credit cards stand as the collateral. Payment will also be done through automatic deductions from those future credit card sales. There will be no set monthly amortizations. Instead, a certain percentage of the sales will be allotted as payment. The small business owner, therefore, need not worry over where to find cash for loan payments.
Cash advances from credit card services are the best bet of small business owners as alternatives to small business loans.
President Obama speaks about the key role small business plays in moving the American economy forward and the steps his Administration has taken to help small businesses grow and hire new workers during a visit to Woonsocket, RI. October 25, 2010.
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June 3rd, 2010 at 8:26 pm
obama is coolest american president
June 3rd, 2010 at 8:59 pm
@ruppertknickerbocker um…bush jr didnt do much of anything…oh wait..he did…but not anything beneficial…not a good argument…
June 3rd, 2010 at 9:04 pm
@HetAppelMoesje~Are you High? He has no clue what to do….same goes for his staff. Start stacking up on canned goods, and water purifiers.
June 3rd, 2010 at 9:43 pm
i love obama for real
June 3rd, 2010 at 10:36 pm
Obama is great guy !
June 3rd, 2010 at 11:18 pm
All good points that help out the local economy, well done mr. President
June 3rd, 2010 at 11:36 pm
comment no 8
June 3rd, 2010 at 11:38 pm
11/02/10 The voters? have spoken. Will Mr Obama and those in congress listen?
June 4th, 2010 at 12:01 am
@chaumont20 STOP PAYING TAXES AND LET US ALL KNOW HOW THINGS GO FOR YOU IN JAIL LOL
June 4th, 2010 at 12:58 am
Both the republican party and the democratic party are run by the same people. Buch was a puppet for big corporate intrests, now Obama is. As George Carlin would say ‘The Government Doesn’t Give A Fuck About You’
June 4th, 2010 at 1:41 am
@ruppertknickerbocker You got a lot of nerve. Far as im concerned your generation has been here long enough to figure out the problems and fix them. Yeah i could see that reaganomics is the answer to all our problems! See reaganomics is part of the problem,and the solutions of the conservatives,to let the viscious cycle continue again. Im sick of all the conservative made recessions. The only real answer is to pull out the Theodore Roosevelt stop to kill the cycle!
June 4th, 2010 at 2:23 am
@Athruebelief Bush Jr got a dot com busted economy from Clinton and it didn’t take him two years and the reason most people forgot it is that Bush Jr didn’t take two years and just cry about it.
June 4th, 2010 at 2:46 am
I just have to say I am appalled at how conservatives today throw around words like socialism, communism, marxism, fascism, etc. etc., using them all interchangeably to mean anything they don’t like or anyone they disagree with. What this really shows me is that right wing talk radio doesn’t really inform or educate people, it only serves to make them more ignorant than they were before!
June 4th, 2010 at 3:20 am
you guys are getting way to sucked into the fact that this all a giant reality tv show that the government’s been putting on for their people. it’s not about democrat or republic these people are criminals. our best course of action is to audit the federal reserve and stop these acts of high treason.
June 4th, 2010 at 4:12 am
US midterm elections: Barack Obama’s world turned upside down as Democrats face electoral disaster
By abandoning his own rhetoric of bipartisanship, President Obama divided America and set the course for a heavy Democratic defeat in Tuesday’s midterm elections, argues Toby Harnden.
By Toby Harnden, American Way
Published: 2:00PM BST 30 Oct 2010
June 4th, 2010 at 4:20 am
@meemoonses I just HATE when they do that, don’t you
June 4th, 2010 at 4:30 am
@rbs651 yes I know, and yes I will, If you want just copy and paste it yourself….
we can hit them from all sides…lol
June 4th, 2010 at 4:42 am
By ALAN FRAM
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) – Democratic voters are closely divided over whether President Barack Obama should be challenged within the party for a second term in 2012, an Associated Press-Knowledge Networks Poll finds.
That glum assessment carries over into the nation at large, which is similarly divided over whether Obama should be a one-term president.
June 4th, 2010 at 5:06 am
@meemoonses I wrote: “This will be fun” Call me a liar, I don’t care. I have NO intention of going through all this again. I’ve pretty much had it. I’ve been posting alternatives to Dem propaganda and only hope I’ve raised an eyebrow or two. The game is over. As some of you know, I’ve been vry active on the “11 Reasons..” thread and that’s enough for me. As the muslims continue to try and kill us, I wanna concentrate on that. Good luck to you all I’m taking this thread off my shortcuts.
June 4th, 2010 at 5:20 am
@meltdown53
Post that everywhere you can! ‘They’ flagged it as spam!
June 4th, 2010 at 5:51 am
A COMMUNIST posting here cry’s about his ‘civil rights’ yet HE THREATENED someone on another page if he met him face to face!?!?!?!? WHAT A FRAUD!
Also, 1st AMENDMENT TRUMPS BOGUS civil rights violation ‘claims’! MAN-UP WIMP!
The ISP has the truth! So, stop faking!
June 4th, 2010 at 6:09 am
@meemoonses Wow this interesting…..Tea Party endorses the US Chamber of commerce. Glen Beck cuts a check to the chamber. Hmmm. (THE WHO “WE WON’T GET FOOLED AGAIN” blasting in the backround. LMAO
June 4th, 2010 at 6:40 am
@meemoonses Dont beleive me just look it up on the chambers website. They even call illegal immigrants law abiding if their only crime was crossing the border. What a joke! If the conservatives really were on our side when it comes to illegal immigration they sure wouldn’t have taken the money for their campaigns.
June 4th, 2010 at 7:21 am
@meemoonses I’ll give you one reason why the majority of illegals will get their amnesty other than just from the liberal side. The US chamber of commerce. They will lobby your conservative leaders to death with it when they get into office come november. Mark my words! They will also tell them to remember where the campaign contributions came to get those conservatives in office to seal the deal.
June 4th, 2010 at 7:40 am
@meemoonses what did he lie about?