Saturday, December 25, 2010

Should You Use a Small Business Loan to Meet Your Payroll Obligations

If you have a small business that has recently expanded, you know the joys and frustrations of having more employees. While you can get more work done and serve more customers, there are also human resources issues to deal with as well as the issue of things like benefits and payroll. Of course, if your business is not growing at the speed at which you want, you may be tempted to use a small business loan to meet your payroll obligations. The question is: should you do it?
One thing to consider is that there may never be a "right time"to get this type of loan. Remember that the moment you do so, you are essentially placing your business and, depending on the type of loan, perhaps your assets, on the line. If things do not work out the way you intend, you may be looking at heavy interest rates, fees, and other legal action. That said, you may want to reconsider thinking about using a small business loan to meet payroll.
The reason for this is quite simple, if you do this, not only do you have a finite amount of cash, you also have to eventually pay back. If the business itself does not continue gaining customers, you could find yourself in deep trouble financially.
Something else to consider is that if you continue to have issues meeting payroll, you may find yourself in a vicious cycle by which you have to continually get a small business loan every month. Once that money is gone and you can't get anymore, you will find yourself with very unhappy employees and your business.

No comments:

Post a Comment