It is important to prepare yourself first before trying to get a small business loan. The first step should be to be sure you have good credit. You can check your credit score on-line free of charge, or for as little as a dollar or two depending on the website. A credit score of around 678-720 is considered average, so anything average or above is considered good, although the higher your score, the better your credit will be until you get to around 850, which is around the max of where your credit score can be. If you had the time, it would be ideal to improve your credit score as much as you can before trying to get the loan.

After you have ensured good credit, the next step is to be sure you have a good business plan in place. It would be wise to go through agencies such as small business administration loan agencies (SBA loans) to get recommendations from them to impress lenders first before presenting your business plan to the lenders since every time you get rejected, it will be that much harder to get a loan. Small business administration loans not only can give recommendations, but they can also work with the lenders to help you get a loan if you are having trouble getting a loan. They are an independent agency of the federal government aimed at helping small businesses get loans that would not otherwise be able to get.

The next step is to explore all your options. Look into secured loans if you have enough that are valued at the same amount as the loan amount you wish to acquire. Also, read the fine print. Ideally, you will not want a loan that will penalize you for paying off the loan amount early since your goal should be to pay it off as soon as you can.