Silvershore Funding Group, a small-business funding broker in Flagstaff, Arizona, handles a request in four stages: you describe the need, Silvershore matches it to a funding type and to partners that offer it, a partner underwrites and decides, and you compare any offer before accepting. Silvershore is a broker, not a lender; partners make credit decisions and set rates and terms.
Broker, lender and you: who does what
| Task | Silvershore Funding Group | Lending partner | Your business |
|---|---|---|---|
| Explain the options | Yes | For its own products | Asks questions |
| Decide which option to pursue | Recommends | Decides | |
| Review credit and documents | Yes | Supplies them | |
| Approve or decline | Yes | ||
| Set amount, rate and terms | Yes | ||
| Accept or walk away | Yes |
A lender lends its own money and carries the risk. A broker like Silvershore does not. Our job is to understand the need, explain the choices honestly and put a clear request in front of partners that offer the right kind of funding.
Step 1: Describe the business and the need
Call (928) 239-1321, visit 10 N Leroux St, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, or send the short online form. We will ask what the money is for, roughly how much the need comes to, how the business earns its revenue and what would pay the funding back. Paperwork comes later, when a partner requests it.
The quality of this conversation decides much of what follows. A request that says "we need money" gets less useful answers than one that says "we need to buy a second combination oven before the new dining room opens, and here is the quote."
Step 2: We match the need to funding types and partners
Next we work out which of the six options fits: working capital, a term loan, a line of credit, inventory financing, equipment financing or a merchant cash advance, which is not a loan. We explain how each candidate would be repaid and what it is likely to require, then take the request to lending partners that offer that type.
If none of the six is a sensible fit, we say so. Sometimes the useful answer is a conversation with the free advisers in our Northern Arizona resources directory.
Step 3: A partner underwrites and decides
The lending partner reviews the request, usually asking for recent bank statements and, depending on the product, tax returns, financial statements, a quote or details of collateral. It checks credit, often for the business and the owners, and decides whether to make an offer. Any amount, rate, term, fee and condition comes from the partner. Silvershore cannot change the decision or the price.
Partners also check that the business is properly set up. Arizona LLCs and corporations are registered with the Arizona Corporation Commission, and businesses in the City of Flagstaff generally need a city business license; our Flagstaff license and TPT checklist covers what to have in place.
Step 4: Compare the offer before you sign
Receiving an offer commits you to nothing. Read the whole agreement, ask questions, and take time to compare it with alternatives. Accepting or declining is your decision alone, and declining costs you nothing with us.
Comparing APR, factor rates and total cost
Offers express cost in different ways, which makes them hard to compare at a glance:
- An interest rate or APR describes a loan's cost as a yearly percentage of the balance. APR is designed to fold in certain fees as well.
- A factor rate, common on merchant cash advances, is a multiplier that sets a fixed total to be remitted. It is not an annual rate, and comparing the two directly misleads.
- Total cost in dollars works for every product: everything you will pay or remit, minus what you receive.
Put every offer into total dollars and payment rhythm (daily, weekly or monthly), then ask what happens if you pay early or fall behind. That is the comparison that matters to cash flow.
Warning signs in any funding offer
- anyone promising approval before a lender or funder has reviewed your business;
- pressure to sign the same day, or before you have read the full agreement;
- upfront payments requested before any offer exists;
- an advance described as a loan, or a loan described as an advance;
- contracts with blank spaces, or terms that change between the offer and the signing.
By Silvershore Funding Group · Updated